HHTF On-Tour

Written and performed by The Suicide Kings
Directed by Marc bamuthi joseph

Lighting Design by Sarah Sidman
Sound design and music by sam bass

Produced By

The story begins the day after a high school shooting. Three poetry teachers are interrogated, calling their backgrounds and teaching methods into question. Mixing fact and fiction, The Suicide Kings document their unlikely escape from the precipice of their lives to the public school system while investigating the systemic factors that contribute to the deluge of high school violence, and most importantly, survival through art. Featuring the Bay Area's most dynamic spoken word collective, In Spite Of Everything pushes the boundaries of Hip-Hop theater with this compassionate, raw and electrifying journey.

*In Spite of Everything was originally commissioned by Youth Speaks/The Living Word Project and DiverseWorks and has received significant funding the Zellerbach Family Foundation, the city of Oakland, and the Creation Fund Commission from the National Performance Network.

The Suicide Kings are a spoken word power house comprised of Geoff Trenchard, Jamie DeWolf, and Rupert Estanislao. Collectively, they are known for their explosive live performances combining gritty punk rock theatrics, a cappella Hip-Hop and vaudeville comedy into what the SF Chronicle has described as a “high octane mix of the profane and the profound.”

The Kings also facilitate workshops and host slams for the inmates in San Quentin Penitentiary and create feature length performances with at risk youth. Their hard-hitting work has been featured on two seasons of Russell Simmons’ HBO Def Poetry Jam, UPN, 60 Minutes and radio stations from the Mid-West to the Phillipines. The Suicide Kings are widely renowned for their dedication to their craft and breath-taking live shows that redefine spoken word, comedy and Hip Hop theater which prompted Stanford Radio to call them “the tattooed knuckles under the velvet glove of American poetry.”

For more information download the Suicide Kings Online Press Kit, click here.

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES:

Stayed tuned for more information on performances in:

Moscow, Russia : New Drama Festival, September 26, 2008
Helena, MT : October 17, 2008
Seattle, WA : NPN Conference - December, 2008

Suicide Kings Past Performances include:

DiverseWorks, Houston, TX - Mar 08
Under the Radar, New York, NY - Jan 08
TBA Festival @ PICA, Portland, OR - Sept 07
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL - April 08

History & Highlights

Montclair University - Hip-Hop Theater Festival On Tour (2005)
Lehigh Universit y - Hip-Hop Theater Festival On Tour (2006)
Franklin & Marshall College - Hip-Hop Theater Festival On Tour (2008)

Will Power’s FLOW (2004 – 2006)

· Miami Light Project – Miami, FL
· UC Riverside – Riverside, CA
· UC Santa Barbara – Santa Barbara, CA
· Flynn Performing Arts Center – Burlington, VT
· Children’s Theatre Company – Minneapolis, MN
· Hopkins Center / Dartmouth College – Hanover, NH
· Power Center – Ann Arbor, MI
· Bonn Festival - Bonn, Germany

5-week UK tour including:

· Battersea Arts Centre - London
· Contact Theatre – Manchester

Jerry Quickley’s Live From the Front (2006 – 2007)
· Bumbershoot Festival – Seattle, WA
· PICA – Portland, OR
· Apollo Theater – New York, NY
· Newman University – Wichita, KS
· Washington Center for Performing Arts – Olympia, WA
· UC Riverside – Riverside, CA
· Hopkins Center / Dartmouth College – Hanover, NH
· Stanford Lively Arts – Stanford, CA
· The Andy Warhol Museum – Pittsburgh, PA
· Yerba Buena Center for the Arts – San Francisco, CA