NEW ORLEANS — Local actors Harry Shearer (“The Simpsons,” “Spinal Tap”) and vocalist Judith Owen (“As Good As It Gets”) are dedicating proceeds their annual Christmas show, “Christmas Without Tears,” to Innocence Project New Orleans. A tradition that began in Shearer and Owen’s Santa Monica home, these annual gatherings have grown into a heartwarming house party around the piano that involves and entertains fellow performers and audience members alike. In 2005, the first public performance was staged at the Walt Disney Concert Hall to aid the people of New Orleans after Katrina.
Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO) represents innocent people and people unjustly sentenced to life in prison at no cost to them or their loved ones. This year’s show will feature cameos from The Jo Big Band, Bryan Batt, Tonya Boyd-Cannon, Kermit Ruffins and more.
In a recent interview, Owen and Shearer explained how Mary Howell, the New Orleans-based human rights lawyer and activist, got them involved with IPNO. The stories Howell shared deeply moved Owen, particularly because Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the United States, and The Innocence Project of New Orleans doesn’t receive funding from the New York association.
“I knew I had to get involved,” Owen reflects. “I saw this as a meaningful way to give back, especially during the season of goodwill, by helping to free those wrongfully imprisoned.”
Owen finds profound joy in seeing these men released, and she cherishes the moments during performances at the Orpheum when former inmates are honored and celebrated for their resilience, despite the trauma they’ve endured.
The couple gives especially high praise to Gary Tyler, a wrongly incarcerated inmate who was released in 2016 after serving 40 years for what they describe together as “being in the wrong place at the wrong time and the wrong color.” They describe how he taught Shakespeare courses and reading to other inmates while in prison.
“We met him after he was released,” says Shearer. “He refused to let that experience of improper imprisonment destroy his life. He was resolved to make something constructive of his life. I said to Judith and Mary [Howell], ‘I’ve met two people in my life who I could really say were marked with grace, and he was one of them.’”
“Christmas Without Tears” will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 8 p.m. at The Orpheum Theater, 129 Roosevelt Way. Tickets are available here.
