Father Daniel Berrigan's transcript-based free-verse drama is brought to life in a staged reading at Swedenborg Hall by The Sullivan Players on Monday evenings of October 2007 (Oct 8, 15, 22 & 29), beginning at 7pm with a discussion immediately following. The play lasts about 75 minutes. There will be no intermission. There is a suggested admission donation of $5. Please arrive early, seating is limited.

The play centers around the real-life trial of nine men and women who, on May 17, 1968, entered the Selective Service Offices in Catonsville, Maryland, removed several hundred draft records, and burned them with homemade napalm in protest against the war in Vietnam. The nine were arrested and, in a highly publicized trial, sentenced to jail.

This act of civil disobedience intensified protest against the draft, prompted debate in households in Maryland and across the nation, and stirred angry reaction on the part of many Americans. It also propelled the nine Catholic participants - especially priest brothers Daniel and Philip Berrigan - into the national spotlight.

The Catonsville action reflected not only the nature of the Vietnam antiwar movement in 1968, but also the larger context of social forces that were reshaping American culture in the 1960s.

» click here to learn more about the Catonsville 9 and their trial at the Enoch Pratt Free Library