Review: Lee Osorio’s ‘Prisontown’ invites closer look at injustice through heartfelt performance

Prisontown, a one-man show written and performed by Lee Osorio, is a stunning, timely and deeply affecting autobiographical work. Staged until April as part of Out of Hand’s 2026 Shows in Homes series, Prisontown explores Osorio’s hometown of Lumpkin, Georgia, and the Stewart Detention Center, the massive immigration detention center located there.

Osorio is one of the city’s best performers and storytellers, and in this piece he has crafted an ideal showcase for all of his strengths. In Prisontown he is required to tell his own story, examining a period of time around 2017 where he was drawn into activism on behalf of deposed immigrants by his brother, an attorney representing detainees at Stewart.

The narrative occasionally shifts to the perspectives of people he met then, from detainees and activists to employees at the prison, allowing Osorio to take on their voices and mannerisms. This gives the first-person narrative a number of characters, variations in tone and a range of perspectives and opinions about the subjects at hand.

The show’s bottom line, though, is that this system is inhumane, housing about 2,000 people in dangerous conditions, though it does keep the dying community of Lumpkin alive and dependent upon Stewart for survival. Prisontown also raises awareness of nonprofit organizations like El Refugio, which provides shelter and assistance for detainees’ visiting families.

Prisontown shows that it would be effective for all of us to ask who we are and how we are touched by the situations around us, particularly during these times. The show asks us to see the humanity of those we’d frequently dismiss or refuse to acknowledge — those who are closer to us than we may realize or be willing to admit.

At the onset of the performance, Osorio asks himself a core question that drives much of the narrative: “What kind of activist are you?” The answer to that evolves throughout the piece as he explores what compels him to return to his hometown, his history with his Venezuelan grandfather, his experiences as a gay man and his background making theater.

The intimacy of the staging is strongly in the work’s favor. Osorio is a warm, smart presence to have in a living room, talking to small groups about the personal aspects of issues that can seem as distant and dismissible as headlines we scroll past on our devices. For every performance, there are talk backs with representatives of humanitarian groups so that necessary conversations take place, fulfilling Out of Hand’s mission. 

Osorio has sound cues guiding the performance, which also help build upon the setting and atmosphere for the story. The noise of a prison, a bustling restaurant and traffic, for instance, are used to punctuate moments and transitions in the narrative.

Prisontown is rich, engaging and necessary theater delivered in a profound way. Out of Hand continues to provide interesting, thought-provoking performances aimed at promoting conversations about human rights. It is not preachy or dry, though it is full of facts and information. There’s a lot of heart here.

This is some of Osorio’s best work. Do not miss it.

When & Where

Prisontown is ongoing through April 5 with Out of Hand Theater’s Shows in Homes series. Locations vary. Tickets, $33.

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Benjamin Carr is an ArtsATL editor-at-large who has contributed to the publication since 2019 and is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association, the Dramatists Guild, the Atlanta Press Club and the Horror Writers Association. His writing has been featured in podcasts for iHeartMedia, onstage as part of the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival and online in The Guardian. His debut novel, Impacted, was published by The Story Plant.