Houses on the Moon Theater Company Present 'DE NOVO' - Part 1: Lil' Silent 11/12-14

By: Nov. 05, 2009
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The Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College presents the first show of the Fall 2009 Season The Art of Justice Series, which integrates the performing arts and issues on justice, "DE NOVO" - Part 1: Lil' Silent, running from November 12-14, 2009 at 7pm at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, 899 Tenth Avenue, NYC. Admission is $15 (CUNY Students FREE). For tickets, call Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 or visit
www.ticketcentral.com.

This season the Gerald W. Lynch Theater launches a new JustIce Theatre Festival, which showcases new plays that address themes of justice. The theme for Fall 2009 is FLESH & BLOOD: Justice and the Family.

"DE NOVO" - Part 1: Lil' Silent is the gripping true story of fourteen year-old Edgar Chocoy, who fled Guatemala to escape the largest gang in Central America, only to be sentenced to death by a flawed U.S. immigration system. Talkbacks follow each performance. Written and directed by Jeffrey Solomon. Additional Play Development by Emily Weiner with translation by Alex Escalante, Jose Aranda, Carlo D'Amore and Paola Poucel. Projected Images by Donna Decesare. Composer / Sound Designer is Andrew Ingkavet. Presented by Houses on the Moon Theater Company. Featuring Arturo Castro, Cristina Hernandez, Jesse J. Perez, Clifford Rivera, Socorro Santiago, Emily Joy Weiner.

The play is augmented with the projection of startling and poignant images from Donna Decesare, an award-winning photojournalist widely known for her groundbreaking coverage of the spread of Los Angeles gangs in Central America.

Jeffrey Solomon (Playwright/Director) wrote and directed Building Houses on the Moon, Houses on the Moon Theater Company's debut production, which appeared previously at the Lucille Lortel and won the award for Best Playwright for an Ensemble Production at the 2004 Columbus National Gay and Lesbian Theater Festival. He also wrote Tara's Crossing, which ran at the Lower East Side Tenement Theater and is currently touring nationally. Mr. Solomon wrote the pilot episode for Jim Henson's CityKids, which received an Emmy nomination for Best Children's Special as well as winning an Ollie Award for Excellence in Children's Programming. His solo plays MotherSON and Santa Claus is Coming Out have appeared internationally.

Donna Decesare (Projected Images) is an award-winning photojournalist with extensive experience covering Latin America, she is widely known for her groundbreaking coverage of the spread of Los Angeles gangs in Central America. She is currently Associate Professor of Photojournalism at the University of Texas at Austin, a member of the Advisory Board of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, and she is on the executive committee of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma.

Andrew Ingkavet (Composer/Sound Designer) composes for film, television, new media, and theatre. He was nominated for Outstanding Original Music at the 2007 NYIT Awards for his 70 minute score to Abandon at LaMama ETC. Andrew is currently working on a live sound installation called If London Could Cry appearing at NYU on April 10, 2008. He is also writing a futuristic, sci-fi opera Working Title 2030. Andrew is founder of audio agency 300 Monks, providing audio brand strategy to Fortune 500 companies and their advertising agencies.

Arturo Castro* (Edgar Chocoy) has been performing internationally for the past ten years. Born in Guatemala, he began his career performing in children's plays all over Latin America, and was given his own television show at age 18. He moved to New York at the age of 19 to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he graduated in May, 2007 and began his professional career as a New York actor. He stars in the upcoming feature film "Looking for Palladin" where he got the chance to perform with veteran actors, such as Talia Shire, Vinnie Pastore, and Ben Gazzara. Since graduating, he has starred as the lead in 5 professional stage productions, 2 independent movies, and directed an original play at the National Comedy Theatre in NYC.

Jesse J. Perez*(Byron Vasquez, Scott Johns, Ensemble) Off-Broadway: Triple Happiness (Second Stage Theatre), Barrio Girl (Summer Play Festival), Recent Tragic Events (Playwrights Horizons), In the Penal Colony (Classic Stage Company), Up Against the Wind (New York Theatre Workshop). Regional: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare on the Sound), Hard Weather Boating Party (Humana Festival), Lucia di Lammermoor (Metropolitan Opera), Arabian Nights (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), Lulu (Yale Repertory Theatre), Argonautika (Lookingglass Theatre Company), Celebrity Row (Portland Center Stage), Pericles (Goodman Theatre), The Cherry Orchard (Yale Repertory Theatre), Hamlet (McCarter Theatre Center). Film and Television: "American Splendor," "All Night Bodega," "Playing God," "Kazaam," "Life on Mars," "Law & Order," "Law & Order SVU," "The Job," "Third Watch." Jesse is a graduate from The Juilliard School.

Clifford Rivera (Santiago Sanchez, Judge Vandello, Ensemble) Born and raised in NYC, Rivera went from the US Navy to University of Central Florida to the American Academy of Drama (graduate) to the NY school for Film (graduate) with a stop in between for Classical Shakespeare with Andrew Wade of the Royal Shakespeare Company. New York Theatre: Live from Times Square, Habeas Corpus, A Gown For His Mistress, The Heiress, Arms and the Man. Regional: Desire Under the Elms, How I Learned To Drive, Into the Woods, Noises Off.

Socorro Santiago* (Margarita Guzman and Ensemble) Broadway: The Bacchae (Circle In The Square, directed by Michael Cacoyannis). Off Broadway: De Donde (NYSF-The Public); L'Ilusion, adapted by Tony Kushner (New York Theatre Workshop): The Promise by Jose Rivera (Ensemble Studio Theatre); Take II (Naked Angels) and well as numerous others. Regional Theatres: Lucy and the Conquest (Williamstown); Trojan Women (Shakespeare Theatre, directed by JoAnne Akailitis); The Clean House (WHAT); Living Out (Denver Center of Performing Arts, directed by Wendy Goldberg). Films include Night Falls on Manhattan, directed by Sidney Lumet; Devil's Advocate, directed by Taylor Hackford; Happiness, directed by Todd Solondz; Freedomland, Virgin and the soon-to-be-released Order of Redemption. Television credits include "Third Watch," "Law & Order," "The Cosby Mysteries," "All My Children," for which she received The Alma award (American Latin Media Arts) for her work as Isabella Santos. She is also the voice of Dora's mom in "Dora The Explorer."

Emily Joy Weiner* (Kim and Ensemble) NY credits include Othello at the West End Theater, Coming Through at the American Place Theater, Tara's Crossing at the Lower East Side Tenement Theater and the Lucille Lortel, Finding the Words at the Lucille Lortel, Henry V at the Bank Street Theater, and An Epidog with Mabou Mines. Regionally she has been seen in The Crucible at Madison Repertory Theatre, Fefu and Her Friends and The Threepenny Opera at Williamstown Theater Festival, and the company's pilot play Building Houses on the Moon (touring nationally). Film credits include Plague (3 Point Productions), The Eight (Madison Film Festival), and Hello From Bertha (Circle Pictures). She is the co-founder of Houses on the Moon Theater Company.

Houses on the Moon Theater Company was founded in the fall of 2001 with a mission to dispel ignorance and isolation through the theatrical amplification of unheard voices. Houses on the Moon has performed at universities, high schools, conferences and community venues across the country as well as the Lucille Lortel Theater in New York City, Queens Theatre in the Park, The City Theater of Pittsburgh, the Davis Discovery Center in Columbus OH, The Connecticut Repertory Theater, the Lower East Side Tenement Theater, The International House in Philadelphia and many more.

Since opening its doors in 1988, the Gerald W. Lynch Theater has been an invaluable cultural resource for John Jay College and the larger New York City community. Under the new direction of Executive Director Shannon R. Mayers, the Theater is dedicated to the creation and presentation of performing arts programming of all disciplines with a special focus on how the artistic imagination can shed light on the many perceptions of justice in our society.

About John Jay College of Criminal Justice: An international leader in educating for justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice of The City University of New York offers a rich liberal arts and professional studies curriculum to upwards of 14,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 135 nations. In teaching, scholarship and research, the College approaches justice as an applied art and science in servIce To society and as an ongoing conversation about fundamental human desires for fairness, equality and the rule of law. For more information, visit www.jjay.cuny.edu.

For more information, visit www.jjay.cuny.edu/theater.php.



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