Center for Jewish-Christian Learning to participate in ‘Edgardo Mine’ programs
The Jay Phillips Center for Jewish-Christian Learning will participate in three programs that are being offered in connection with the Guthrie Theater's production of “Edgardo Mine.”
The play, which opens Nov. 10 and runs through Dec. 17, was written by Alfred Uhry, winner of an Academy Award, Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for “Driving Miss Daisy.”
“Edgardo Mine” is based on a true story that was meticulously researched by David Kertzer and retold in his book, The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, which in 1997 was a finalist for the National Book Award. Kertzer is provost and professor of social sciences at Brown University.
First produced in 2002, “Edgardo Mine” is set in 1850s Italy, where under papal law a Catholic could not be raised by Jews. After being secretly baptized by a housemaid, the infant Edgardo is taken from his Jewish parents and raised as a Catholic. The case drew worldwide attention and despite pleas of foreign governments and his family, Edgardo was never returned to his parents and later became a priest.
- The first program, “In Conversation,” is a discussion about the play with playwright Uhry, director Mark Lamos, and the Rev. Michael O’Connell, pastor of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. It will be held at 7:30 pm. Monday, Nov. 6, at the Guthrie. More information is available at www.guthrietheater.org or by calling the Guthrie, (612) 377-2224.
- The second program is a series of three classes, “From Edgardo to Today and Tomorrow,” that will be held from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. on the Tuesdays of Nov. 7, 21 and 28 at the Guthrie. The classes will be led by Rabbi Barry Cytron, director of the Jay Phillips Center for Jewish-Christian Learning, and O’Connell.
Cytron and O’Connell will discuss the story of Edgardo in the context of Catholic sacramental theology, the history of Christian anti-Judaism and the transformation of Catholic-Jewish relations since the Holocaust and Vatican Council II.
More information about the classes can be found at www.guthrietheater.org or by calling the Guthrie, (612) 377-2224.
- Kertzer, the author of the book that inspired the play, will discuss “The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara” during the 9 a.m. to noon morning service on Saturday, Nov. 11, at Adath Jeshurun Congregation in Minnetonka. The talk, which will begin at about 11 a.m., is free and open to the public.
For more information about the programs, check the Guthrie Web site listed above or call the Jay Phillips Center for Jewish-Christian Learning, (651) 962-5780.
The Jay Phillips Center for Jewish-Christian Learning is a partnership of St. John’s University and the University of St. Thomas.
