Presents
THE GATE
By Brent Buell & Charles Moore. The play addresses the issue of parole board reform, revealing the tragedy of the extreme power parole boards have over the legitimate and well earned freedom deserved by the vast majority of prison residents.
By Brent Buell & Charles Moore
Directed by Ro Boddie
Location: The Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College
When: April 12, 2022 @7pm
Followed by a post-reading talkback moderated by Nkosi Cain
The Gate, a new play by Brent Buell and Charles Moore about this nation’s parole system. Told through the lives of men facing the possibility of parole after many years of incarceration, THE GATE illuminates the brotherhood of prisoners & a broken system.
Creative Team
Ro Boddie (director) was most recently seen in Seize The King at Classical Theatre of Harlem. Off-Broadway credits include Socrates at The Public Theater, Appomattox at 59E59 Theater, and Isolated Incidents at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater (upcoming). Select regional credits include A Play is a Poem at the Mark Taper Forum, Blueprints to Freedom at La Jolla Playhouse, Skeleton Crew (tour) at The Old Globe, The Mountaintop at Cleveland Playhouse, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at Baltimore CENTERSTAGE and Philadelphia Theater Company, The Whipping Man at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Pipeline at Studio Theatre, A Boy and His Soul at Round House Theatre, Master Harold…and the Boys at Round House Theatre, and No Sisters at Studio Theatre. Television credits include Run The World, The Good Wife, Elementary, Person of Interest and Unforgettable. Ro is an alum of University of the North Carolina School of the Arts and was the 2016 Actor of the Year Craig Noel Award recipient.
Brent Buell (co-author) is a playwright (The Gem Exchange, Wood Bars, Undone Divas), director (unFRAMED;From Sing Sing to Broadway; You Can’t Leave That There; Deathbed and The Gospel According to Josh), filmmaker (The Terrors of Teri, Moses), and novelist (Rapturous, and Daniel and My Revelation). For ten years, Buell directed theater in New York’s maximum-security prisons with plays ranging from John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men to his comedy Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code which premiered inside Sing Sing and was the subject of an Esquire feature by author, John Richardson. His experiences provided the basis for his chapter “Drama in the Big House” in the book Performing New Lives, Prison Theaterby Jonathan Shailor.
Charles Moore (co-author) is currently the Director of Operations, at Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) assisting with program planning and management in all the facilities where RTA operates. He also proctors workshops, coordinates alumni projects, and manages the organization’s steering committees. Charles has been involved in RTA since 2004, serving on the in-side steering committee and working as a production manager and occasionally, as an actor. Charles holds a Bachelor’s degree in Human Services from Mercy College and a Master’s in Professional Studies from New York Theological Seminary (NYTS).
Derrick Nkosi Cain, (moderator post-reading talkback) is a lifelong resident of Brooklyn, NY, graduated from Bard College and The New York Theological Seminary. He is the CEO and Founder of Touchdown NYC, Community Engagement and Advocacy Director of Broadway Advocacy Coalition, a Consultant at the Earl Monroe Basketball Charter School and the 2021 Recipient of the RobinHood Hero Award. He was the Director of Client Services at the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund for 5 years, working alongside advocates and elected officials for systems change. Derrick Nkosi is from the impacted community, having experienced incarceration, his lived experience and professional accomplishment has inspired his commitment to systems change. Derrick specializes in advocacy, criminal justice training and organizational development.