Two Post-Show Talk Backs to Take Place During Run of World Premiere of SHARED SENTENCES

As part of Houses on the Moon Theater Company's dedication to amplifying unheard voices and community outreach, they will host two special post-show talkbacks with partners who have helped bring the world premiere of SHARED SENTENCES to the stage.

On October 30, Barbara Allan will read excerpts from her book Doing Our Time on The Outside: One Prison Family of 2.5 Million, a memoir about her experience navigating the criminal justice system and the circumstances that led her to co-found Prison Families Anonymous.

On November 6, Zudaydah Rivera will perform her story "Zudaydah With A Backwards Z," featured on the Houses on the Moon Podcast, about her own experiences about her own experiences with loved ones' incarceration. as a family member of incarcerated loved ones.

"The experiences of Barbara and Zudaydah have been integral to the creation of SHARED SENTENCES; even though this story is "fictionalized," it is based on real people and their real stories. Barbara and Zudaydah are two of those who have served as inspiration for this powerful piece. We are thrilled to have them share the stage and for our audiences to connect with them firsthand."

-Houses on the Moon Artistic Director, Emily Joy Weiner

Written by Emily Joy Weiner r's SHARED SENTENCES and directed by Lisa Rothe with additional material by Barbara Allan, Kevin Barron, Zudaydah Rivera, and Tanasha Gordon, and directed by Lisa Rothe, . SHARED SENTENCES explores the toll of incarceration on families and loved ones. The story follows Olivia, a lonely aspiring artist, who finds herself in a United Prison Families meeting, a support group for those with an incarcerated loved one. The piece explores how we define "family" and the struggle between the warmth and comfort of community and the cold depths of utter isolation.

Performances begin October 26 and will run through November 12 at 122CC, 2nd Floor Theater, 150 First Avenue at East 9th Street, NYC 10009.

In a continued effort to keep theatre affordable, Houses on the Moon will offer the first 25 tickets of
each performance of Shared Sentences for only $25 (the remaining tickets are $35 each). They will also offer a $55 buy-one-give-one ticket tier; this option supports their ticket subsidy program, which provides free or low-cost tickets to non-traditional audiences and accounts for nearly one-third of all ticket sales. Tickets are available at HousesOnTheMoon.org.

The cast includes Nikomeh Anderson (NY: The Civility of Albert Cashier), Glynis Bell (Broadway: The Ferryman, Angels in America), Yadira De La Riva (National Tour: One Journey), Raphael Nash Thompson (Regional: Much Ado About Nothing), David Anzuelo (Netflix's A New York Christmas Wedding) and Emily Joy Weiner (NY: Othello).

The creative team includes Tanya Orellana (Scenic Design), Theresa Squire (Costume Design), Amina Alexander (Lighting Design), and Lindsay Jones (Original Music and Sound Design).

SHARED SENTENCES began in 2018 with interviews of people with incarcerated loved ones: parents, siblings, partners, and friends who wanted to share their stories. Following the initial interviews, Houses on the Moon facilitated an 8-week storytelling workshop series with a select group of individuals, including an 84-year-old former elementary school teacher whose mentally ill husband murdered his father 50 years ago; a 25-year-old transgender man whose parents have both been incarcerated throughout his life; and a 40-year-old daughter whose father has been serving a life sentence since she was three years old. Working with the play's artistic team, Weiner has adapted stories and experiences from this group into an original play.

SHARED SENTENCES was originally developed by Houses on the Moon Theater Company with further development at Bethany Arts Community and Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at Fairfield University, and the support of various. SHARED SENTENCES has been developed with the support of our community partners, including Prison Families Anonymous, American Friends Service Committee Healing Justice Program, Echoes of Incarceration, New Hour-Long Island, The Fortune Society, and the Osborne Association. The project is made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Acton Family Fund, Howard Gilman Foundation, and many generous individuals.

BARBARA ALLAN

was a schoolteacher, wife and mother who had no contact with the criminal justice system until 1966 when her husband was imprisoned. Through her involvement with The Fortune Society and by relating to visitors who shared their trauma as they waited in prison visiting rooms, a network of families grew. As a result, Barbara and two other women decided to form a support group, which they named Prison Families Anonymous. She was involved with the publication of the folio edition of All I Ever Wanted...Stories of the Children of the Incarcerated. She has appeared in two documentary films and is currently working with Houses on The Moon Theater Company to help bring the stories of the Prison Family to the stage. She recently published her memoir, Doing Our Time on the Outside: One Prison Family of 2.5 Million.

Doing Our Time on the Outside: One Prison Family of 2.5 Million: Barbara Allan's introduction to the prison system came after her husband murdered his own father. Before that, she had faced her husband's alcoholism, his violent episodes, and multiple attempts to protect herself and her two daughters. But it was her confrontation with the criminal-justice system that has stuck with her-for almost fifty years. Founder of Prison Families Anonymous, Barbara discovered early on that families of the incarcerated had to do their own time, struggling to navigate a system that ignored them and sometimes actively shunned them. This is her story.

Zudaydah Rivera

was raised in Newark, NJ by her Puerto Rican grandparents who spoke no English and had no formal education. She was the first college graduate in her family. Despite her accomplishments, nothing compares to the pride she has for her children Marquis and Lord. She is a Fellow with The Beyond the Bars Fellowship at Columbia University Center for Social Justice. Zudaydah belongs to Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority Incorporated, whose. Their philanthropy centers on fundraising and advocacy is to fundraise and advocate for St Jude Children's Hospital l, and other social, political and community-focused services. Zudaydah works full time as a Program Assistant at Osborne Association, helping . She helps returning citizens get job training, steady employment, and into programs that support their reintegration into society. Zudaydah has been working on the SHARED SENTENCES project with Houses on the Moon Theater Company since 2017. She is a writer and performer, and believes that expressing oneself through art is a way to help others. Her father served a life sentence Life Sentence in prison of over three decades; she remembers she. She remembers visiting him, going through metal detectors and being intimidated by officers with bullet proof vests and shotguns. Zudaydah wants better societies for her children and everyone else's.

Description of "Zudaydah with a Backwards Z" from the Houses on the Moon Podcast:

On Episode 6 of the Houses on the Moon Podcast, we share Zudaydah Rivera shares her 's true tale from Houses on the Moon's SHARED SENTENCES, a storytelling project with people who have incarcerated loved ones.

Zudaydah was just 4 years old when she first visited her father in a maximum security prison. In her story, "Zudaydah with a Backwards Z", she struggles to help her young son deal with the imprisonment of his father, and face her own complicated relationship with mass incarceration. We also speak with Zudaydah and Prison Families Anonymous co-founder Barbara Allan about their lives, work, and involvement in SHARED SENTENCES.

To post a comment, you must register and login.