The Assignment was inspired by a remarkable friendship between two individuals brought together by storytelling workshops facilitated by Houses on the Moon Theater Company:
A woman who founded a youth violence prevention program after her teenage son was murdered by street violence, and a man who found education and rehabilitation while serving 17 years in prison for manslaughter. Though a fictionalization, the seeds of the play were born from a mother’s desire to understand what caused another to take her son’s life, and a man’s need to express remorse and to try to reach lost young people before they take arms.
The play explores the long-term emotional toll of violence from both sides of the gun barrel, and the struggle to forgive others and ourselves.
