10/05/2026
UNSUNG is this Thursday!
⏱️ October 8 at 7 PM
📍 Central Synagogue, Beir Chapel, Community House, 123 E 55th Street, New York, NY
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Reserve your spot: https://tinyurl.com/OctUNSUNG
Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind evening that brings together formerly incarcerated individuals, artists, advocates, and community members to explore the prison system through story and song. The evening’s theme is HELP. Scroll down to learn more about the our incredible moderator, panelists and musicians.
UNSUNG is a four-part storytelling and music series created by the Sing Sing Prison Museum and presented in partnership with Carnegie Hall's Musical Connections and four regional houses of worship. Each gathering pairs reflection and dialogue with live music responding to a distinct theme. The musical programs are curated by Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections, a long-running residency at Sing Sing Correctional Facility centered on songwriting, performance, and sustained artistic collaboration.
FUTURE UNSUNG DATES:
November 12: CARE
📍 Union Theological Seminary Chapel, New York, NY
December 10: VENGEANCE
📍 Star of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Ossining, NY
MEET THE MODERATOR, PANELISTS & MUSICIANS
JAMES "MOE" TORRES (MUSICIAN)
New York–based guitarist, songwriter, and genre-bending multi-instrumentalist James “Moe” Torres works across blues, pop, alternative, experimental music, and the Black roots of rock and other American popular forms. He learned to play, read, and perform music while incarcerated, becoming a core member of Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections residency at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. His first concert at Sing Sing, performed for his fellow men, remains a defining artistic milestone. Torres approaches music as both personal expression and cultural reclamation, drawing attention to African American lineages within genres whose origins are too often obscured. Today, he brings that hard-earned musicianship, curiosity, and perspective to audiences beyond the facility.
ELYSE FRENCHMAN (MODERATOR)
Elyse Frenchman is a documentary filmmaker and criminal justice advocate who runs a nonprofit, The Way We See, creating short films to support individuals in the criminal legal system and drive narrative change. With over a decade of filmmaking experience, Elyse recently directed and edited two films for the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Sites. Other projects include Hotline (Venice Biennale 2025), Fragments of Paradise (Venice Film Festival 2022), and several acclaimed HBO documentaries: The Soul of America, the Emmy-winning King in the Wilderness, and the Emmy and Peabody-winning True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality. Elyse previously lived aboard a Sea Shepherd vessel documenting anti-poaching efforts. She is a former professional figure skater, aspiring slam poet, and cave exploring enthusiast.
DAVID COLEMAN (MUSICIAN)
David Coleman is a singer-songwriter, musician, and storyteller whose music reflects a life of struggle, loss, resilience, and renewal. His musical journey began in the 1970s, playing in bar and garage bands throughout Upstate New York, where he developed his musicianship and distinctive style. After decades of life experience, Coleman returned to the studio in 2019–2020 to record his debut album, Let the Music Take Control, a reflection on the journey that brought him back to music. Through honest songwriting and personal storytelling, he explores heartbreak, hope, redemption, and second chances, inviting audiences into the experiences behind the songs. David is also an advocate for criminal justice reform, using his voice and lived experience to speak about accountability, redemption, and the belief that a person’s past does not have to determine their future.
DAVID ELCOTT (NARRATOR)
David Elcott has spent the last twenty-five years at the intersection of Jewish community building, the search for a theory of pluralist engagement, and interfaith and ethnic activism. Trained in both political psychology and Judaic studies, Dr. Elcott now works with Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison teaching college degree programs for incarcerated individuals. He was the Taub Professor of Practice in Public Service and Leadership at the Wagner School of Public Service at NYU and a senior research fellow at the Research Center for Leadership in Action.
TROY JOHNSON (PANELIST)
Troy is a lifelong New Yorker–born and raised. Growing up between two distinct neighborhoods of NYC (Bath Beach and Greenwich Village), Troy has a particularly inclusive and accepting world view. He has traveled extensively and likes to think of himself as a citizen of the world. Troy is legal-system impacted, and can think of very little more meaningful than saving lives from the pain and degradation of incarceration. While on the inside he worked as a clerk in the law library, where he had the privilege and honor of volunteering for Peter Wagner, of the Prison Policy Initiative. His work ultimately became an integral part of the data which revealed the practice of prison gerrymandering, which Mr. Wagner successfully challenged. Troy is currently employed with Brooklyn Justice Initiatives (BJI) as a Community Navigator, working in a case manager capacity presenting meaningful opportunities and resources to individuals who have become ensnared in the criminal legal system; additionally, he serves on the advisory board of The Way We See, which is an organization committed to using film to mitigate the legal justice system’s impact upon persons nationwide. Troy currently attends City University of New York (CUNY), Hunter College, and has completed John Jay College’s Institute for Justice and Opportunity’s Navigator program. Additionally, Troy has completed Columbia University’s esteemed Paralegal Pathways Initiative.
GEOFFREY SHUGEN ARNOLD (PANELIST)
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold is the Head of the Mountains and Rivers Order, abbot and resident teacher of Zen Mountain Monastery. He first encountered the Dharma and began his meditation practice in 1975. After studying undergraduate mathematics and receiving a degree in classical music (performance and composition), Shugen Roshi began studying with his primary teacher, John Daido Loori Roshi in 1984. He entered full-time monastic training in 1986 and was fully ordained in 1988. He received dharma transmission from John Daido Loori, Roshi in 1997 and continues his studies and practice at ZMM.
RABBI HILLY HABER (PANELIST)
As Director of Social Justice Organizing and Education since 2019, Rabbi Hilly Haber, PhD, oversees the justice and volunteer initiatives at Central Synagogue in partnership with the Central in Action Leadership Team. Areas of service include: Criminal Legal Reform and Re-Entry, Refugee Resettlement and support for asylum seekers, food insecurity, and climate justice. Ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Rabbi Haber was a Wexner Graduate Fellow and a Tisch Fellow. Rabbi Haber earned a bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College, a master’s in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School, and in 2025 she completed a PhD in Social Ethics from Union Theological Seminary. Rabbi Haber lives in New Jersey where she and her wife are raising young sons.
Musical Connections images photo credit: Fadi Kheir
