• Ivan Dillard

    FOUNDING COMPANY MEMBER + RESIDENT COMPOSER

    Ivan is an SMU Music grad and resident composer for Fair Assembly. He composed and performed for Romeo and Juliet (with Ian Ferguson) and Macbeth, and composed the music of As You Like It and Twelfth Night

  • Ian Ferguson

    FOUNDING COMPANY MEMBER + ADDITIONAL COMPOSER/MUSICIAN

    Ian Ferguson first appeared as Mercutio in Fair Assembly’s inaugural production of Romeo and Juliet and co-wrote the music with Ivan Dillard. He composed the music of King Lear and co-directed the production.

  • Eduardo Vélez III

    COMPANY MEMBER + ADDITIONAL COMPOSER/MUSICIAN/ARRANGER

    Eduardo joined the company in 2025 after appearing as the King of France in King Lear. He arranged William Cornysh’s “Ah Robin for Twelfth Night and worked as the music captain for the production

The Music of
Twelfth Night (Or What You Will)

Twelfth Night’s original music was composed by Ivan Dillard. Below are early drafts of the music of Twelfth Night as well as the final number, “Hey, Ho, the Wind and the Rain” sung by the entire cast

The Music of
As You Like It

The music of As You Like It was composed by Ivan Dillard and performed by Caitlin Chapa (Audrey) and Logan Rhys Hallwas (Le Beau/William). Meagan Harris as Jaques plays a slowed-down of his song to the tune of, “Under the Greenwood Tree”

The Music of Macbeth

Though Macbeth has a less pronounced need for music (no dance scene, no funeral, no wedding), we ask the question, "How does the play sound?" In the words of our Macbeth’s youngest cast member, fourth-grader Nadine DeBerardinis, "It's almost more sound than music." We have a little of both.

In the clip below, Ivan is working in B Locrian mode: all the white notes on the piano starting and ending on B natural. Locrian is known for its dissonance and instability; harmonizing with it proves difficult, and its tritone interval sounds like it wants to resolve. A tritone is often called "diabolus in musica" – latin for "the Devil in music". In the middle ages, tritones were avoided because they sounded so unsettling.

What is more unsettling than not knowing? We often see the witches as puppeteers of this world, deciding the fate of the characters in advance. To us, this feels a bit more Romeo and Juliet ("some consequence yet hanging in the stars"). This story—indeed the nightmare of Macbeth—depends so much on what could be, rather than what is. Is there more in the witches than mortal knowledge? We invite audiences rather to stand "rapt in the wonder of it."