The original play Another River Flows stories, songs and a celebration of the Lehigh Valley Black Experience, produced by Touchstone Theatre in collaboration with the Lehigh Valley Black African Heritage History Project and directed by Touchstones recent Producing Artistic Director Mark McKenna, will open for preview performances on May 30-31 at the Third Street Alliance in Easton. The show will then travel to the Ice House in Bethlehem on June 6-7 and to the Allentown Symphony Hall on June 13-14. Tickets are Pay What you Will in Easton and $14/$16(seniors/students) in Bethlehem and Allentown.

The Lehigh Valley Black African Heritage History Project (LVBAHHP) is a collaborative partnership between Muhlenberg College, the Lehigh County Senior Center, the Lehigh County Historical Society, Kutztown University, the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Touchstone Theatre.

Touchstone drew on the expertise of three guest artists during the development of the work. All three artists visited the Lehigh Valley multiple times to meet and work with residents.

Peggy Pettitt, a New York-based theatre artist who created a unique style of solo performance with roots in African-American storytelling, led story-gatherings, beginning in November 2005. Ms. Pettitt will perform alongside twenty-five community actors from throughout the Lehigh Valley in the production.

Linda Parris-Bailey, Executive/Artistic Director of Carpetbag Theatre of Knoxville, Tennessee, wrote the script. Her research drew from recordings of the story-gatherings, as well as interviews recorded during earlier stages of the LVBAHHP, and a thesis written by Roberta Meek, cast member and Leadership Committee member.

The third guest artist is world-renowned musician, Dr. Ysaye M. Barnwell. Barnwell, who is a member of the acapella group Sweet Honey in the Rock as well as a composer and arranger, arranged the music for the play working with Music Director Dwayne Evans. The best part about working with Dr. Barnwell, besidesall the passion she brings to music,is I know her heart and she trusts me not to sway too far from her arrangements - sheallows me creative freedom when I work with the choir, said Evans. Barnwell drew her musical inspiration for the play from community members that shared at the four song-gathering sessions she led in the fall of 2007.

Another River Flows draws on traditions of oral history, where a communitys story is passed down from generation to generation in the forms of stories and songs. This project uses these individual stories to build a larger narrative, a mosaic, piecing together the story of what its meant to be Black in the Lehigh Valley. As the characters in the script tell their stories, common threads emerge and a box full of artifacts (literally and figuratively) appears and serves as a metaphor for the power of story-telling, the power of memory, and the vital work of passing on a communitys history to the next generation. According to Lisa Jordan, Producing Director at Touchstone: The theatre is the perfect medium to share this experience. We tried to integrate the laughter and the music we had heard at our story and song gathering events while still honoring the struggles that people talked about as well.

In addition to the LVBAHHP partners and guest artists listed above, other individuals and organizations have collaborated on the project. Members of the Central Pennsylvania Male Singing Association, a group of regional church choirs, have shared songs and stories, and selected members are performing in the production. This organization performed at An Evening of Story, Song, and Conversation, a public event held last fall, in support of the project. Curlee Raven Holton, a well-known African-American artist and Founding Director of the Experimental Printmaking Institute (EPI) at Lafayette College, produced an original fine-art print inspired by the play. Proceeds from the sale of the print will benefit Touchstone Theatre and the EPI. Prints will be on display at all three venues.

Funding for the project was provided by: Anonymous Donor, Susan Clemens-Bruder, Keystone Nazareth Charitable Foundation, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Muhlenberg College, National Endowment to the Arts, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Pennsylvania Humanities Council, and United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley.

Founded in 1981 as a professional, not-for-profit Ensemble theatre, Touchstone produces and presents original and classic theatre. In addition, Touchstones Ensemble brings innovative educational programs to local schools and develops theatre-based programs that foster cultural, international, and community collaborations.

To order tickets call Touchstone at 610-867-1689 or visit www.touchstone.org or order through the Lehigh Valley Arts Council at www.lvartsboxoffice.org.