In preparation for viewing the Lookingglass Theatre’s World Premiere production of Fedra, a discussion of the play, its historical iterations and its current production is moderated by Raven Foundation founder Suzanne Ross and led by Friends of the Foundation, Sandor Goodhart, Ph.D. of the English Department and Patrice Rankin, Ph.D. of the Classics Department, both from Purdue University. View the diagram referenced in the discussion here.

Sandor Goodhart is a Professor of English and Jewish Studies at Purdue University and Director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Classical Studies. He is the author of Sacrificing Commentary. Reading the End of Literature (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996), Reading Stephen Sondheim (New York: Garland Publishing, 2000), For René Girard. Essays in Friendship and Truth, co-edited with J. Jørgenson, T. Ryba, and J. G. Williams (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2009), and Sacrifice and Scripture in Ancient Judaism and Christianity, co-edited with Ann Astell (South Bend: Notre Dame University Press, forthcoming). He teaches ancient Greek and modern drama, contemporary critical theory and philosophy, and the (Hebrew) Bible as Literature. He has long been associated with the work of René Girard, serving as the Executive Secretary of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion (formed around René Girard’s work) from 1999 to 2003, and as President from 2003 to 2007.

Jamaican born Professor Patrice Rankine is currently in the Department of Classics & Humanities at Purdue University, where he is the director of the Humanities Program. He is also author of the first major critical and theoretical book on African American Studies and Classics, published in 2007 by Wisconsin: Ulysses in Black: Ralph Ellison, Classicism, and African American Studies. Professor Rankine is an expert on Phaedre in Euripides, Seneca, and Racine, as well as contemporary African francophone cultures.

Suzanne Ross is the author of two books – The Wicked Truth: When Good People Do Bad Things and The Wicked Truth About Love: The Tangles of Desire. In 2007, Ross co-founded the Raven Foundation with husband Keith. Based on the principles of mimetic theory, the foundation seeks to make religion reasonable, violence unthinkable and peace a possibility by challenging conventional wisdom and opening the door to new reasoning. Suzanne is a graduate of Bucknell University and a certified Montessori educator. She has extensive experience as a corporate training consultant, and is a former editor of the literary journal, StoryQuarterly. She is the former Director of Christian Education for a United Church of Christ congregation. As a member of the Colloquium on Violence & Religion, she has attended and presented at the annual conferences. Suzanne is a member of the Education Committee of Imitatio, Inc. She lives, works and plays golf with her husband Keith in Glenview, Illinois.

Recorded Saturday, October 17, 2009 at Loyola University - Lewis Towers.