Houses on the Moon

For this special episode of the Houses on the Moon Podcast, Amy Gottlieb (U.S. Migration Director for the American Friends Service Committee, and HOTM board member) interviews New Yorker staff writer Jonathan Blitzer about his book "Everyone Who is Gone is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis." Amy and Jonathan discuss the complex history of US-Central American relations and the themes that inspired our original documentary play and podcast series, “De Novo.”

Special thanks to Cory Choy and Tom Fama at Silver Sound Studio for recording this interview and to Will Coley for producing and editing this episode.  Music by Greg Kirkelie via Free Music Archive.

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Now for your listening pleasure, Houses on the Moon would like to share this episode from one of our podcast friends and partners Play on Podcasts: Julius Caesar, Episode 1: Beware the Ides of March. Marcus Gardley’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s roiling political drama takes us into the heart of the Civil Rights movement. This is the first of seven episodes. Listen to full play by searching for Play on Podcasts wherever you get your podcasts. 

Also be sure to listen to previous episodes of our show, Houses on the Moon, including the new three-part De Novo series.

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The arts serve as both an escape from and a reflection of our reality. And since its inception in 2001, the Houses on The Moon Theater company has focused on creating productions that shed light on and elevate the stories of these harsh realities of marginalized communities. In this powerful episode of The Ask, Jasmine Burton sits down with Jeffrey Solomon and Kim Baker Medina to discuss their most recent production De Novo, which tells the true story of a 14-year-old boy fleeing gang violence in Guatemala, and his fight to stay in the U.S. Tune in to hear us delve into the importance of telling stories that challenge the status quo, and how plays and podcasts can amplify voices of those whose experiences might otherwise go unheard.

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Now for your listening pleasure, Houses on the Moon would like to share this episode from one of our podcast friends and partners If You Were In Charge. The show is a new series tackling the big issues of our times but with extraordinary people sharing their solutions and ideas. 

If You Were In Charge is brought to by the Robert Bosch Academy and ICAN (International Civil Society Action Network)

This is an Africa Digital Audio (ADA) Production. 

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On the streets of Guatemala City, gang members became Edgar’s family. 

But he dreamed of a different future. 

To leave the gang was a death sentence. 

Coming to the USA was his last hope.

De Novo is a limited series adapted from Houses on the Moon Theater Company’s acclaimed documentary play of the same name and tells the true story of Edgar Chocoy, a Guatemalan teenager who faces deportation after fleeing to the U.S.

In 2002, fourteen-year-old Edgar Chocoy Guzman fled his barrio in Guatemala City, when MS-13, the largest gang in Central America, put a hit on his life. He traveled over 3,000 miles to be reunited with his mother, who had left him when he was a baby to go work in the United States. Detained by Homeland Security, Edgar, whose nickname was Lil’ Silent because of his timid demeanor, spoke clearly and loudly about his fear of being deported: “I’m afraid to go back. They’ll kill me.”

A pro bono immigration lawyer helped Edgar argue his asylum case in front of a federal judge and the facts of Edgar’s case are reconstructed by actors working with verbatim text from immigration court transcripts, interviews, letters, and other documents from this real-life asylum case. 

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On the streets of Guatemala City, gang members became Edgar’s family. 

But he dreamed of a different future. 

To leave the gang was a death sentence. 

Coming to the USA was his last hope.

De Novo is a limited series adapted from Houses on the Moon Theater Company’s acclaimed documentary play of the same name and tells the true story of Edgar Chocoy, a Guatemalan teenager who faces deportation after fleeing to the U.S.

In 2002, fourteen-year-old Edgar Chocoy Guzman fled his barrio in Guatemala City, when MS-13, the largest gang in Central America, put a hit on his life. He traveled over 3,000 miles to be reunited with his mother, who had left him when he was a baby to go work in the United States. Detained by Homeland Security, Edgar, whose nickname was Lil’ Silent because of his timid demeanor, spoke clearly and loudly about his fear of being deported: “I’m afraid to go back. They’ll kill me.”

A pro bono immigration lawyer helped Edgar argue his asylum case in front of a federal judge and the facts of Edgar’s case are reconstructed by actors working with verbatim text from immigration court transcripts, interviews, letters, and other documents from this real-life asylum case. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the streets of Guatemala City, gang members became Edgar’s family. 

But he dreamed of a different future. 

To leave the gang was a death sentence. 

Coming to the USA was his last hope.

De Novo is a limited series adapted from Houses on the Moon Theater Company’s acclaimed documentary play of the same name and tells the true story of Edgar Chocoy, a Guatemalan teenager who faces deportation after fleeing to the U.S.

In 2002, fourteen-year-old Edgar Chocoy Guzman fled his barrio in Guatemala City, when MS-13, the largest gang in Central America, put a hit on his life. He traveled over 3,000 miles to be reunited with his mother, who had left him when he was a baby to go work in the United States. Detained by Homeland Security, Edgar, whose nickname was Lil’ Silent because of his timid demeanor, spoke clearly and loudly about his fear of being deported: “I’m afraid to go back. They’ll kill me.”

A pro bono immigration lawyer helped Edgar argue his asylum case in front of a federal judge and the facts of Edgar’s case are reconstructed by actors working with verbatim text from immigration court transcripts, interviews, letters, and other documents from this real-life asylum case. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 8 of the Houses on the Moon Podcast spotlights another true tale from gUN COUNTRY, our storytelling workshops with people whose lives have been touched by guns. In “Luck of the Draw” Antonius Wiriadjaja recounts how art and storytelling helped him survive a shooting and how he was forever changed by the love and violence he encountered that day. We'll also speak with Carolyn Dixon of Where Do We Go From Here, Inc., an organization dedicated to helping families navigate grief and trauma in the wake of gun violence.

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