Jon McCourt has been a community Peace Activist and a member of the Peace and Reconciliation Group in the City of Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland for over 30 years. As a young man he went on the first Civil Rights March in Derry in October 1968. He has been actively engaged in almost every aspect of the conflict that arose as the result of that march. He was involved in the events that have come to be known as Bloody Sunday when British soldiers clashed with civil rights protestors January 30, 1972. Since 1978 he has worked at building bridges between the two major communities in Derry, encouraging and engaging in cross community activities that have assisted in rebuilding contact, trust, and cooperation across the city. With others he founded and established the first Victim Support Service in Northern Ireland in 1986.

In this talk, Mr. McCourt will discuss his participation in the moving and ground-breaking "Theatre of Witness" production, "We Carried your Secrets" (www.theatreofwitness.org). To view a documentary about the project, visit http://vimeo.com/42328879.