THE PAST IS ALWAYS PRESENT
We’re bringing to life powerful, untold stories that have been erased from our U.S. history education. Join us as we use theater to inspire, educate, and entertain!
Houses on the Moon is proud to be part of “The Past Is Always Present,” a dynamic method of creating and presenting LGBTQ+ educational content for students, educators, and communities nationwide.
In collaboration with History UnErased, and with support from The Library of Congress‘s Teaching With Primary Sources (TPS) Program, we are using digital primary sources and state and local archives to create an original musical (working title: “Your Hands Are The Road”), spotlighting the lives and narratives of America’s LGBTQ+ trailblazers. We are partnering with high school students, schools, and communities across the U.S. to develop, pilot, and share the musical as an educational tool and means of preserving and amplifying Queer stories from our nation’s history.
We have co-created the musical with help from students in Los Angeles, CA; Albuquerque, NM; West Palm Beach, FL; and NYC’s Hetrick-Martin Institute in collaboration with National Queer Theater, and will continue development with additional partner schools in New Mexico, Texas, and Pennsylvania.
We are also creating accompanying educational resources, including case studies with video introductions, podcast episodes, historical background and context, primary source improv activities, analysis questions, classroom posters, and more, all of which will be marketed and distributed to schools nationwide as U.S. history classroom curricula.
Through “The Past Is Always Present,” we’re sharing a new vision for U.S. history education, in which students, teachers, and audiences can learn from, engage with, and actively uplift the Queer stories that shape America.
Help Us Make History: follow our journey, see a performance, bring the play to your community, or donate to support our work!
Follow Phoenix, a teenager navigating a tumultuous time, who stumbles upon the original AI, Ancestor Intelligence, and takes a wild ride whipping through the past alongside Charley Parkhurst, a legendary stagecoach driver from the Gold Rush. This new work illuminates history as alive, inspiring, and urgent.
Student Matinee May 29th, 10:00 AM
Evening Performances May 29th and 30th, 7:00 PM
Richard and Nancy Donahue Family Academic Arts Center, 240 Central St., Lowell, MA
RESERVE YOUR SEAT TODAY
This premiere staged reading is made possible with funding from New England Biolabs, the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Program, the Greater Lowell Community Foundation’s LGBTQ+ Fund, the Equality Fund at the Boston Foundation, and our partnerships with Middlesex Community College and Geminai LLC.
CREATIVE TEAM
JEFFREY SOLOMON (BOOK/LYRICS) Jeff is the co-founder of Houses on the Moon Theater Co. Playwright: Tara’s Crossing (Tenement Theatre, NY), Building Houses on the Moon (City Theatre, Pittsburgh), and De Novo, which he also directed (New York Theatre Workshop/Next Door and 59E59 St. Theaters, Palacio Tecleño, El Salvador). Writer/Performer of MotherSON (HERE Art Center), Fourth Floor (Mumbai, India), The Barefoot Café (Colombo, Sri Lanka), The Cultural Center of the Philippines, New End Theatre and Oval House Theatre (London, UK), Edinburgh Fringe and Theater Works in Melbourne, Australia. Joseph Jefferson Nomination for Best Actor (Bailiwick Rep, Chicago). Audience Favorite, Best Playwriting, and Best Male Solo Performer (National Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival). Best Male Performance (Absolut Gay Theatre Festival in Dublin, Ireland). Jeff’s other solo play, The Santa Closet (formerly Santa Claus is Coming Out), premiered at the Kirk Theatre on Off Broadway’s Theatre Row (Penguin Rep), revival Houses on the Moon Theater Co (Teatro Circulo). Diversionary Theatre (San Diego), Celebration Theatre (Los Angeles), and the Dublin International Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival. The play received the Award for Best of the National Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival. Jeff wrote the Television pilot for Jim Henson’sCityKids, which received an Emmy nomination for Best Children’s Special and an Ollie Award for Excellence in Children’s Programming and was a staff writer for the same program. Jeff is a MOTH Grand Slam Champion and has been featured on NPR’s The Moth Radio Hour. He is the host, director, and co-producer of the Houses on the Moon Podcast, available on all podcast platforms.
RALIEGH NEAL II (COMPOSER) is a prolific artist who has dedicated his life to music. He has over 40 years of live performance experience with artists such as Stacy Lattisaw, Guru’s Jazzmatazz, Omar Lye-Fook MBE, Malik Yoba, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Walter Beasley, Deborah Bond, Be Be Winans, Trevor Hall, Herbie Hancock, The Groove Collective, Ledisi, Brett Dennen, Stephanie Mills and many more. Raliegh has led music education programs and various leadership and creative workshops for students ages 5 to adult in NYC, LA and the SF Bay Area. He has also composed featured songs and scores for Television, Movies and Gaming.