'The Assignment' was inspired by the friendship between two individuals brought together by storytelling workshops facilitated by Houses on the Moon: a woman who founded a youth violence prevention program after her teenage son was murdered, and a man who served 17 years in prison for manslaughter. Though a fictionalization, the play was 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. 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.