Actor Jeromy Darling, who portrayed Pier Giorgio Frassati at the premiere of Open Window Theatre’s Frassati back in 2021, will continue in this role on the road, far and wide from its St. Paul, Minnesota, beginnings. 

Darling knows the power of saints’ stories.

“It’s profoundly humbling to be a part of this production,” Darling told the Register. “I had only recently been received into the Catholic Church when [the theater’s founder and playwright] Jeremy [Stanbary] wrote this role for me, and Frassati has sort of ingrained himself into my life in a way that’s hard to describe.”

He continued, “Devotion to the saints is normally built through prayer and books, but actually pretending to be like them, dressing like them, talking like them, and reliving their life over and over again is an extremely unique way to grow close to a saint.”

“We need a lot of prayer. This missionary work as an actor comes at a heavy price, which is a great reminder of God’s calling on my life,” he added.

For Jeremy Stanbary, who also serves as artistic director, the idea of traveling theater is nothing new. Stanbary first took his saint and Gospel plays on the road beginning in 2003. He continued travel performances for eight years before founding Open Window. With the launch of a traveling arm of Open Window, he’s come full circle.

Stanbary founded the regional nonprofit Open Window Theatre in May 2011, as he was starting a family. Its approximately four plays each season have frequently sold out over the past 12 years. The productions have included everything from Shakespeare and classics to original premieres and saint biopics. The theatre’s 12th season opens Sept. 26 with Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and ends May 31 with an original saint drama play written by Stanbary, St. Joan of Arc.

Stanbary looks forward to bringing Frassati’s story and others to new audiences, aiming “to get these powerful new saint plays on the road, bringing the full theatrical experience to performing arts centers across the country.” 

Stanbary added that this endeavor is something that previously would not have been possible. However, under the leadership of Open Window’s newly named executive director, Mark Dittman, the traveling arm of Open Window Theatre coincides with its 2025 fall season.

Frassati will be the first of Open Window’s productions hitting the road. It originally premiered Oct. 1, 2021, at Open Window Theatre, running for five weeks. Based on the life of the Italian holy young man, the moving production dramatically presents his life and death.

The traveling show will premiere at Cincinnati’s Aronoff Center, Oct. 17-19, 2025. The play’s travels follow Pier Giorgio Frassati’s canonization, along with Blessed Carlo Acutis, on Sept. 7 by Pope Leo XIV.

The traveling show partnership is being made possible through The Angelico Project, whose mission is “transforming the culture through beauty.” Angelico is a Cincinnati-based apostolate working to draw people closer to Christ and the Church through art, thought and culture.

Brad Torline, executive director of The Angelico Project, said that the Frassati production stood out for several reasons, including timing, a compelling story, commitment to excellence, and appeal to young people.

 

“With Pier Giorgio Frassati’s canonization taking place just a month before, this was the perfect moment to join the Church in celebrating his life,” said Torline. He hopes the show will be entertaining, inspiring and edifying.

“For those already living the faith, we want this story to strengthen and encourage them,” he added. “For those seeking, we hope it sparks something in them. We also hope all attendees will be impressed by the powerful experience; that it showcases the power of good art to move hearts and inspires people to support initiatives like Open Window Theatre and The Angelico Project, which place beauty at the service of the Gospel.”

Frassati will later be presented at Chicago’s Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture, Jan. 16-18, 2026. The Athenaeum pursues what is good, true, beautiful and interesting with performances, events and conversations in a historic theater in the heart of the Windy City.

Open Window Theatre’s booking manager, Rose Dittman, said that the hope is to partner with like-minded performing arts centers, faith-based theaters, Catholic universities and high schools, and venues owned or operated by Catholic dioceses for weekend shows. 

“We are actively working on booking other cities starting in spring of 2026,” she said. 

She added that the plan is to take another Stanbary-written play, Lolek, on the road later in 2026. That play features a dramatic portrayal of Karol Wojtyla’s life in Nazi-occupied Poland. Wojtyla was ordained a priest and became Pope John Paul II. While the part of a young-adult John Paul II was originally played by Stanbary himself, the traveling show will feature a new actor.

Originally, Open Window had planned to open Frassati in Chicago in August to coincide with Pier Giorgio’s original canonization date. However, that show was postponed to January when the canonization date changed.

“The traveling-theater venture complements our mainstage operations by extending the reach of our mission, which is offering redemptive theater, and allows us to develop our current staff and add needed expertise to our mainstage productions,” explained Mark Dittman. “The intention is to touch lives around the nation with the stories of saints, while maintaining our current high standards both locally and at distant venues.”

Those involved with Open Window see their work as a new type of missionary work. 

“Our mission isn’t limited to just the Twin Cities,” said Stanbary. “We’ve discerned that we’re being called to expand our mission beyond our local community, bringing transcendent and transformative live theater to communities all across our country and anywhere else God wants to take us. We need a revival of authentically Catholic culture through the arts.”

“Western civilization needs Frassati’s example right now,” added Darling. “His life, through this production, has the power to make lifelong converts.”

 

 

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To fund the traveling theater, Open Window launched a “To the Heights” (after the Frassati quote) capital campaign to raise $750,000 over the next two years to fund and staff productions.