“A View from the Underside: The Legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer,” a one-person play starring former minister and hospital chaplain Al Staggs, brings the life of one of the great heroes of the 20th century to the stage. The audience is brought into the prison cell where Bonhoeffer awaits execution and listens to his struggles with evil, injustice and God. Bonhoeffer tells of the profound influence of fellow Union Theological student Frank Fisher, an African-American who introduced Bonhoeffer to the blight of racism in America. Bonhoeffer expresses moral outrage against the Nazi treatment of Jews and explains how that outrage led him to become involved in the German resistance movement, a commitment that would result in his execution by hanging on April 9, 1945.
Al Staggs holds a B.A. from Hardin-Simmons University, an M.R.E. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, a Th.M. from Harvard Divinity School and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. After two decades as a parish minister, he discovered that his real passions were performing and working for peace and justice, which he combined by writing and performing “A View from the Underside.” A few years later he left the pastoral ministry and began a career as a full-time performing artist, adding characterizations of Clarence Jordan, Archbishop Oscar Romero and Thomas Merton to his repertoire. Respected journalist Bill Moyers said, “When I watch Al Staggs as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I am confronted by the deepest moral questions of what it means to be a witness and how I am using my life.”
Presented by Hope for Peace & Justice. Tickets are $10 and are available at the door.
