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.