Photo Flash: Houses on the Moon Theater's DE NOVO Celebrates Opening Night at NYTW

Houses on the Moon Theater Company, as part of the inaugural season of Next Door at New York Theatre Workshop, presents the return engagement of the acclaimed documentary play DE NOVO, written and directed by Jeffrey Solomon, originally produced by the company in 2010. Performances began December 1, 2017 for a limited engagement through Friday, December 22, 2017. The production is being staged at New York Theatre Workshop's Fourth Street Theatre (83 East 4th Street). The show just opened and BroadwayWorld has photos from the festivities below!

Houses on the Moon presents its acclaimed production of DE NOVO, which tells the true story of a teenaged boy from Guatemala who faced deportation after fleeing to the U.S. to escape gang life. The gang MS13 was the only family Edgar Chocoy had ever known, but he dreamed of a better life. At 14, he fled Guatemala City and travelled over 3,000 miles, across the borders of three countries in search of his mother, who left him when he was a baby to find work in the United States. Detained by the Department of Homeland Security, he pleaded with a Colorado judge not to deport him to Guatemala, where the gang he left had sentenced him to death.

This documentary play is crafted entirely from immigration court transcripts, letters, and extensive interviews conducted by Houses on the Moon company members in Los Angeles, Colorado and Arizona at Southwest Key, the largest facility for detained immigrant minors in the United States. DE NOVO is augmented with projected images from Donna DeCesare, an award-winning photojournalist who is widely known for her groundbreaking coverage of the spread of Los Angeles gangs in Central America.

DE NOVO provides a rare glimpse into the life of an "unaccompanied alien minor," thousands of whom make the dangerous journey across the border and through the U.S. justice system each year. Though there are thousands of foreign-born minors in U.S. custody; barriers of language, age, class, culture, and law conspire to make this population invisible to many. Their stories of migration are poignant, heroic and painful. They deserve to be heard.

The cast of DE NOVO includes Camilo Almonacid (The Assignment), Zuleyma Guevara (Uncommon Sense), Manny Ureña (Breaking Brooklyn) and Emily Joy Weiner (Coming Through).

The creative team includes scenic design by Lawrence Moten, costume design by Genevieve V. Beller, lighting design by Christina Watanabe, with Projected Images by Donna DeCesare,original music by Andrew Ingkavet, and props design by Mikaela Hogan. Production Manager/Projections Designer is Zachary Spitzer. Production Stage Manager is Jamie Rose Bukowski. Consulting Producer is R. Erin Craig/La Vie Productions.

Photo Credit: Russ Rowland

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