In May 2008, the Society to Preserve The Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka staged Gift to America, bringing the murals of Maxo Vanka to life with support from the Pennsylvania Labor Center at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. As a contribution to the celebration of Pittsburgh's 250th Anniversary, the play attracted four sold-out audiences and helped to raise greater awareness about the paintings and the Society's efforts to preserve them.
The one-hour play is a conversation about the murals between Vanka and Father Albert Zagar, the priest who commissioned the murals. Two female characters also are a part of the dramatic reading, which will be accompanied by Tamburitzan music. Scripted by Carnegie Mellon Professor Emeritus of English David Demarest, the play originally was staged in 1981. Described by Time magazine as “one of the few distinguished sets of murals in the U.S.,” the murals depict the ravages of war and the sacrifices of immigrant workers in early 20th century industrial America. They honor the congregation’s Croatian heritage and their Christian faith. Vanka had recently immigrated when he began to paint the murals in 1937, and called them his “gift to America.”
The vivid imagery depicted on the walls and ceilings of the Millvale church reveal a passion that is universal yet uniquely Croatian. After seeing the murals, Rock musician David Byrne of The Talking Heads called Vanka “the Diego Rivera of Pittsburgh.”
The Society to Preserve The Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka is staging the play, with support from the Pennsylvania Labor Center at IUP, and hopes to raise a greater awareness of the paintings while launching a campaign to fund the illumination, restoration and preservation of the murals.
