A Jesuit Off-Broadway

A Jesuit priest a New York play and questions as profound as they come . . . A few years after being called to the priesthood Father James Martin was startled to get a very different kind of call one evening in 2004: a phone call from actor Sam Rockwell. Rockwell had been cast for the part of Judas Iscariot in an Off-Broadway play The Last Days of Judas Iscariot where Judas was on trial for his crime of betraying Jesus. Would Martin be willing to serve as a theological consultant for the play? Martin gladly obliged and within weeks playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis director Philip Seymour Hoffman and members of the cast began to dialogue with Martin about a host of spiritual issues that the play evoked: Can we believe the Bible? What was Jesus mission? What is sin? Does hell exist? Is anyone beyond Gods forgiveness? A Jesuit Off-Broadway recounts Martins six months with the LAByrinth Theater Company and his education in the making of a play from the writing of the script to the cast party on closing night. At the same time the occasionally profane and routinely free-spirited creative team and actors learned from Martin key insights into Christian faith and theology while often revealing a profoundly spiritual side to their lives. By the time the final curtain fell Martin and the cast had gleaned important and at times surprising lessons from each other as they realized how the sacred and the secular arent always that far apart . . . and how in the end questions tell us more than answers ever do. What happens when theater and theology share the stage? Discover the answer in this thought-provoking memoir by Christopher Awardwinning author and Jesuit priest James Martin. Take a front-row seat to Father Martins six-month experience as a theological consultant for the New York theater production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot directed by Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman and starring Sam Rockwell and Eric Bogosian. While Martin thoughtfully responds to the deeply spiritual and soul-searching questions posed to him by the creative team and actorsquestions that many of us ponder at one time or another in our liveshe learns about the world of professional theater and all that is required to put on a successful play. Join Father Martin as he takes this fascinating foray into the acting arena . . . and offers answers to some of lifes biggest questions."A vivid lesson in how the Christian life can be lived in the midst of the real world.Lawrence S. CunninghamJohn A. OBrien Professor of TheologyUniversity of Notre Dame