On Tuesday, March 8, at 7:00 p.m., St. Stephen the Witness Catholic Student Center will host a performance of the one-woman play, “Haunted by God: The Life of Dorothy Day.”

According to the play’s homepage, Dorothy Day (1897-1980) was a powerful woman of immense conviction who found herself jailed many times when serving as a witness to her beliefs, such as women’s suffrage.

Day, who had converted to Catholicism in the late 1920s, spent 47 years caring for the poor and leading the Catholic Church to a more active concern for the needy in U.S. society. Day is perhaps best remembered as the founder of the Catholic Worker movement. In addition to her philanthropic efforts, Day worked as a journalist and even co-founded the Catholic Worker newspaper in 1933, serving as its editor until her death in 1980.

She is also known as the “mother of the peace movement” in the United States and has influenced American peacemakers such as Daniel Berrigan and Michael Harrington.

According to the press release for the play, Day has been called ‘the most significant, interesting and influential person in the history of the American Catholic Church.’

Day is currently on her way to becoming a Catholic Saint, in a process known as canonization. Canonization can take decades – and even centuries – to finish, but the process alone makes the play even more inspirational, according to Frana Fuller, the director of the Waterloo Catholic Worker House.

“Dorothy Day models a real life example to follow, unlike what happens when some are made a saint and are put so high on a pedestal, that we could never hope to emulate them,” Fuller said.

The woman portraying Day is Lisa Wagner, who also wrote the play alongside Paul Mandes and Robert McClory. Fuller explained how powerful Wagner’s performance is.

“I remember being amazed that Lisa Wagner was on stage the entire time with only a few props, but still managed to age herself from an 18-year-old young lady to an 80 year old woman while on stage,” Fuller said.

In a review from Maura Troester of the Chicago Reader, she praises Wagner’s performance.

“It’s not easy to capture the spirit of a woman nominated for sainthood,” Troester said, “but Wagner does it with charm, wit and tremendous faith in the power of her words.”

Jack Helbig of “New City Stage” described “Haunted by God” as “a charming and compelling warts-and-all portrait.” He noted Wagner’s performance in particular as a highlight of the play.

“Wagner’s performance is so riveting – she plays, with equal ease, Day as a young Greenwich Village bohemian, as a middle-aged radical and as an elderly wise leader – that even those not entirely sympathetic with Day’s sadly unfashionable views on U.S. imperialism and feeding the poor will be moved,” Helbig said.

This production has been touring the United States since May 1990 and toured Europe in February and March of 1994. Ken Glaser, chaplain and director at St Stephen, explained why he feels that this is such an important show to bring to campus and to St. Stephen.

“Dorothy Day was an ordinary person who struggled with the difficulties of her day, yet she still saw a need and, as an individual, she decided to make a difference,” Glaser said. “It is amazing the difference she has made by establishing the Catholic Worker House movement.”

Glaser said the Catholic Worker House is an organization that is 100 percent donation driven and receives no governmental assistance. Each community that has a Catholic Worker House feeds the hungry and provides shelter to hundreds of homeless people every night.

“Dorothy Day models for each of us the importance of recognizing the needs of our community and stepping forward to make a difference,” Glaser said. “It is my hope that this play moves others to action, in regards to their personal passions and the needs they recognize in their communities.”

St. Stephen is located on UNI’s campus, next to University Book & Supply. The play is open to the public and is free of charge.