Photo Flash: First Look at Houses on the Moon's Return Engagement of DE NOVO

Houses on the Moon Theater Company (Emily Joy Weiner, Co-Founder & Artistic Director; Kevin Connor, Managing Director), as part of the inaugural season ofNext Door at New York Theatre Workshop, presents the return engagement of the acclaimed documentary play DE NOVO written and directed by Jeffrey Solomon (Tara's Crossing) originally produced by the company in 2010. Original cast member Emily Joy Weiner (Coming Through) will be joined by Camilo Almonacid (The Assignment), Zuleyma Guevara (Uncommon Sense) and Manny Ureña (Breaking Brooklyn).

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). Opening Night is Thursday, December 7, 2017.

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 fourteen, 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.

DE NOVO originally premiered Off-Broadway at 59E59 Theaters in 2010 and was hailed as "Urgent timely docudrama," declared NY Theater.com. "Riveting," said Show Business Weekly, "with superb acting and directing...A well-crafted, intimate production." Since 2010, De Novo has widely toured NYC, the country, and internationally as far as El Salvador (with an all-Spanish production). Houses on the Moon is thrilled to be presenting this piece through Next Door at New York Theatre Workshop.

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.

Photo Credit: Russ Rowland

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