Annunciation Church to Host Dramatic One-man Play | Arts & Culture

“Saint Maximilian Kolbe,” a one-man play by St. Luke Productions, will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, September 13, at Annunciation Church, 7580 Clinton St., Elma. Maximilian remains one of St. Luke Productions’ most requested live dramas. The performance runs 90 minutes and is suitable for ages 9 and up.

In this dramatic performance by Leonardo Defilippis, Maximilian opens with the young Raymond Kolbe, son of devout Polish parents, expressing his desire to be a priest. In spite of the trials he encounters as a seminarian, he is sustained in his journey to the priesthood by a vision from the Blessed Mother who offers him the choice between two crowns – one of purity or one of martyrdom. He boldly chooses both. This now sets the stage for the unfolding of the intense plot.

In 1941, Fr. Maximilian Kolbe is arrested by the Gestapo and sent to the infamous Auschwitz death camp where he is forced into slave labor and tortured. In a riveting scene, the saint offers to take the place of a married man condemned to death by starvation, fulfilling the very words of Christ: “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

“St. Maximilian Kolbe has a powerful yet cautionary message for all of us – to not take the freedoms we cherish for granted, but rather to defend them with our lives,” said Defilippis.

A freewill donation of $10 for adults and $5 for children is suggested. For more information regarding Annunciation Church, please visit www.annunciation.cc or call 683-5254.