(PRINCETON, NJ) -- During a single day on death row, six men unpack their personal inheritances of violence, racism, mental illness, poverty, and surprising love. Count: Stories from America's Death Row is a production brought to you through a partnership between the Center for Barth Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary and Chesney Snow of Princeton University. Performances are scheduled for Tuesday, June 17, 2025 at 3:00pm & 7:00pm in McCarter Theatre's Berlind Rehearsal Room.
Based on years of conversation and writing with men sentenced to death or sentenced as children to life without parole, COUNT invites us into a stark florescent otherworld where the condemned struggle to revision what it means to live fully in the face of scheduled death. As we join their lively, difficult, and ultimately affirming search for a life well-lived, we begin to wonder who is disposable, who counts, and what justice means when the blindfold is our own.
Written by Lynden Harris. the production is Directed by Chesney Snow with Associate Director: A.J. Khaw. Performers/Actors include: Brandon Dion Gregory, Gabriel Diego Hernández, Kevis Hillocks, Forrest McClendon, Garrett Turner, and Taylor “TV” Valentine. Organizers include: Kaitlyn Dugan and Isaac Sharp.
The 3:00pm show is scheduled to run 100 minutes; the 7:00pm show is scheduled to run 130 minutes. Tickets are available for purchase online. McCarter Theatre Center is located at 91 University Place in Princeton, New Jersey.
The Center for Barth Studies is a research center that exists to provide leading resources on the theology and legacy of Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth (1886–1968). Founded in 1997, the center hosts programs and events, provides research resources, and facilitates constructive theological conversation for engagement with the Christian theological tradition and its public significance today.
Count: Stories from America’s Death Row is hosted as part of the 2025 Karl Barth Conference held at Princeton Theological Seminary this week on June 15–18 titled “The Incarcerated God: Thinking with and Beyond Barth on the Prison System,” co-organized with the Prison Studies Program at Duke Divinity School, the Calvin Prison Initiative at Calvin College, and the Partnership for Religion and Education in Prisons (PREP) at Drew Theological School.
In addition to being one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century, Barth was a person with a criminal record who also served as a volunteer prison chaplain for a decade of his life. This year’s conference examines Barth’s theological insights in relation to incarceration, justice, and liberation, fostering a critical and constructive dialogue on addressing systemic oppression. To learn more about the conference, click here.
