{"id":2308115,"date":"2026-03-02T11:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T11:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2308115"},"modified":"2026-03-02T11:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T11:10:11","slug":"tiny-public-assembly-theatre-stages-3-new-12-minute-plays-a-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/tiny-public-assembly-theatre-stages-3-new-12-minute-plays-a-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiny Public Assembly Theatre stages 3 new 12-minute plays a month"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

Last June, Naomi Welikala noticed a line curving around the block of her local American Legion, an unassuming building that rarely invited commotion. Curious, she asked the person at the back of the queue what they were waiting for.<\/p>\n

Welikala had stumbled upon one of L.A.\u2019s more unlikely cultural phenomena: Public Assembly theater. Founded in 2018, the nonprofit seeks to democratize creative opportunity and reimagine community theater by presenting a monthly showcase of three 12-minute plays, all written, developed and performed within that same four-week cycle. It draws a diverse crowd that skews young, as well as a healthy smattering of glitterati, including Brie Larson, Jena Malone and Daniel Scheinert, director of the Oscar-winning \u201cEverything Everywhere All At Once.\u201d The group doesn\u2019t have a brick-and-mortar home. Instead, it stages work in unlikely spaces: Masonic lodges, American Legions, women\u2019s centers, but never traditional black box theaters.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/picture>\n
\n

People take their seats before Public Assembly\u2018s show at the Women\u2019s Twentieth Century Club. Tickets to the monthly shows sell out fast, and guests are encouraged to submit play ideas for the next month\u2019s show.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Tickets to Public Assembly\u2019s word-of-mouth shows typically sell out within 30 minutes. Welikala was lucky enough to get a last-dash one at the door. She paid $5 for entry, which entitled her to the showcase, as well as an open bar.<\/p>\n

Since Public Assembly\u2019s pieces are always developed in such a short time frame, they are immediate and reactive, able to comment on cultural issues of the day, while offering a counter to the long-development purgatory that is the Hollywood movie industry (to which many Public Assembly affiliates claim membership).<\/p>\n

At the end of the night, guests are invited to shout out suggested themes for the following month\u2019s plays. Anyone who has ever attended a Public Assembly show is strongly encouraged to submit a scrappy 400-word submission based on the theme of the month. They have only a few days to do so; the company encourages writing from the gut. Once the submissions are in, three selected pieces move through a rigorous workshop process over a period of weeks under the guidance of professional curators, writers and directors. Inspired, Welikala sent in her 400-word submission, a personal play about her grandmother\u2019s dementia. She had never written for the theater before. Public Assembly chose her piece.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Three <\/picture>\n
\n

The founders of Public Assembly theater company, (from left) Clara Aranovich, Alexander Tavitian and Satya Bhabha, gather in Bhabha\u2019s home.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

This is typical of the company. Founding artistic directors Satya Bhabha, Clara Aranovich and Alexander Tavitian, conceived of Public Assembly in 2018 as a response to several shortcomings they encountered in the film industry: the high barrier to entry, glacial development timelines, and the degradation of ideas through prolonged exposure to notes, executive meddling and institutional risk aversion.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo much of our creativity in this town is distilled into capitalistic value,\u201d Bhabha says. \u201cPeople live in a culture of fear around their creation, they think their work is going to get canceled if it doesn\u2019t sell enough on the front or back end.\u201d<\/p>\n

That resonates with Scheinert, who describes himself as a \u201cbig fan\u201d and says he\u2019s been to 10 shows in the past two years. \u201cI love how they\u2019ve created this community that\u2019s so enthusiastic, while making things at such a fast pace, and not doing it for profit,\u201d he says. \u201cIt has a passionate summer-camp energy, with some of the warmest audiences out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"Performers <\/picture>\n
\n

Members of Public Assembly theater raise their hands for a team cheer before their show at the Women\u2019s Twentieth Century Club. The tiny nonprofit stages three new 12-minute plays each month.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

The vast majority of Public Assembly\u2019s labor is voluntary. Fundraising drives have enabled the company to split ticket sales among performers, while writers receive the benefit of the workshop and writing lab. The company also maintains a strict diversity initiative, and many writers come from low-income households.<\/p>\n

For the most recent showcase, the company\u2019s 45th, the theme was \u201cscales.\u201d The selected plays were Diana Dai\u2019s \u201cThe Weight of Being Me,\u201d about a teen and her grandfather reconnecting at a recycling center; Grant Crater\u2019s \u201cBuxom Buddies,\u201d a politically charged dramatic comedy; and Matt Kirsch\u2019s \u201cWeighing In,\u201d in which a ceremonial UFC face-off becomes an intimate encounter between competitors, reminiscent of the \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d era.<\/p>\n

As always, the plays run for one night only. The company prizes ephemerality in a quasi-Buddhist way: They treat their pieces like mandalas, spending a month gathering grains of sand only to blow them away at the end.<\/p>\n

\n
\"A <\/picture>\n
\n

Nadine Ellis (left) and West Liang perform \u201cBuxom Buddies,\u201d written by Grant Crater and directed by Aaron Leddick, at a Public Assembly theater show at the Women\u2019s Twentieth Century Club on Jan. 29.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

The development process is a key part of the company\u2019s philosophy. Submissions are selected through a collaborative review by the company\u2019s directors and curators, followed by a table read, multiple rehearsals and internal showings. After each run-through, participants gather in a circle to offer critiques. It is an explicit antidote to the Hollywood model, where notes are often anonymous and top-down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an iterative process,\u201d Bhabha often says. The plays this month were revised around 10 times, some 15. Curators, writers, actors and directors met several times a week to zero in on each piece, shaping it beat-by-beat while searching for its emotional pulse.<\/p>\n

While directors help mold the work, the writer retains ultimate authority. During rehearsals, directors regularly checked in to ensure that each choice resonated. The process is prescriptive, but the effect is liberating. \u201cThe tight container becomes freeing for most creatives,\u201d Bhabha says.<\/p>\n

I observed rehearsals for \u201cThe Weight of Being Me\u201d<\/i> in a donated room in Chinatown, small and dark enough to resemble a scene from \u201cSaw.\u201d By then, the characters had names, ages, accents and personality traits: \u201cpopular,\u201d \u201cagile,\u201d \u201cself-conscious.\u201d Time was precise: \u201cThe fourth hottest day of the year.\u201d Directors and actors fleshed out the world by asking ultra-specific questions: How many cans should be in the recycling bags? Should the beat last a millisecond longer? All the while, the company emphasized playfulness at the core of creation. Watching rehearsals, I felt as though I were observing a rigorous version of children\u2019s make-believe.<\/p>\n

\n
\"A <\/picture>\n
\n

Gerald C. Rivers performs a reenactment of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at a Public Assembly theater show at the Women\u2019s Twentieth Century Club.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Public Assembly\u2019s combination of structural rigor and verve gives its work a distinct sensibility. Screwball humor often runs through the pieces; they indulge in abstraction and never skew didactic. There are no needless digressions, and their architecture is as robust and tightly engineered as their characters are fully fleshed. The work moves with its own rhythms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe like to think of Public Assembly reaching a point where it could become an iconic institution in the city, something that feels like a rite of passage, while also imparting a style that is entirely its own,\u201d says Tavitian.<\/p>\n

For the January showcase, tickets sold out in 15 minutes, and actors struggled to comp their friends and family. That night\u2019s plays were staged in a women\u2019s center in Eagle Rock. Inside, the atmosphere was familial. The person who had shouted out \u201cscales\u201d at the previous showcase was there. So was Welikala.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Two <\/picture>\n
\n

Aaron Leddick (left) and Anastasia Leddick perform warm-up exercises before a Public Assembly show at the Women\u2019s Twentieth Century Club.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

When the audience again suggested themes \u2014 \u201cdrum solos,\u201d \u201cAI,\u201d \u201csquares\u201d \u2014 the curators and artistic directors huddled and emerged 30 seconds later with their theme for February: \u201cbodies of water!\u201d The room burst into cheers.<\/p>\n

New writers would submit. New plays would be born, rehearsed and dissolved. And in unassuming buildings scattered across Los Angeles, a reiterative imagining of community theater would continue, one Thursday night at a time.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last June, Naomi Welikala noticed a line curving around the block of her local American Legion, an unassuming building that rarely invited commotion. Curious, she asked the person at the back of the queue what they were waiting for. Welikala had stumbled upon one of L.A.\u2019s more unlikely cultural phenomena: Public Assembly theater. Founded in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2308116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2308115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Tiny-Public-Assembly-Theatre-stages-3-new-12-minute-plays-a.com2F782F9d2F5b3a16e74a6dbaa85d633ad5.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2308115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2308115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2308115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2308117,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2308115\/revisions\/2308117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2308116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2308115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2308115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2308115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}