Jeremy Blocker Joins Audible as Head of Live Creative Producing

Jeremy Blocker will be joining Audible as head of live creative producing this summer. In this role, Blocker will drive all live programming and production at Audible's Minetta Lane Theatre. His responsibilities will also include advancing the mission and footprint of Audible Theater, evaluating the extraordinary catalogue of Audible Original IP for live adaptation, and developing and producing this content for millions of Audible listeners around the world. Today's news comes on the heels of the 2024 Drama Desk announcements, in which Audible was nominated for a groundbreaking fifteen awards, including Outstanding Musical Dead Outlaw, Outstanding Play Swing State, and Outstanding Solo Performance by Michael Cruz Kayne in Sorry for Your Loss.

Blocker joins Audible from New York Theatre Workshop – the celebrated off-Broadway institution known for work such as Rent, Hadestown, Once, What The Constitution Means To Me, Slave Play – where he's served as Executive Director since 2014.

“Known industry wide for his impeccable taste, curatorial talent and deep commitment to discovering emerging artists, Jeremy is an ideal fit to lead Audible's growing live business. We are lucky to have his vast experience, track record and widespread network to support the next stage of Audible Theater's evolution, and help elevate Audible Originals as a leading voice in live narrative entertainment,” commented Audible Head of Creative Development, Kate Navin. She continued, “Jeremy's contribution to New York Theatre Workshop was a boon to the entire theater community and it was a privilege to enjoy and applaud his work. We look forward to working side by side with him here at Audible to create incredible live performances at the Minetta as well as lasting audio content that reaches new and existing audio and theater lovers around the world.”

Blocker stated, “I have been deeply impressed by the impact Audible has made within the theater community in just a few years. Audible Theater has been a laboratory for theatrical innovation, finding new models to make work and reach audiences in New York City and around the world. I am beyond excited to be joining Audible's team and collaborating with them to create theater in new ways.” He continued, “Being part of New York Theatre Workshop for the last decade has been the honor of a lifetime; I am indescribably proud of what the community has accomplished over the past decade and deeply grateful for the time I spent there. While departing NYTW is bittersweet, I am excited to celebrate and support the Workshop's next chapter under Patricia McGregor's leadership.”

Since launching its live theater initiative in June 2017, Audible has produced over 100 theater titles and has commissioned 50 theater playwrights to receive support from its Emerging Playwrights Fund, dedicated to developing innovative English-language works from around the globe. Audible began producing at the Minetta Lane Theatre in 2018 and has staged productions such as Harry Clarke with Billy Crudup, Girls & Boys with Carey Mulligan, Swing State written by Rebecca Gilman and directed by Robert Falls, Sorry for Your Loss written by and starring Michael Cruz Kayne, and recently commissioned its first musical, The New York Times Critic's Pick and multi-award-nominated Dead Outlaw. Coming up at the Minetta is an encore engagement of Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares, back by popular demand after a three-night, sold-out run in February.

In the ten years since Blocker joined NYTW, the powerhouse company doubled its annual budget, allowing the theatre to deepen its support of artists at every stage of their careers and processes and to produce an impressive collection of work including: the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Hadestown from Anaïs Mitchell and Rachel Chavkin; Heidi Schreck's Tony and Pulitzer nominated What The Constitution Means to Me; Jeremy O. Harris's Tony nominated Slave Play; Kristina Wong's Pulitzer nominated Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord; Aleshea Harris's Pulitzer nominated On Sugarland; Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich's Pulitzer nominated Here There Are Blueberries; Maria Friedman's current Tony-nominated Broadway revival of Merrily We Roll Along; David Bowie, Enda Walsh, and Ivo van Hove's Lazarus; Sam Gold's Othello, starring David Oyelowo, Daniel Craig, and Rachel Brosnahan; four plays from Mfoniso Udofia's The Ufot Cycle; Martyna Majok's Sanctuary City; and a series of “Instigator Projects” which NYTW created and commissioned from members of its artistic community throughout 2020 and 2021 to make new work in various forms while in-person theatre was not possible.

Prior to arriving at NYTW, Jeremy served as the first Managing Director of Ars Nova, New York's premiere hub for new talent, where he produced six world premiere productions including the Obie Award-winning Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 by Dave Malloy, seven festivals, and dozens of concerts, readings and workshops. He has also previously served as Director of Individual Giving at Manhattan Theatre Club, Development Associate for Capital Projects at Atlantic Theater Company, and Producing Director of Babel Theatre Project, which he co-founded. Jeremy is an Assistant Adjunct Professor of Theatre Management and Producing at Columbia University's School of the Arts and holds a BA from Harvard University and an MFA from Columbia.

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