PARTY LIKE IT'S 1829
Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia’s Massive Prison Museum, Adds “Voices of Eastern State” Audio Tour, Narrated by Steve Buscemi, To Celebrate Tenth Season

PHILADELPHIA, April 7, 2003 – The immense, castle-like Eastern State Penitentiary – an institution once known worldwide for its system of strict silence – is about to get a little louder.  The 174- year old prison will take a step into the 21st century with the “Voices of Eastern State” audio tour, to be launched April 16.

This year will mark the tenth season of tours inside the sky-lit corridors of the penitentiary. The historic site will celebrate the occasion by introducing the “Voices of Eastern State” audio tour, incorporating the voices of three former wardens and dozens of former officers and inmates.  Actor Steve Buscemi (Fargo, Armageddon) will narrate.  

Acoustiguide, the world’s leader in museum audio tour design, is producing the “Voices” tour, with a team of award-winning writers and producers.

The rich, stereo soundscape will be recorded in the cellblocks of Eastern State using hyper-real, 360-degree audio technology, and will be delivered on the world’s most advanced piece of museum audio technology, the Acoustiguide Wand.  Visitors will hear cell doors slamming, guards issuing orders, televisions and radios playing from the cells.

The historic site will also open several dramatic new vistas in the prison’s cathedral-like cellblocks, and allow visitors, for the first time, to enter the abandoned penitentiary without hard hats.  The historic site will open nearly twice the number of days as in previous years.

When Eastern State opened in 1829, visitors from around the world marveled at its grand architecture and radical philosophy.  The experiment – to reform criminals through a Quaker-inspired system of strict isolation and silence – soon became a model for prison design worldwide. 

The vaulted, sky-lit cells held many of America’s most notorious criminals, including bank robber Willie Sutton and Al Capone.

After 142 years, Eastern State was finally abandoned. Tours today include the central observation point, Al Capone’s cell, death row and our critically-acclaimed art installations. Eastern State has been featured in the movies Return to Paradise and Twelve Monkeys. 

For more information, the public should explore the penitentiary’s web site at www.EasternState.org, or call (215) 236-3300.

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Note to Editors: For story angles and photographic images of Philadelphia and its surrounding countryside, visit www.gophila.com/pressroom.     February 2003

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