April 23, 2014 Leave a Comment

Talking John Paul II on “A Closer Look”

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Here’s the link to my interview yesterday with Sheila Liaugminas on “A Closer Look.” It was a meaty hour. We talked about:

  • Pope John Paul II’s subversive theater activities during World War II, the subject of my new play, The Actor
  • the crucial importance of the imagination in moral, intellectual and spiritual formation
  • the arts, and especially theater, in their role as a service to contemplation
  • how Catholics can–must–evangelize culture through the arts

Sheila is a gifted interviewer and I really enjoyed our conversation–and I hope you do, too!

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April 22, 2014 Leave a Comment

Media Appearances Supporting “The Actor”

Had a great time this morning talking to Matt Swaim on “The Son Rise Morning Show” about The Actor. I understand that the show will probably be re-broadcast tomorrow nationally–hopefully on your local Catholic radio station.

And later today I’ll be talking about The Actor with Sheila Liaugminas on her radio show, “A Closer Look.” The conversation kicks off at 6:00pm Eastern, 5:00pm Central.

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April 21, 2014 Leave a Comment

Announcing the Release of My New Play About Pope John Paul II

I’m very pleased to announce today the release of my new play, The Actor, based upon little-known events in the life of Karol Wojtyla, the man who became Pope John Paul. Here’s the official blurb…

Just in time for the celebration of his canonization on April 27, 2014–a new play depicting little-known events in the life of the young Karol Wojtyła, the man who would become Pope John Paul II.

Karol “Lolek” Wojtyła is a talented university student with an ardent desire to be an actor. But on the morning of September 1, 1939, just as he prepares to serve Mass at Kraków’s Wawel Cathedral, German aircraft approach the city signaling the beginning of the Nazi invasion of Poland and the end of Lolek’s life as he has known it.

Yet along with other thespian friends, Lolek refuses to give up on his dream. In secret they pursue their dramatic activities underground, eventually forming the much-heralded Rhapsodic Theater as a form of cultural resistance against the Nazi occupation.

But even as Lolek becomes more deeply immersed in underground theater, the more he begins to hear a call to a very different life. The suffering of his people, combined with the friendship of a mystic-tailor named Jan Tyranowski, challenge him to think more deeply about what his country needs most from him. In the crucible of war, Lolek finds himself an actor in a most unexpected drama.

Based on exciting historical events, and brimming with the indefatigable idealism of youth, The Actor provides an inspiring and captivating portrait of the saint as a young artist.

Find the play here on Amazon. Very soon to be released on iTunes, barnesandnoble.com, and Kobo. Enjoy!

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April 17, 2014 Leave a Comment

Ecce Homo

“Ecce Homo” by Adam Chmielowski, a.k.a. Saint Brother Albert and a character in my new play, The Actor.

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April 16, 2014 Leave a Comment

Preparing for the Release of “The Actor”

I haven’t had much time to blog of late as I’m in the homestretch of preparations for the release, next Tuesday, of my play, The Actor, based on part of the early life of Karol Wojtyła, the man who became Pope John Paul II. I’m timing the launch of the play with the canonization of John Paul II, which will take place in Rome on Sunday, April 27.

Homeschoolers will be especially interested in talks I’ll be giving at two homeschooling conferences this summer. I’m going to speak on, “Children’s Literature, Catholicism, and the Golden World,” a version of a talk I gave last fall at Notre Dame, to both the IHM National Homeschool Conference in Fredericksburg, Virginia and the IHM Maryland Homeschool Conference in Mt. Airy, Maryland. Here are the dates and locations:

IHM Maryland Homeschool Conference

St. Michael’s Catholic Church

Mt. Airy, MD 21771

Saturday, May 17, 2014

 

IHM National Homeschool Conference

Fredericksburg Expo and Conference Center

2372 Carl D. Silver Parkway

Fredericksburg, VA 22041

Friday, June 20, 2014

I haven’t yet been told the precise times of my talks–I’ll let you know as soon as I do.

At both conferences I’ll be available to sign books after my talks. I will have limited numbers of Patria books with me, so I encourage you, if you’re interested in signed books, to purchase yours beforehand from Amazon and bring them to the conference.

Trojan Tub Entertainment, the children’s entertainment company under which I publish the Kingdom of Patria series, will have a vendor table both the Friday and the Saturday (May 16-17) of the national conference.

I look forward to seeing you at one of these events!

 

The photograph above is of St. Mary’s Church in Wadowice, Poland, where soon-to-be Pope Saint John Paul II was baptized on June 20, 1920. It is reproduced courtesy of Piotrek Szymakowski at Flickr Creative Commons under the following license.

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April 10, 2014 Leave a Comment

Can You Name This Actor?

My friend Jeff Bruno is doing the cover design for my new play, The Actor, based on part of the early life of Karol Wojtyla, the man who became Pope John Paul II, and today he secured the use of this photograph of the 18 year-old future pope (the photograph was taken in 1938). I think such a headshot makes a fabulous cover for this play.

What do you think?

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April 9, 2014 Leave a Comment

Very Soon Till Curtain!

I couldn’t resist announcing this on Twitter today so there’s no reason not to blurt it out here. (Are we connected on Twitter? Find me @danielmcinerny.) I’m preparing to launch my latest work, one I haven’t even mentioned here as a work-in-progress. It’s a play about a young actor desperate to forge a career in the theatre but who, through the crucible of his country’s occupation during World War II, discovers that he has been given the gift of a very different calling–to the priesthood. The play is called The Actor. The young actor is a Pole named Karol Wojtyla. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, you might better know him as Pope John Paul II.

The Actor is not a full biography of Pope John Paul II, not even of his youth. It concentrates on the period between his first year at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and the Nazi invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, and his decision to enter the underground seminary in 1942.

Watch this space for further details on publication, which I’m aiming to be on Monday, April 21, a week before the celebration of John Paul II’s canonization on April 27.

The photograph above is of Wawel Cathedral in Krakow. Karol Wojtyla was just getting ready to serve Mass here when he and his friend, Father Figelwicz, first heard the approach of the Nazi invasion. Photograph reproduced courtesy of Maciej Szczepańczyk at Wikimedia Commons.

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