Tony Buba & Marcus Rediker Present: “Becoming Benjamin Lay”

Photo Courtesy: Marcus Rediker

City of Asylum is delighted to host this screening of Becoming Benjamin Lay, a new documentary from director Tony Buba and historian Marcus Rediker. The film explores the life and ideas of an unknown radical Quaker dwarf abolitionist who demanded an end to slavery almost 300 years ago. At the center of the film is the prize-winning play Marcus wrote with Naomi Wallace, The Return of Benjamin Lay. In this film adaptation, actor Mark Povinelli embodies the visionary Lay, challenging us to live with courage and conviction in dark times, bringing a forgotten hero back to modern public memory.

You can purchase Marcus Rediker and Naomi Wallace’s The Return of Benjamin Lay, at City of Asylum Bookstore.

About the Artists:

Tony Buba has made over 40 films, including four feature films exploring working-class issues in and around his hometown since 1974. Tony began his career with The Braddock Chronicles, a dozen short documentary portraits of the stubborn signs of life in a dying mill town. His Mon Valley Trilogy was purchased by the Carnegie Museum of Art and is part of their permanent collection. Tony’s work has been showcased in one-person shows at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Anthology Film Archives, the Carnegie Museum of Art, and more than 100 other museums and universities. He has received fellowships from the NEA, AFI, and the Rockefeller and Guggenheim Foundations. His many awards include Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award and Pennsylvania Media Artist of the Year.

Marcus Rediker is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh. He has written or edited 17 books, including The Many-Headed Hydra (2000, with Peter Linebaugh); The Slave Ship (2007); The Fearless Benjamin Lay (2017); and Freedom Ship (2025). His writings have won numerous awards and been published in 20 languages worldwide. He wrote The Return of Benjamin Lay with Naomi Wallace. He has also created four graphic novels with David Lester and a children’s book with Michelle Markel and Sarah Bachman. He has produced two documentary films with Tony Buba: Ghosts of Amistad in 2014 and now Becoming Benjamin Lay. For more information, visit www.marcusrediker.com.

About Your Visit: 

The in-house restaurant, Cucina Alfabeto, is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.