Touchstone Theatre Presents KILLADELPHIA 11/18-19

Touchstone Theatre is set to present Barrymore Award-winning actor-playwright Sean Christopher Lewis with his acclaimed one-man show, Killadelphia. The play performs at Touchstone Theatre November 18th and 19th.

In the summer of 2008, Philadelphia was in the midst of a murder epidemic, described as having "more bodies than days." Written in response to this, Killadelphia, described as a one-man mixtape of a city, is a piece about the crime rate and criminal justice system in Philadelphia, specifically revolving around the inmates of Philadelphia's Graterford Prison, men employed to beautify the city even as they serve out life sentences. Killadelphia earned a 2010 Barrymore Award and the Smith Prize for Drama.

Lewis, a recent guest on NPR's This American Life, an artist hailed as "explicitly authentic," performs this 75-minute, one-man tour de force, portraying all sides of the story - prisoners, their victims, Mayor Nutter, local rappers, conservative talk show hosts, trauma surgeons, and other citizens, the community of the City of Brotherly Love.

In addition to the run at Touchstone, Lewis will be performing Killadelphia for Broughal Middle School students courtesy of the City of Bethlehem and Moravian College students on November 17.

Lewis comes to Touchstone courtesy of "Voices of Community," an initiative funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts between Touchstone Theatre, HartBeat Theatre Ensemble in Hartford, CT, and Sandglass Theater in Putney, VT. This grant supports presented artists who give voice to a particular story otherwise left unheard. Previous presented works from "Voices of Community" have included Universes: Live from The Edge and Robert Karimi's Self (Remix).

Killadelphia plays November 18 and 19 at 8pm. Tickets are $25, $15 for students and seniors, with group rates available. To purchase tickets or for more information on the season, contact Touchstone Theatre at 610-867-1689 or visit www.touchstone.org

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