On August 3, HB Instructor Richard Hoehler presents an acoustic evening of debut songs inspired by his work with Acting Out.
Rich: Songs of Love and Outrage
Sunday, August 3 at 6pm
Helen Gallagher Studio Theatre | 120 Bank Street
$20 (fundraiser for Acting Out)
About the Project
When leading a theatre workshop at an upstate prison, Richard Hoehler sang covers after shows. The men urged him to “stop covering” and write his own music. Since they had risen to his challenges over the past fifteen years, he heeded their advice and rose to theirs. Join Rich for an acoustic evening in which he debuts a dozen new songs.
The performance is a fundraiser for Acting Out, the professional acting class designed for the formerly incarcerated who experienced the transformative value of a theatre program while in prison and wish to further their training upon release.
About the Artist
Richard Hoehler original theatre work (New Jersey/New York, Working Class, Human Resources, I of the Storm) have run Off-Broadway, regionally, and abroad, and he is the winner of the OOBR for Best Solo Performance. His full-length play, Fathers and Sons, was produced at the Lion Theatre on 42nd Street and his collection of 10-minute plays, Showdown, was recently presented at the Gerald W. Lynch Theatre.
For thirty years, Hoehler has created theatre with at-risk teenagers, inmates, and the formerly incarcerated. Richard conducted creative writing workshops on Riker’s Island for over a decade and for the past fourteen years has led weekly theatre workshops at Otisville State Prison mounting eight productions on the inside during his tenure. In January of 2020, Hoehler founded Acting Out, a professional acting company for the formerly incarcerated in residence at HB Studio, directing and producing seven productions since its inception. Last year Richard received the Justice through the Arts Award from the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Hoehler’s book, Acting Out: How a Prison Theatre Workshop Broke Free, was published by Applause Books in January of 2025. Other theatre work is published by Smith and Kraus and included in the Billy Rose Collection at Lincoln Center. Hoehler’s material has been optioned by Columbia Tri-Star Television and featured at the Midtown International Theatre Festival in Manhattan and Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. His newest solo work, E, was featured last year at Delaware Valley Arts Alliance. His original song, Gimme One More Chance is available on Apple Music and Spotify.
Off-Broadway credits: But for the Grace (HB Playwrights), Rehearsing the Vonnsee Conference (Gerald R. Lynch), I of the Storm (Gym at Judson), HAIR (Connelly Theatre, Inadmissible (Canal Park Playhouse, The Rubber Room (Artistic New Directions), Cries for Peace (Neighborhood Playhouse). TV Credits: Black Box, Third Watch, Law and Order (various), NYPD Blue.
Hoehler is an acting instructor at HB Studio and Stella Adler Studio, and an adjunct professor of Theatre and English at John Jay College and City College of New York.