The Birth of "Real Prayers Are Said In German"

A note from creator Ann Hagemann

In the fall of 2015 when all Cubs' fans thought "this would be the year," I wrote a Facebook post about my dear Father and how his love of baseball, the Cubs, music, and his strong German roots got him and his sisters through some very tough times during WWII after their father took ill...

To my surprise, I received messages and posts from all over the world wanting to know more about his story. This little boy from so many years ago had stolen the hearts of many. This story found an audience that crossed heritage, race, creed, and age, so I began to write a series of short stories based on family events from 1943-45.

Soon, Angela Morris, a fellow actress and writer, joined me in this journey; we met numerous times at the Intelligentsia Coffee shop on Broadway in Chicago. As we shared ideas about turning the stories into a screenplay, we were overheard by other customers who came over and wanted to know more. What happened to Ruth? To Billy? To Margie? Urban or rural, young or old, the audience wanted to know the children. 

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