Touchstone Theatre welcomes featured artist William Marley to Firehouse Friday in February

Celebrate Black History Month at Touchstone Theatre when award-winning Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group
playwright William Marley presents his one-act play "Black Jesus," the third installment of his Miss'sippi Medley
trilogy.

Like "Black Jesus," a number of Marley's plays address racial inequities, "the result of my growing up white in
the segregated south," says Marley. Each one of the one-act plays in Miss'sippi Medley — all prizewinners—reflects the
attitude of many white southerners towards African Americans during three different time periods. "In Sepia
Tone," which Marley read at Touchstone last fall, takes place in 1943; "The Perfect Place" occurs in present-day;
and “Black Jesus” occurs sometime in between.

"Black Jesus" tells the story of a poor, elderly black Mississippi farmer, Jed, whose religious paintings catch
the interest of an enterprising New Orleans art gallery owner, Mr. Jasper, who convinces Jed to sell him all his
current and future work for a pittance. When Jed paints his masterpiece, "Black Jesus," Mr. Jasper finally gets his
just reward.

"I wanted to end the evening with the play that comes closest to having an 'up-beat' ending," said Marley, who
has written more than 40 plays of all lengths, many of them prizewinners. He will perform “Black Jesus” with
"Paddle-People," his own hand-drawn portraits of the characters.