Docbloc

06/17/2026

Docbloc is has been piloting an Artist-led Citizen Journalist (ACJ) project in collaboration with The Indypendent this spring with a fabulous cohort of multidisciplinary theatre-makers and journalists. We have been writing articles for The Indypendent, publishing photographs, doing newspaper theatre, and interview based performance. The ACJ initiative explores a hybrid model of reporting and performance, positioning theatre artists as civic witnesses and collaborators in local journalism. Here, ACJ cohort member Karina shares interview testimony she collected at the Rent Guidelines Board hearing in Manhattan.

06/17/2026

Our Artist-led Citizen Journalist cohort is hard at work covering the Rent Guidelines Board hearing for The Indypendent tonight at Symphony Space in Manhattan.

06/15/2026

On Saturday, as part of DOCBLOC’s current Bechdel Project residency our Artist in Residence, aaron moore ellis, shared their work in progress: WE RISE, a participatory documentary musical theatre project that uses the testimony, chants, and songs of people with first-hand experience of the 2025/2026 ICE/CBP/DHS “Operation Metro Surge” in Bdé Óta Othuŋwe, “The City of Many Lakes,” aka Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The script incorporates first-hand testimonies about harm and violence people experienced and witnessed during Metro Surge; strategies and experiences of protest, struggle, and righteous resistance to federal law enforcement; as well as efforts to provide and sustain mutual aid and other support for those most impacted by the “Operation.”

Thank you to our community members who joined us. Or maybe just. There is just one more workshop this residency, but will be back with more opportunities to engage in this project.

06/05/2026

Docbloc is piloting an Artist-as-Citizen-Journalist initiative this summer at BECHDEL PROJECT. We are working in collaboration with The Indypendent to cover the NYC Rent Guidelines Board hearings by writing articles and conducting interviews with tenants that our ensemble will present at the hearings. The goal is to bring together theatre artists and journalists to share in civic reporting and the growing need for community-based storytelling. Check out our first article:

A rent freeze is the minimum goal, tenants say as June 25 Rent Guidelines Board final decision approaches.

05/21/2026

Our Citizen Journalist cohort is hard at work at . We’ll be covering the NYC Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) hearings for . The RGB holds in-person public hearings each June to hear testimony regarding proposed lease adjustments for rent-stabilized apartments, lofts, and hotels. We will also be collecting and presenting testimonies from some of NYC’s most marginalized community members who cannot attend the hearings in person.

05/19/2026

We’re thrilled to share that we received a grant from the Citizens Committee of New York City to support our Intergenerational Theatre Lab this fall. Stay tuned to hear how you can be part of our second ITL cohort. Thank you, for your generous support!

05/09/2026

We kicked off our Artist as Citizen Journalist initiative with a journalism workshop led by John Tarleton, Editor-in-Chief of The Indypendent (). Our Citizen Journalist cohort will be covering the Rent Guidelines Board hearings over the next month by writing articles, taking photographs, and creating performance pieces. We’re excited to explore this collaboration between theatre makers and journalists.

Cohort members:
📸:

05/07/2026

This week we’re sharing the new projects we are developing in the FIFE CoHo Residency this summer. We’re excited to be working on “Play Without Ceasing” by Wren Phoenix and directed by , which explores Christian Nationalism from the perspective of a preacher’s kid. We’re workshopping the script this summer and debuting the play in fall 2026.

About the Artist: Wren Phoenix (they/them) is thrilled and honored to continue their collaboration with Dr. Ash Marinaccio and the DocBloc community. Wren is an award-winning, non-binary, neurodivergent, multi-hyphenate artist and arts educator based in New York City. As a performer, they relish devised work and specialize in quirky underdogs with a soulful soprano (a “Julie and Carol” special with a Jane Lynch edge). As a writer, they pen stories about magic, spirituality, q***r identity and the EXvangelical experience.

Their latest short film, “Counting”, won first place in the shorts category in the North by Northwest Micro-Budget Film Festival and Best Screenplay Award at the Fargo Moorhead LGBT Film Festival. Most recently, they were an inaugural member of DocBloc’s Intergenerational Theater Lab, and its devised piece, Now and Then and Now, was well-received at The Tank. A veteran performer with Frigid New York’s Living Radio, they’ve voiced and/or penned 100+ roles. Other favorites include Mrs. Ruthers in “Attackazoids, DEPLOY!” (Grand Prize Nominee, USA Film Festival), Iris in Children’s Letters to God (TYA National Tour) and Helena in A MidSummer Night’s Dream (Lucille Lortel).

As an arts educator, Wren has co-created, adapted, and directed 100+ original short plays / film projects for and with K-8 children, including adaptations of both Shakespeare and musicals. In addition to their one-person show currently in development with DocBloc, Wren will also soon launch a podcast for ex-vangelical artists. A cm laude graduate of both Millikin University and The New School for Drama, Wren is a proud member of both Actor’s Equity Association and The Ring of Keys.

05/06/2026

This week we’re sharing some of the new projects we’re working on in the FIFE coho Residency with . We are thrilled to be developing WE RISE by aaron moore ellis ( ) a documentary musical about the ICE Raids in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

About the Creator: aaron moore ellis (they/them) has a PhD in Theater and Performance as well as a MA in Religion, Ethics, and Philosophy from Florida State University, in historic Anhaica (AKA Tallahassee, Florida). ellis is an activist/organizer and interdisciplinary artist, using community-based arts like applied theater, theater of the oppressed, ritual arts, and devised performance to address critical social justice issues; questions of faith, meaning, hope, and doubt; and to lift up the voices and stories of those most impacted by oppression and social injustice. ellis teaches and facilitates workshops widely in theater, social justice, and world religions at universities, conservatories, seminaries, community colleges, prisons, and in other community settings. ellis is program developer and grantwriter for Latinx, immigrant theater company, Descolonizarte Teatro, and a freelance facilitator of courageous conversations for the Peace & Justice Institute (on Timucua, Seminole, and Miccosukee lands, AKA Orlando, Florida); co-editor of the open-source, peer-reviewed Pedagogy and Theater of the Oppressed Journal; and serves on the Board of the National Q***r Theater (Lenapehoking, AKA NYC). ellis splits time and work between Lenapehoking and Timucua, Seminole, Anais, and Miccosukee lands (Central Florida).

05/05/2026

We are thrilled to announce our Artist as Citizen Journalist initiative, bringing together theatre makers and journalists in a shared act of civic reporting. Welcome , , , and to the pilot cohort. will facilitate.

We’ll be collaborating with on this initiative and are grateful to and for financial and space support to get this off the ground. We look forward to sharing the work. ✍️🖤