gUN COUNTRY

Jeff wrote and directed two of the Houses touring plays, BUILDING HOUSES ON THE MOON (Lucille Lortel, City Theatre, Pittsburgh, Winner: Best Play for an Ensemble, Columbus National Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival) and DE NOVO. (59E59 St. Theaters, Americas Off Broadway Festival, Tour of El Salvador) He is also the author of TARA’S CROSSING, which appeared at the Queens Theatre’s Immigrant Voice’s Project and its world premiere run at the Tenement Theatre in New York. DE NOVO and TARA’S CROSSING are presented widely in Law Schools as a training tool on asylum and refugee issues. As a solo performer and playwright Mr. Solomon’s MOTHER/SON premiered at HERE Art Center in New York and he received a Joseph Jefferson Nomination for Best Actor for the same performance in Chicago at the Bailiwick Rep. The play has toured the U.S., U.K. India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Australia and is used widely as a diversity training tool at colleges, universities, houses of worship and corporations. MOTHER/SON won the Audience Favorite, Best Playwriting and Best Male Solo Performer at the National Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival and Mr. Solomon won Best Male Performance at the Absolut Gay Theatre Festival in Dublin, Ireland. His other solo play SANTA CLAUS IS COMING OUT premiered at the Bailiwick in Chicago, ran Off Broadway the Kirk Playhouse and has toured nationally including the Diversionary Theatre in San Diego where it won a StageSceneLA’s Best Of 2010-2011 Award for Best Solo Performance. The play also received the Best of the National Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival. As head-writer for the CityKids Foundation in New York his theatrical works for young audiences appeared on Broadway at the St. James Theater, Carnegie Hall, the United Nations, community settings nationally and on the Oprah, Donahue and Arsenio shows. Jeffrey Solomon created an issue-based Saturday morning television program on A.B.C. called “CityKids” for Jim Henson Productions, and was also a staff writer for the same series. His pilot episode was nominated for an Emmy Award as Best Children’s Special as well as winning an Ollie Award for excellence in Children’s Programming and a Golden Rose Award for Human Values.

Emily Joy Weiner is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Houses on the Moon Theater Company, a NYC based 501c3 not for profit. Since the company’s inception in 2001 she has been creating, developing, performing, producing and directing new works that address the complex and sensitive issues of our time. Emily has been a facilitator of creative theater making workshops throughout the NYC public school system for the past 25 years, specializing in programs with teenagers and young adults going through the criminal justice system.  In most recent years Emily directed the Off-Broadway production of THE SANTA CLOSET at Teatro Circulo, guided the company through its production of DE NOVO at Next Door at NYTW, directed the world premiere of THE ASSIGNMENT at the ART/New York Theatres and continues to guide the touring, live storytelling production of gUN COUNTRY. She has performed all over NYC and beyond with some highlights including OTHELLO at the West End Theater, COMING THROUGH at the American Place Theatre, FINDING THE WORDS at the Lucille Lortel, AN EPIDOG with Mabou Mines and FEFU AND HER FRIENDS at Williamstown Theatre Festival. She co-developed and toured a one-woman adaptation of Faulkner’s AS I LAY DYING with the late Wynn Handman of The American Place Theatre whom she studied with for many years. The League of Professional Theatre Women recently honored Emily with the Josephine Abady award for her work with Houses in the creation of multicultural works. Her play, SHARED SENTENCES, had its Off Broadway world premiere in Fall 2022.

Ian Eaton has appeared in various plays, TV shows (Law & Order and HBO’s OZ) and independent films (SIGNS HE MADE AT HOME). Theatrical roles include Charlie Parker in FLIGHT (Metropolitan Theatre), Esteban in DAY OF THE KINGS (Intar), TARA’S CROSSING (Lucille Lortel) and OTHELLO (Clarion Theater). He last appeared in Arizona Theatre Company’s “Master Harold and the Boys” and received critical acclaim for his portrayal as Sam. Ian is a proud member of Only Make Believe, a non-profit organization that creates and performs interactive theater for children in hospitals and care facilities. He has been a dedicated member of Houses on the Moon’s artistic family since 2005.

Brenda Currin, Obie award winner (My Sister in This House by Wendy Kesselman), began her proud association with Houses on the Moon in 2011 doing a workshop (at the Flying E Ranch out west!) of Lucy Thurber’s play, Derivations. Brenda later helped gather the stories of transgender youth, TRANSformations and is one of the storytellers in gUN COUNTRY. For the Midtown International Fringe Festival she is rehearsing playing a new play Mr. Toole, playing the mother, Thelma Toole. She was recently seen as Beulah Binnings in Orpheus Descending, directed by Austin Pendleton in New York and Jef Hall- Also in New Orleans, she played Violet Venable in Southern Rep’s production of Suddenly Last Summer, directed by Aimée Hayes. Films: In Cold Blood (Nancy Clutter), The World According to Garp (Pooh), Reds, Taps, and cult classic C.H.U.D. Her many theater appearances in NYC and beyond include Mrs. Constable In the Summer House by Jane Bowles (Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival); and Mother in Doubtless by Albert Innaurato (59E59Theaters). Adapted along with David Kaplan, director, Brenda performed their acclaimed June Recital and A Fire Was In My Head (adapted by Kaplan) based on Eudora Welty’s work in New York, throughout the country and in Europe. At the 92nd St. Y she, Olympia Dukakis and Estelle Parsons did Welty’s “Asphodel”. In 1996 Brenda received her Master degree in anthropology from Hunter College, and co-founded WHAT GIRLS KNOW, a national theater program for the healthy development of adolescent girls.

In 1998 Elaine Lane lost her son to gun violence. In that year 3,792 youth under the age of 19 was killed due to gun violence, according to the Center for Disease Control. The loss of her only child took a heavy toll on her life. After years of suffering with grief, she founded David’s Shoes a New Jersey Nonprofit Corporation. The program’s mission is to reduce teen violence by encouraging children and youth to honor life. She has developed various programs that give opportunity to students to reflect positively about their lives. In addition, she established a book scholarship and mentoring program for young males from at – risk communities.

Cristina Hernandez is a New York City teaching artist with Enact, and site director for a middle school in the Bronx. She hails from the Dominican Republic and was raised in the Bronx. She is an actress, writer, and director. Cristina got her start with the CityKids Repertory Company, of which she is a founding member. With CityKids, she helped develop original theater to educate youth about issues including racism, violence, child abuse, animal cruelty, and the environment; she toured the US doing environmental education on the Earth Train. She was also featured on the Jim Henson CityKids show on ABC-TV. She has been seen on the Oprah Winfrey show, and has been in numerous plays, readings, and public service videos. She was last seen in De Novo at Houses on The Moon Theater Company, the Writer’s in Performance workshop, and is currently working on her one woman show. She uses her comedic talents to make learning fun. She has travelled throughout Spain to promote an independent film that dealt in part with mental health issues, and recently completed a public health education video for Metropolitan Hospital.

Amir Khafagy is Arab-Rican journalist, essayist, activist, and performer based in New York City. His work has been featured in City Limits, In These Times, Shelterforce, Jacobin, City Lab, The Indypendent, Counterpunch, and The Hampton Institute. Amir holds a MA/BA in Urban Affairs from Queens College.

Broadway: A Time To Kill; A Behanding In Spokane; Coram Boy; The Lieutenant of Inishmore; James Joyce’s The Dead; 1776; The Sound of Music. TV: “Mindhunter,” “Gotham,” “Limitless,” “Blue Bloods,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “The Good Wife,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Third Watch.” 

Erick Betancourt was recently seen in Our Lady of 121st dir: Phylicia Rashad, Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train (NY Times Critic’s Pick) dir: Mark Brokaw; Julius Caesar (Delacorte) dir: Oskar Eustis; Shakespeare Trilogy (NY Times Critic’s Pick) dir: Phyllida Lloyd; Last Days of Judas Iscariot dir: Estelle Parsons; Other theater credits: The Assignment (Inaugural Season A.R.T.NY/Theaters); Exposure (NYC Premiere); Reboot: Queen Latina (Cherry Lane), Three Sisters; Lady (Actors Studio Drama School Repertory); Dominica: The Fat Ugly Ho (LAByrinth Theatre Intensive) & Regional Work: Romeo and Juliet (Trinity Rep Co.) Film Credits: “11:55” & “Missing William” TV Credits: “Law & Order SVU” “Blacklist:Redemption” “Master of None” “Sneaky Pete.” Training: MFA: Actors Studio Drama School. BFA: University of Rhode Island. Erick is Lifetime Member of the Actors Studio.