Words and Voice of Troy Anthony Davis to Be Featured in DC Production of Dead Man Walking

The words and actual recorded voice of recently executed inmate Troy Anthony Davis will begin and end the production of Tim Robbins’ Dead Man Walking, which will play American University’s Katzen Studio Theatre, September 29 – October 1. Rick Hammerly will direct the production.

Davis — who had met with and corresponded with one of the show’s producers, Gemma Puglisi — agreed to contribute to the production prior to his death by lethal injection this past Wednesday.

In the play, Sister Helen Prejean, a nun working in the St. Thomas Projects of New Orleans, receives a desperate letter from Matthew Poncelet, a death row inmate who is seeking help in avoiding execution for the rape and murder of two teenagers. As Poncelet’s execution nears, Sister Helen finds herself conflicted with feelings of empathy for the victims, their families, Poncelet’s family and even the murderer himself.

Robbins wrote the stage play of Dead Man Walking based upon his screenplay for the film and Prejean’s book of the same name, and together with Sister Helen Prejean created the Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project, offering the play to colleges and universities across the nation in order to widen the discourse around the death penalty.

The cast will feature Afua Busia, Chris Carillo, Zach Cohen, Noah Cooper-Hauser, Sam Edgerly, Emily Goodell, Erika Grob, Sarah King, David Landstrom, Michael Litchfield, Shannon McArdle, Michael Poandl, and Alexandra Vaughan.

The design team will include Joey R. Walls (lighting design), Jesse Achtenberg (projection/video design), David Lamont Wilson (sound design), Debra Buonaccorsi (composer), Tom Carman (composer), and Austin Byrd (set design).

In conjunction with the play, there will be a post-show discussion with the cast and director following the Friday, September 30 evening performance, and a panel discussion with numerous guests discussing the death penalty, following the Saturday, October 1 matinee.

For tickets and more information, click here.