The Cultural Arts Forum opens up the 2013-2014 season at Neumann University with Thaddeus Stevens: Becoming an Abolitionist featuring historical interpreter, Stephen Anderson on Thursday, September 12 at 1:30 p.m.

Audiences will visit with Thaddeus Stevens as he discusses life as a U.S. Congressman.He was a man born in poverty in rural Vermont and suffered a club foot that gave him a limp his whole life.Even so, Stevens went on to become a lawyer in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and soon on to Congress.He was a fierce opponent to slavery and discrimination towards African-Americans and sought to secure their rights during the Reconstruction after the Civil War.

Actor, storyteller and living historical performer, Stephen Anderson has researched and performed as the congressman in hundreds of stage plays and has also led numerous walking tours in Gettysburg.His touring series, GreatTalesLive.com, visits schools, theaters, historical sites and special events all over the tri-state region.Anderson combines solid research, ten years of teaching experience and twenty years as a stage actor to create an experience that enlightens, inspires and entertains.

The program is part of the 2013-14 Cultural Arts Forum season. For 37 years, the group has been sponsoring events to support adult women students at Neumann University through the endowed scholarship named in honor of the founder of the Forum, Margaret Mary Kearney.Since its founding in 1970, the Forum has presented more than 240 events and seminars.

General admission is $8. The program is free for Cultural Arts Forum members and Neumann University students with ID.Performance will be held in the Fred P. Meagher Theatre in the campus Life Center.For more information please call 610-558-5626.