Tickets to THE ACCIDENTAL HERO at Marcus Center on Sale Tomorrow

The Accidental Hero is a multi-media one-man show about a WWII American officer who miraculously liberates the Czech villages of his grandparents. It's a true story, written and performed by his grandson. This show comes to the Marcus Center's Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall for one night only on Saturday, April 23 at 7:30 pm. This special presentation is part of the Off Broadway at the Marcus Center series and is sponsored by the Envoy Restaurant and Lounge.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, January 22 at the Marcus Center Box Office. Patrons can purchase tickets in person at the Marcus Center Box Office at 929 North Water Street, Downtown Milwaukee, by phone at 414-273-7206 or online at MarcusCenter.org or Ticketmaster.com. Groups 10 or more can purchase tickets by calling 414-273-7121 x210.

Patrick Dewane's grandfather refused to talk about his service in the war. Yet when he died, his basement yielded a treasure trove of typewritten accounts, photos and rare film footage.

Matt Konop carried by townspeople of Domazlice, Czechoslovakia, 1945.

Dewane brings this archival material to glowing life as an enthralling, humorous and heartwarming tale of miraculous escapes and astonishing coincidences. This touching show runs from belly laughs to tears. Dewane takes on a dozen different roles as he powerfully recounts his grandfather's journey from Omaha Beach, the Battle of the Bulge, and the end of WWII. In the last week of the war, Konop's story turns away from a soldier's survival tale to something from mythology. He discovers his lost identity, embraced by the tribe he never knew. Like Luke Skywalker, Konop thought he was just fighting the Evil Empire, in this case the Nazis. But unlike Skywalker, this story is true. His was an epic homecoming. As he freed the Czechs, they liberated him.

Audiences across the US and the Czech Republic have thrilled to this remarkable, uplifting story from The Greatest Generation. Konop's grandparents had left the Old Country in the 1860s to pursue the American Dream. Konop was raised with their language, Czech, but expected to "become American." To get ahead, he needed to discard the old ways and his first language. Dropped into WWII, his fluency in Czech got him the dangerous assignment of commanding the Advance Party to liberate Czechoslovakia. And once at the Czech border, his curiosity drew him into the country of his grandparents, well ahead of the rest of his division. What he found changed his life. The Czechs couldn't believe the miracle of "being liberated by one of our own." He couldn't believe the hero's welcome that greeted him. It deeply changed his notion of what it meant to be both Czech and American.

However, like many of his generation Matt Konop didn't talk about the war when he returned. His story vanished with passing time. Back in Czechoslovakia, the Communist coup of 1948 brought an ugly, repressive regime that would last the rest of Konop's life. The Communists also changed the official history of WWII and eliminated the fact that the US Army had liberated Southwestern Czechoslovakia. So while Konop's story faded in America, it was illegal to tell it in Czechoslovakia. When Konop died in 1983 his family knew little of his heroics, and the Czechs were forbidden to talk about it. At Konop's funeral, there was no American flag on the casket, no bugler playing taps at the grave. It seemed his war stories were buried with him.

Twenty years after his death, his long-forgotten writings were discovered in a family basement. Along with his war manuscript were reels of color and black and white film he shot during the war on a Kodak 8mm handheld camera. Konop's grandson, Patrick Dewane, became obsessed with what was found and turned the story, film footage and period music into The Accidental Hero, a 90-minute one-man show.

More information about the show is available at http://www.accidentalhero.net/.

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