Science, faith, and lions intersect in the Tanzanian cradle of humanity.

A man in yellow shirt playing guitar on stage.
A man holding an apple in front of a map.

This epic journey opens in the cradle of humanity – the East African Rift.  This is where human kind first evolved, and realized humanness within the harsh wilderness. While collecting fossil bones near Olduvai Gorge, Dr. Kuhns became immersed in its presence. But then, even as the ink from a divorce in America was still wet, he was mistaken for Jesus by a persistent Tanzanian woman. This presented an intriguing, somewhat emotional, often hilarious, and certainly curious set of circumstances: one moment being mistaken as Jesus, and at the next moment being annulled by the church from a marriage.

But the plot thickens… working as a geologist for an Australian resources company, Kuhns experienced the continuing imbalance between those who are trying to preserve their culture, the Masaai, and the many opposing forces that by whim or purpose seek to control the land and its people. The monologue, Jesus In Sumbawanga, explores the sensibilities and inequities between policy, religion, wars, refugees, and families within the cradle of humanity and in his own life.

© Roger James Kuhns 2004

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Past Shows

Third Avenue Playhouse, WI

"Political and cultural turmoil in Tanzania becomes the backdrop for the turbulence in his own life in 'Jesus in Sumbawanga', a monologue that is at once global in scope and intensely personal....Like most good artists, Kuhns has a gift for finding what resonates with his audiences. Although the locations and cultures he explores may be outside our experiences, he ultimately guides us to see our own struggles and triumphs mirrored in their stories."  Judy M. Drew, Executive Director, Third Avenue Playhouse