A Life for the Revolution

Saturday, May 16, 2026 at 7 PM
Sunday, May 17, 2026 at 2 PM

Following the Sunday, May 17, 2 PM performance will be a "Talk back" Q and A session with the German Playwright Erich Becker.

A Life for the Revolution follows the extraordinary true story of Ludwig Bogen, a spirited German revolutionary whose lifelong fight for justice carries him from the upheaval of 19th-century Europe to the young American Midwest.

The play traces Bogen’s early idealism, shaped by the 1830s student movements and the failed German revolutions of 1848. Through tense interrogations, family conflict, and political struggle, we see a young man determined to challenge oppression and advocate for a democratic Germany. Even as imprisonment, censorship, and exile threaten to break his resolve, Bogen refuses to surrender his belief that ordinary people deserve a voice.

When hopes for reform collapse, he immigrates to the United States, seeking a place where the freedoms he dreamed of are already woven into civic life. In New Ulm, Minnesota, he becomes a writer, publisher, and community leader, still fighting for fairness, still calling out injustice, and still striving for a better future. His work bridges two continents, tying the revolutionary ideals of Europe to the emerging democratic identity of the American frontier.

Spanning five decades, the play blends political history with deeply personal moments, family bonds, moral struggles, and the weight of sacrifice. A Life for the Revolution honors Ludwig Bogen not only as a revolutionary but as a steadfast advocate for liberty whose voice, even in hardship, continued to shape the community he called home.