A Philadelphia playwright has included the story of the murder of Austin native Beau Zabel in a recent production.

According to the play’s Web site, “Killadelphia: Mixtape of a City,” a one-man act performed by Sean Christopher Lewis, debuted in January in Baltimore.

The play takes a look at the causes of the crime rate and its effect on the community, centering the story around the summer of 2008.

“Beau Zabel, of Austin, Minnesota, has just become the 139th victim of the year,” Lewis says during the beginning if his performance.

Lewis tells the story of how Zabel, 23, an aspiring teacher, was shot in Philadelphia when walking home from his job at a coffeehouse June 15, 2008. Police believe he was shot for his iPod; Zabel’s wallet and backpack were not taken. The Citizens Crime Commission in Philadelphia is offering a $35,000 reward for information about Zabel’s murder.

“Killadelphia” has been performed at the University of Kansas, a boys home in Philadelphia and Graterford Prison in Pennsylvania.

“Determined to take an unflinching look at the causes of the crime rate and its effect on the community, playwright Sean Christopher Lewis introduces us to the inmates of Graterford Prison — men employed to beautify the city even as they serve out life sentences,” the Web site says.

“The voices of the prisoners, their victims, Mayor Nutter, local rappers, conservative talk show hosts, trauma surgeons and the citizens of the City of Brotherly Love crowd the stage to say their piece.”

Lewis is the inaugural recipient of the Rosa Parks Award for Social Justice in Playwriting from the Kennedy Center.

“Killadelphia” will debut at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City April 29.

Zabel’s unsolved case was featured March 14 and also July 12, 2008 on “America’s Most Wanted.”

According to the TV show’s Web site, police are analyzing surveillance video from cameras. The video shows a man running down the sidewalk after the shooting, although the crime was not caught on tape.

Zabel graduated from Austin High School in 2003. An employee at Starbuck’s, Zabel had been accepted to the Philadelphia Teaching Fellows Program and was scheduled to teach math that fall.

Zabel is survived by his mother, Lana Zamora, Austin; father, Douglas Kammeier, Iowa City, Iowa; stepfather, Terry Zabel, Chaska; sister, Brook True, Northwood, Iowa; and brother, Brice Zabel, Austin.