Testing the Reformation: Students Meet Calvin

In 2009, the Evangelische Kirche (Protestant Church of Germany) commissioned Heinrich Waegner to create a theater play for and with young people to begin the local events for the 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth. Working collaboratively with students at the Protestant High School ("Evangelisches Gymnasium"), where Waegner had been the school drama director of over thirty productions, the playwright developed a fresh, funny, but overall respectful play that will help audiences engage with Calvin's living legacy. Critical response was positive: "Amusing and instructive . . . impressive and meaningful group choreography." Translated from Siegener Zeitung, 22 June 2009 "Of all historical figures, John Calvin, who banned likenesses from the church as incompatible with his rigorous interpretation of the Commandments, is the protagonist-in-the-flesh of Heinrich Waegner's play . . . in which the Reformer nonetheless is given manifold opportunity to debate his doctrines with friends and critics." Translated from Westf lische Rundschau, 20 June 2009 "Heinrich Waegner's turbulent historical play indeed fulfils the promise of his audacious motto: 'Calvin: approach him and understand him critically, epitomize and refine, value and challenge, picturize and dance, capture playfully, quest, find, and utilize.'" Karlfried Petri, District Church Office, Siegen-Wittgenstein Playwright Heinrich Waegner taught English, German, and Drama at high schools for 35 years, winning prizes and invitations to festivals all over Europe and North Africa with his creative youth theatre group "Theaterkiste." His plays include Gilgamesh, Icarus, Cassandra, Metamorphoses, Alice, and Guano or the Odyssey of the Birds.