Outside the Wire, a social impact company that uses live theater to address pressing public health and social issues, will present two free dramatic readings from the Book of Job on Sunday, May 20 as a catalyst for audience discussions about the lasting impact of the tornado that devastated the city of Joplin last May.

          Job in Joplin will feature the award-winning actors Paul Giamatti (John Adams, Cinderella Man), Arliss Howard (Full Metal Jacket, The Lost World: Jurassic Park), and David Strathairn (The Bourne Ultimatum, Good Night, and Good Luck.) in dramatic readings from the Book of Job, followed by remarks by community panelists and facilitated audience discussions.

          For thousands of years, the Book of Job has been regarded as one of the most powerful texts in the Bible, and in the western world, to address the question of human suffering.

          It tells the story of Job, a righteous and prosperous man, who loses everything—his children, his crops, his livestock, his livelihood, and his health—after a great wind annihilates his home. When Job questions why he has been made to suffer, insisting on his innocence in the face of countless accusations made by friends and neighbors, God appears to him from within a whirlwind and rebukes him for presuming to understand his divine will. Job repents for his actions, and God, in turn, restores his health and prosperity, doubling his children, his livestock, and his crops.

          The performances are being made possible by a generous “Impact Fund” grant from the nonprofit organization PopTech, and will be hosted by College Heights Christian Church (from 3pm-5pm) and the Ozark Center (from 6pm-8pm at Memorial Middle School).

          These interactive events will aim to promote healing dialogue within the community of Joplin, fostering compassion, hope, understanding, and positive action.

          In honor of the more than 7,000 apartments and homes that were destroyed, the countless lives that were uprooted, and the 161 people who were lost in the tornado on May 22, 2011, Job in Joplin will endeavor to create a safe space for the community to come together to explore fundamental human questions left in the aftermath of the tornado. Questions such as:

How do we respond when bad things
 happen to good people?
How do disasters bring about
the best qualities in humanity?
How do individuals, families, neighbors, and communities
move on with their lives after being visited
with unimaginable destruction?