Shared Sentences

Shared sentences

SHARED SENTENCES is a 90 minute play exploring the toll of incarceration on families and loved ones. The story follows six individuals from all walks of life who find themselves in a United Prison Families meeting, a support group for those with an incarcerated loved one. The play explores the complicated dynamics of race, class, experience, education, and privilege among individuals joined by shared trauma, and celebrates the strength we find in supporting one another. 

SHARED SENTENCES had its Off-Broadway world premiere at 122 CC (150 First Avenue, NYC) from October 26-November 12, 2022, and is now touring schools, community centers, theaters and other venues. For more information about bringing this play to your community, please review the info packet below and reach out to us at [email protected].

artistic team

Lisa Rothe

Director

Lisa Rothe is a NY based freelance theater director, acting /vocal coach and educator. She was nominated for SDC’s Joe A. Callaway Award for Direction for Hold These Truths by Jeanne Sakata, produced by Epic Theatre Ensemble in NYC. The play was also nominated for a Drama Desk award for Best Solo Performance by actor Joel de la Fuente and the Tony Award winning TheatreWorks/Silicon Valley production recently won 3 Theatre Bay Area Awards for Outstanding Direction, Outstanding Performer and Outstanding Production. Other productions at The Cultch Historic Theatre in Vancouver, Barrington Stages, The Guthrie Theater, ACT in Seattle, Playmakers Repertory Theatre, the Honolulu Theatre for Youth, the SoloNova Festival in NYC, and was produced by Hang A Tale at the Sheen Center in NYC. Previously the Director of New Works at Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Lisa was thrilled to produce the 4th annual Origins KC New Works Festival. Alongside Angel Desai and Grace Zandarski, Lisa was a coArtistic Director of The Actor’s Center in NYC for the three years. She is also a recent co-President of the League of Professional Theatre Women, is on the Artistic Advisory Council of Epic Theatre Ensemble, on the Advisory Boards of Houses on the Moon and the Detroit Public Theatre, a Usual Suspect with New York Theatre Workshop, an Artistic Affiliate and Audrey Fellow with New Georges, a Drama League alum, a fox Fellow alum and a member of the National Theater Conference. Lisa received her MFA from NYU’s Graduate Acting Program and was subsequently invited by Zelda Fichandler to be part of the inaugural year of NYU’s Directing program for alumni of the MFA Acting program. She also studied with the legendary Joseph Chaikin in his workshop for actors and directors.

Emily Joy Weiner

Playwright

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.

Lindsay Jones

Sound Design and Original Music

LINDSAY JONES (Original Music and Sound Design) Broadway: Slave Play (Tony nominations for Best Original Score, Best Sound Design of a Play), The Nap, Bronx Bombers, A Time to Kill. Off Broadway: Privacy (Public Theater), Bootycandy (Playwrights Horizons), Feeding the Dragon (Primary Stages), many others. Regional: Guthrie, Center Stage, ACT, Hartford Stage, Alliance, Goodman, Arena Stage, Chicago Shakespeare, Steppenwolf, many others. International: Stratford Festival (Canada), Royal Shakespeare Company (England), many others. Audio dramas: Marvel, Audible, Next Chapter Podcasts, award-winning “The Imagine Neighborhood.” Film/television scoring: HBO Films’s A Note of Triumph (2006 Academy Award for Best Documentary, Short Subject). Co-Chair of Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association (TSDCA). lindsayjones.com

Tanya orellana

Scenic Designer

Tanya Orellana (she/her) designs performance spaces for theatre, opera and immersive experiences. Collaborations include For The People by Larissa FastHorse and Ty Defoe at The Guthrie Theatre, Big Data by Kate Attwelll directed by Pam MacKinnon at A.C.T., Oedipus directed by Jenny Koons at The Getty Villa,  We the Peoples Before directed by Roberta Uno at The Kennedy Center,  The Industry’s Sweet Land, an immersive opera directed by Yuval Sharon and Cannupa Hanska Luger at LA State Historic Park,  Long Beach Opera’s Voices from a Killing Jar by Kate Soper, directed by Zoe Aja Moore,  LEAR by Marcus Gardley directed by Eric Ting (Calshakes), and The Kind Ones by Miranda Rose Hall directed by Lisa Peterson (Magic Theatre). She is a member of Wingspace Theatrical Design and an organizing member of La Gente: The Latine Theatre Production Network. She received her MFA in Scenic Design from CalArts and is a recipient of the Princess Grace Fabergé Theatre Award. www.tanyaorellana.com

Amina Alexander

Lighting Designer

Amina Alexander is a freelance lighting designer/assistant based in New York City.She works in many areas of lighting design from fashion, theatre, dance and live music. Design credits include Colin Quinn’s The Last Best Hope (Off-Broadway), Stick Fly at St Louis Rep Theater, Superhero at The Sheen Center (Off-Broadway) to name a few. Assistant credits include Fall For Dance 2021, Black No More at Signature Theatre, and KPOP (Broadway). She is the lighting designer/programmer and assistant production manager for Simple Solutions Production Group NYC. She is the lighting fellow for Black Theatre Coalition 21/22.

Theresa Squire

Costume Designer

Theresa Squire has been designing costumes in New York City and beyond since graduating from NYU in 1997. She designs mainly for theatre, but her work has also been seen in dance, film, print, industrials, commercials and for her child’s favorite holiday, Halloween. Shared Sentences marks Theresa’s first realized production since she designed the costumes for Fun Home at Kansas City Rep in January 2020.

Maria nieto

Assistant Costumes Designer

Kara Michelin

Props Designer

cast

Nikomeh Anderson

Tee

Nikomeh Anderson (They/He/Sir/Nik) is a BK/Lenape land based Professional Actor, Multidisciplinary Performer + Content Creator, Teaching Artist + Holistic Facilitator, Erotic Creative + Intimacy Captain. They are an Event + Creative Project Producer with their Black Trans+Queer, Nuerodiverse+Disabled collective house and artistic collaborative, Community Oasis Igniting Liberation. Their primary artistic mediums are movement, poetry, acting, music/singing, and energywork. Holistic Embodiment, Consent, Healing+Disability justice, Anti-Capitalist Colonialism, Climate Justice, Pleasure Activism and Liberation thru Relationships + Community Care are central to their creative mission. Recent acting credits: The Players Theatre, WP Theatre, Center Theatre Group IG:@wickedsirnik linktr.ee/wickedsirnik

David Anzuelo

Sebastian

David Anzuelo –  Off Broadway theater: Halfway Bitches Go Straight To Heaven (Labyrinth/Atlantic) Fish Men; Se Llama Cristina (Intar). Intimacy (New Group). Regional: Mother Road (Arena); Our Town; 12 Angry Men (Northern Stage). Mother F*cker With the Hat (Kitchen Theater). Oedipus El Rey (Woolly Mammoth). Frost/Nixon (Rep Theater of St. Louis). Stand-up Tragedy (Joseph Jefferson Award, Best Supporting Actor, Apple Tree Theater). Film: “A New York Christmas Wedding”; “A Walk Among The Tombstones:; “Remember Me”. TV: “Succession”; “Blue Bloods”; “Elementary”; “The Americans”; “Deadbeat”; “Person of Interest”; “Law & Order”; “NYC-22”. He’s a member of Labyrinth Theater Company.

Glynis Bell

Barbara

GLYNIS BELL was a member of John Houseman’s Acting Company with Kevin Kline and Patti Lupone. Her Broadway credits include: The Ferryman, Angels in America, A Dolls House Part 2, Therese Raquin, Looped and My Fair Lady. Glynis toured the country in The Vagina Monologues. She has performed in countless regional theatres where her favorite roles included: Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Sister Aloysius in Doubt, Silda in Other Desert Cities along with leads in 23 of Shakespeare’s plays. Glynis has been in three iterations of “Law And Order”playing Judges, lawyers, doctors and various mothers.

Yadira De La Riva

Celeste

Yadira De La Riva is a theater artist from El Paso, Texas/Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Alumna of UCSC and NYU, Yadira wrote, performed and produced One Journey, a one-woman show exploring US/Mexico border identity that toured throughout the U.S. and along the U.S./Mexico border. Her recent credits include: Carla’s Quince (Virtual-Drama League Award Nominated), Zoongoro Bailongo (New York Children’s Theater), Papo’s Variety Store (LATEA Theater), La Negra (BRIC), Noche de Alebrijes (Art Vallarta), Alonzo (2019 New York Latino Film Festival), NERO (Kyoung Pacific Beat), Shared Sentences (Houses on the Moon) and The Diamond (People’s Theatre Project). www.yadiradelariva.com

Raphael Nash Thompson

Harold

RAPHAEL NASH THOMPSON Broadway: The Sign In Sidney Brustein’s Window (The Village Crier, Inc). Off-Broadway: Shared Sentences (Houses On The Moon Theater), Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Heartbreak House (Gingold Theatrical Group), F*cking A (Signature Theatre), Pericles (dir. Trevor Nunn, Theatre for a New Audience), Pericles, Volpone, The Witch of Edmonton, Edward II (Red Bull Theater). Regional: Miss You Like Hell (Center Stage), The Guard (City Theatre), All the Days (McCarter Theatre), Richard III (Shakespeare Theatre Company, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival),  Julius Caesar (Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis), Othello, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Coriolanus, Much Ado About Nothing, (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey), Electra (Hartford Stage), Paul Robeson (TheaterWorks), Ajax (dir. Peter Sellars, American National Theater), The Threepenny Opera (Wilma Theater), Gal Baby (dir. Kenny Leon, Alliance Theater). Film: Searching for Bobby Fischer, Kiss of Death, Clockers. TV: Search Party (HBO Max),  Elementary (CBS), Ed (NBC), Third Watch (NBC), Soul Food (Showtime).

Emily Joy Weiner

Olivia

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.

Get Support, Take action

Prison Families Alliance – Improving awareness about the effects of incarceration on families through education, support, and advocacy.

American Friends Service Committee: Healing Justice Program – The Healing Justice Program at AFSC advocates for human-centered alternatives to policing and incarceration, better reintegration after prison, an end to prison privatization, more humane conditions of confinement, and ultimately, the abolition of prisons, jails, and detention centers.

Echoes of Incarceration – Echoes of Incarceration is an award-winning documentary initiative produced by youth who are directly impacted by the criminal justice system.

The Osborne Association – Osborne works directly with people affected by the criminal justice system and advocates for policies and practices that promote dignity, justice, and liberation.

The Fortune Society – The Fortune Society’s mission is to support successful reentry from incarceration and promote alternatives to incarceration, thus strengthening the fabric of our communities.

New Hour for Women and Children – New Hour was founded to provide meaningful support to current and formerly incarcerated women, their children and families.

Strong Prison Wives and Families – This 501(c)3 seeks to enhance the lives of inmate supporters through programs designed to provide empowerment, education, and support; qualities we believe are essential to breaking the cycle of recidivism.

Release Aging People in Prison – Led by formerly incarcerated people and family members of people in prison, RAPP works to end mass incarceration and promote racial justice through the release of aging people in prison and those serving long sentences.