Legal Aid of Southeastern PA marks 25th anniversary with 'Stumbling Stones: the John Rosenberg Story'

(Updated Oct. 11, 2026)

Media Contact:

Marion Fraley, Communications Director

mfraley@lasp.org | 484-210-5875 or 610-731-3455

1-man play honors Holocaust survivor and Kentucky legal aid founder

BRYN MAWR - Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania (LASP) invites the community to celebrate its 25th anniversary on Friday, Nov. 20, 2026. The evening connects one attorney’s lifelong pursuit of justice with the role that each person can play in advancing access to justice.

LASP is proud to present the regional premiere of “Stumbling Stones: The John Rosenberg Story,” written and performed by Jeff Sherr.

The event will be held at The Baldwin School, Simpson Center for Performing Arts, 701 Montgomery Ave., Bryn Mawr, PA 19010. Doors open Nov. 20 at 6:15 p.m. for the reception, Welcome and remarks are at 7:15 p.m., and the show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at lasp.org/25years. Patron tickets are $125. Individual tickets are $75, or $50 for a nonprofit professional, student, educator or judge.

The acclaimed one-man performance tells the story of a Holocaust survivor, a litigator in the U.S. Dept. of Justice in the 1960s, and the founder of rural legal aid serving the Appalachian coal fields of Eastern Kentucky.

Following the performance, John Rosenberg, now age 95, and his wife, Jean, plan to participate in a live discussion and audience Q&A, offering attendees the opportunity to hear directly from two people whose lives have been intertwined with decades of human rights, legal aid, and community advocacy.

The program celebrates LASP’s quarter-century of advocacy and service in Bucks, Chester, Delaware & Montgomery counties.

LASP formed in 2001 and was built upon the foundation of longstanding legal aid programs in each county. The story at the center of the evening reaches back much further, across generations and some of the defining struggles for justice in American history.

John Rosenberg fled Nazi Germany as a child and later became a civil rights attorney, legal aid pioneer, community advocate, and champion for justice. His path took him to Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement, where he helped defend voting rights, and later to the Appalachian coal fields, where he worked alongside families seeking to protect their homes, land and dignity.

“Stumbling Stones” brings that history to the stage through an 80-minute play tracing Rosenberg’s life from the rise of antisemitism in Europe through the Civil Rights era and the struggle for economic justice in Appalachia.

Rosenberg’s career demonstrates how lawyers can use their training not only to represent individual clients but also to help build institutions, strengthen communities, and expand meaningful access to the legal system.

Jean Rosenberg’s role is also central to the story.

Her work with families, education, health care, and community-building broadens the evening’s examination of justice, underscoring that lasting change takes place in neighborhoods, schools and homes, as well as in courtrooms.

For 25 years, LASP has worked to expand access to justice for those who cannot afford an attorney. Civil legal aid levels the playing field in courtrooms and increases fairness in the complex justice system.

LASP’s celebration looks both backward and forward, recognizing the people who helped establish and strengthen the legal aid movement while asking a new generation to join in continuing this work.

Proceeds will benefit Legal Aid of Southeastern PA and AppalReD Legal Aid, the organization founded by John Rosenberg.

Legal Aid of Southeastern PA Executive Director Shawn Boehringer, in announcing the event to LASP managing attorneys, noted, “John and Jean will be coming from Lexington, Kentucky. John, at age 95, is a walking history of legal aid in the United States. In the last month, John received the ABA Medal from the American Bar Association, which is the highest award the ABA gives to a lawyer. I was incredibly fortunate to work with John, who gave me my first job as a lawyer in 1993.”

About ‘Stumbling Stones: The John Rosenberg Story’

  • Stumbling Stones: The John Rosenberg Story is a solo play written and performed by Jeff Sherr that spans continents and generations, from fleeing Nazi Germany to standing with civil rights workers in Mississippi and coalfield families in Kentucky. Through decades of courtroom battles and community organizing, the play becomes a testament to memory, resilience, and the power of collective action—with an intimate thread of love and partnership at its heart. Ultimately, it’s a story of hope, reminding us that the work of justice is never finished and inspiring us to repair the world we live in today, stone by stone.

  • Webpage: https://jeffsherr.org/stumblingstones

  • Full synopsis

  • Appeared onstage earlier in 2026 in:

    • Iowa (Iowa City)

    • Kentucky (Covington, Danville, Lexington, Prestonsburg, Whitesburg & Nicholasville)

    • Missouri (St. Louis)

    • New York (New York City)

    • North Carolina (Durham, Chapel Hill)

    • West Virginia (Huntington)

About John Rosenberg | John in the News

About Legal Aid of Southeastern PA (LASP)

Legal Aid of Southeastern PA (LASP) serves Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties. It formed in 2001, built up on the foundation of longstanding legal aid organizations in each county.

LASP provides free civil legal services for low-income, vulnerable individuals in a wide array of practice areas, including housing (landlord-tenant, eviction, mortgage foreclosure, and more), domestic violence (including Protection from Abuse, or PFA, orders), family law, elder law, public benefits (SNAP, Medicaid and more), record-clearing, consumer debt and bankruptcy, and more. See lasp.org/services for more information. LASP also delivers legal services in the community. Free legal outreach events are listed at lasp.org/events.

Local offices are in seven communities: Bristol, Chester City (Delaware County), Doylestown, Media, Norristown, Pottstown, and West Chester.

LASP 25th Anniversary webpage
Press ReleaseMarion Fraley25th anniversary, John Rosenberg, Jean Rosenberg, Stumbling Stones