The Word Made Alive! A Weekend of Sacred Storytelling Part 1 "A Tale from the Time of Martyrs"

Three Nights. Three Churches. Three Stories.April 24 - 26, 2026Years before the Bible was canonized, people told the stories around fires and in homes that we now read in the scriptures. Biblical storytelling takes a two-dimensional “reading” of the scripture and turns it into a three-dimensional ”telling” of the story.Davide Bardi and Paola Balbi, are the Artistic Directors of Raccontamiunastoria (Tell Me A Story). They will perform three times over the weekend of April 24 - 26. They have told these stories for more than a decade, and make every performance different through music and improvised content. These events are FREE and open to the public, but donations are welcome to bring professional artists, like Davide and Paola, to Wilmington. "A Tale from the Time of Martyrs” Ad Catacumbus, The Praetorian of ChristSebastian is a young and handsome man, commander of the Praetorian Guard - the most sought after position in the Roman army - and personal bodyguard of the emperor Diocletianus. He has a brilliant career, he is powerful and popular all over Rome and is considered the perfect embodiment of "Romanitas" (Roman virtue) and "mos maiorum" (the moral virtue of the ancestors) but the course of his life will change dramatically when he comes across the teaching of a revolutionary preacher from the obscure province of Palestine, sentenced to death two centuries before.This powerful and passionate story from early Christianity comes to life through the voices and bodies of Davide Bardi and Paola Balbi in a performance that is a real Storytelling marathon, where each of the performers embodies four different characters. Unforgettable male and female figures emerge from the setting of a violent and corrupt imperial Rome. They will shape the course of human history and spirituality. This captivating and emotionally engaging performance will immerse the audience in one of the lesser-known periods of ancient Rome, where being a Christian was considered the worst of crimes, and defying the emperor was pure madness and meant certain death.