TIMELINE | HISTORY | BIOS

History

Houses on the Moon Theater Company was founded in the fall of 2001.
(About Our Name)

Founders and co-artistic directors Jeffrey Solomon and Emily Weiner met while working together as teaching artists in the NYC public schools. They discovered they shared very similar ideas about theater being singular in its ability to portray aspects of the human condition in a dynamic, accessible way and to engender complex discussion and lasting and meaningful connections. They began to conceive of a theater company that could create work that was essential in some way: a theater that could truly serve the needs of the community.

Houses on the Moon incorporated in 2001 and developed their first two projects/plays, which are currently touring the Northeast. In the spring of 2006 Houses transitioned into a not-for-profit and received its 501c3.Some of the issues the company has explored to date include homophobia, coping with violence and post-traumatic stress disorder, racism, classism, immigration/detention and political asylum.

The company is dedicated to creating accessible, easily portable work with a wide appeal for multi-generational and multicultural audiences.While productions sometimes appear in traditional theatrical venues, a special emphasis is placed on expanding the theater walls to include the classroom, boardroom, houses of worship, and other community and public spaces.Partnership, feedback and collaboration with community are integral to every phase of development and performance of our theater projects.

Community partners to date have included Amnesty International OutFront!, the American Friends Service Committee Immigrant Rights Program, Human Rights First, GLSEN Boston, PFLAG Philadelphia and many others.Houses on the Moon has performed at Universities, High Schools, Conferences and community venues across the country as well as the Lucille Lortel Theater, Queens Theatre in the Park, The City Theater of Pittsburgh, Connecticut Repertory Theater, the Lower East Side Tenement Theater, Queens Pride House, The International House in Philadelphia and many more.

The company’s inaugural production “Building Houses on the Moon”, an original play about the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth, has been performed for student audiences throughout the Northeast and been used extensively as a diversity training tool for educators and administrators. The play has also appeared at regional theaters such as the City Theatre of Pittsburgh and the Columbus National Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival where it won the Award for Best Ensemble Production.

“Finding the Words,” a co-production with Enact, Inc. is a documentary theater piece curated from interviews and poetry of young people and educators who were on the front lines of the unprecedented events of September 11th, 2001. The play toured New York City schools on a grant from Time-Warner and Project Liberty and was presented as a training tool on dealing with traumatized youth at the American Group Psychotherapy Conference. It also appeared Off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

“Tara’s Crossing” was inspired by dozens of interviews with refugees fleeing persecution due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. The play is one of the first ever to deal with political asylum for sexual minorities, a remedy that has been available in this country since 1994. The play had its developmental reading at the Queens Theatre’s Immigrant Voices Project and its world premiere run at the Lower East Side Tenement Theatre in a production underwritten by The American Friends Service Committee Immigrant Rights Program. The Detention Watch Network presented the play in the fall of ’05 at their National Conference at the American University Washington School of Law in Washington D.C. as a training tool for immigration lawyers and service providers.

The company’s newest work, DE NOVO PART 1 – ‘LIL SILENT, deals with the lives of undocumented youth in U.S. immigration custody and had its world premiere at the Rattlestick Rep in a production underwritten by the American Immigration Lawyer’s Association and New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs.