New Jersey Stage logo
New Jersey Stage Menu



 

Houses On The Moon Theater Company Announces Advisory Board and Online Play Reading

originally published: 05/28/2020


(NEW YORK, NY) -- Houses on the Moon Theater Company, the New York based not-for-profit theatre company with a mission to “dispel ignorance and isolation through the theatrical amplification of unheard voices,” is pleased to announce the formation of a new Advisory Board and fundraiser Tales From the Moon celebrating Houses on the Moon’s Education Program set for Thursday, June 25, 2020 at 6:00pm.

Members of the newly created Advisory Board include prominent theater professionals and community partners, including Broadway producers Hal Luftig, Jamie deRoy, Nelle Nugent, Cheryl Wiesenfeld, writer/director/choreographer Warren Adams, Dorset Theatre Festival artistic director Dina Janis, director Lisa Rothe, Fortune Society founder David Rothenberg, and Executive Director of PFLAG/NYC Drew Tagliabue.

“We’re thrilled this group of distinguished members of theater and community organizations has joined us to supplement our resources and enhance the work that we do,” says Houses on the Moon Board Co-President and Broadway producer Jane Dubin. “We create and produce theater that’s inspired by a social need. Our advisory board members join us in this mission to create engagement with our audiences and our community.”

The objective of this new board will be to support the company in its mission of telling untold stories, rooted in a project begun in 1998 by co-founders Weiner and Jeffrey Solomon, articulated by Weiner:

Jeffrey Solomon and I met in 1998 as teaching artist partners working at a school in Queens with a group of developmentally delayed teenagers. We were saddened by the amount of homophobia we were witnessing in the school environment and wanted to create a piece of theater that spoke to the isolation of LGBTQ+ students and educators. We set off on a creative development journey that included interviews with young people and educators around the country and beyond. As part of our research we interviewed a lesbian teenager in New Haven and asked her about her role models. Having never had an adult gay role model, she talked about the impossibility of envisioning her own future life as an adult.




Please support the advertisers at New Jersey Stage!
Want info on how to advertise? Click here



The young woman stated:

It’s like trying to imagine your future taking place on the Moon. How can I picture what my house would look like on the Moon? I’ve never been to the Moon. Nobody’s ever tried to build a house at such a low gravity. How do I know whether to picture it on the surface, or floating? Trees and grass, or just rocks?

This young woman so clearly articulated the need for our play and the space it should fill. She provided us with a title for our pilot theater piece, Building Houses On The Moon, which led us to the name of our theater company in its founding year of 2001, and captured the essence of our mission in a metaphor. By telling previously marginalized stories, we were ‘building a house on the moon.’ We were creating a safe place for new stories to be told and heard in previously alien, uncharted or even hostile terrain.

This work with students continues. Celebrating Houses’ Education Program, the company will present Tales From the Moon, a virtual reading of work created during our residency with students at Hostos/Lincoln Academy of Science in the Bronx. Weiner and Houses’ company member Camilo Almonacid have worked with the students for the last 4 years. “The work Houses on the Moon has done with our students is invaluable. Our students are so excited to be able to have their work presented in a professional environment.” says Hostos-Lincoln Assistant Principal Vincent Marano. Free and open to the public, the presentation is set for Thursday, June 25, 2020 at 6:00pm. Donations will be accepted during the reading with proceeds going toward the Education Program. To reserve tickets visit www.housesonthemoon.org

The Houses on the Moon Board of Directors is R. Erin Craig, Jane Dubin (Board co-President), Rashad Chambers, Amy Gottleib, Jeremy Handelman, Jennifer Isaacson, Jenny Paredes, Jeffrey Rosenstock (Board co-President), Jeffrey Solomon, Melissa Springs, and Emily Joy Weiner.

Houses on the Moon Theater Company, whose work has been hailed as “potent” and “powerful” (The New York Times), was founded in 2001. Through creative workshops, original performances, and post-show discussions, Houses on the Moon helps communities come together by making meaningful connections through the public sharing of their untold stories. All Houses projects are created through an extensive developmental and research process in collaboration with its community partners, which have included Amnesty International, the AFSC Immigrant Rights Program, Human Rights First, PFLAG, the Fortune Society and many others. At the core of the developmental process are interviews with real people about their lives, and a creative search for those human stories that yearn for a much wider hearing.

Houses on the Moon believes in the power of theater to transform lives and instill empathy. Experiencing other people’s emotional lives and journeys through the lens of a character allows the company to connect in a “safe” way and to learn about ourselves and those around us. Through creative workshops, original performances, and post-show discussions, Houses on the Moon helps communities come together by making meaningful connections through the public sharing of their untold stories.




Please support the advertisers at New Jersey Stage!
Want info on how to advertise? Click here



Currently in development is Shared Sentences, which explores the impact of incarceration on family members/loved ones. It is set to premiere off-Broadway in 2021.

Most recently, the company presented The Santa Closet in December 2019 which was heralded as “Thought-provoking and funny...Hilarious and good-spirited” (BroadwayWorld).

In the Spring of 2017, Houses on the Moon presented two world premiere productions in repertory at the A.R.T./NY Theaters: The Assignment and gUN COUNTRY. Both pieces were developed through workshops with people whose lives have been touched by guns. DC Metro Theatre called The Assignment, “Socially relevant and thought-provoking, profoundly heartrending and funny.”

In December 2017, Houses on the Moon presented a revival of its documentary theater piece De Novo through Next Door at NYTW. De Novo tells the story of an undocumented immigrant teenager fleeing gang life. The play had its Off-Broadway premiere in 2010 at 59E59 Theaters Americas Off-Broadway Festival. In 2011, the company mounted an all-Spanish version of the play in El Salvador with a special focus on reaching impoverished young people most at risk for migration. Houses on the Moon was honored to remount this acclaimed piece in partnership with New York Theatre Workshop.

Additional original company works include Tara's Crossing, one of the first plays ever to deal with political asylum for refugees fleeing persecution based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. The play had its World Premiere in 2005 at the L.E.S. Tenement Theatre and is still presented widely in theaters and as a training tool on gender identity and legal issues. TRANSformation is a storytelling performance piece about gender identity and family, with the aim of educating the public and empowering these families in their struggle for inclusion. It was most recently presented in partnership with the NYC Council Speaker’s Office. 



FEATURED EVENTS

ART | COMEDY | DANCE | FILM | MUSIC | THEATRE | COMMUNITY

To narrow results by date range, categories,
or region of New Jersey
click here for our advanced search.


Vivid

Vivid Summer Solos: Where is Everybody?

Wednesday, July 09, 2025 @ 6:30pm
Visual Arts Center of New Jersey
68 Elm Street, Summit, NJ 07901
category: theatre

Click here for full event listing

 

A

A Broadway Tour of America

Thursday, July 10, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Grunin Center - Black Box Theater
1 College Drive, Toms River, NJ 08754
category: theatre

Click here for full event listing

 

A

A Broadway Tour of America

Thursday, July 10, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Grunin Center - Black Box Theater
1 College Drive, Toms River, NJ 08754
category: theatre


Click here for full event listing

 

The

The MAC players at the Middletown Arts Center present "Hairspray"

Friday, July 11, 2025 @ 7:00pm
Middletown Arts Center
36 Church Street, Middletown, NJ 07748
category: theatre


Click here for full event listing

 

A

A Broadway Tour of America

Friday, July 11, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Grunin Center - Black Box Theater
1 College Drive, Toms River, NJ 08754
category: theatre


Click here for full event listing

 

More events

Event Listings are available for $10 and included with our banner ad packages




 

EVENT PREVIEWS

Centenary

Centenary Stage Company presents Jimmy Buffet's "Escape to Margaritaville"

(HACKETTSTOWN, NJ) -- Centenary Stage Company kicks off SUMMERFEST 2025 with Jimmy Buffett's Escape to Margaritaville, July 10-20 in the Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center. With a book by Emmy Award winner Greg Garcia and Emmy nominee Mike O'Malley, this production is jam-packed with the artist's most beloved classic tunes including "Cheeseburger in Paradise," "Margaritaville," "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere," "Fins," "Volcano," and many more.



LoMotion

LoMotion Live presents "The Diary of Anne Frank"

(BOONTON, NJ) -- LoMotion Live is proud to present The Diary of Anne Frank, a play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, newly adapted by Wendy Kesselman, based on the book Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. The production runs from July 18-26, 2025 at The Parsippany Arts Center in Boonton.



Art

Art House Productions to present "Hamlet" directed by C. Rashee Stevenson in October

(JERSEY CITY, NJ) -- Art House Productions will present a mainstage production of Hamlet, directed by C. Rashee Stevenson, from October 9–26, 2025, at the Art House Theater in Jersey City. This bold reimagining of Shakespeare's classic tragedy fuses the original text with interpolated language from Les Nègres and Les Paravents by Jean Genet and works by Federico García Lorca—transforming the play into a cosmic crime thriller that plunges deep into grief, identity, and the metaphysical.



Two

Two River Theater Announces Lineup for Their 14th Annual Crossing Borders (Cruzando Fronteras) Festival

(RED BANK, NJ) -- Two River Theater's celebrated Crossing Borders (Cruzando Fronteras) Festival of new plays by Latine playwrights will take place from Thursday, July 31 to Sunday, August 3, 2025 in the Joan and Robert M. Rechnitz Theater. Now in its 14th year, this annual event joyfully showcases the richness, diversity, creativity, and talent of Latine theater artists. All festival events are open and free to the public.



Players

Players Guild of Leonia to Hold Auditions for "Where The Time Goes"

​​​​​​​(LEONIA, NJ) -- The Players Guild of Leonia will hold auditions for Where The Time Goes on Tuesday, July 15 and Wednesday, July 16, 2025 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm each night at their theater. This is a World Premiere musical featuring the iconic songs of The Baby Boomer Generation.