Based on the myths of Ovid, Metamorphoses is written and directed by Mary Zimmerman. The work is based on a translation by David Slavitt. Professor Patrice Rankine of Purdue University will join Raven Foundation co-founder Suzanne Ross for this free preshow lecture. Professor Rankine of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature is the director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Classics and an associate professor of classics and comparative literature. The author of the first major critical and theoretical book on African American studies and classics, Ulysses in Black: Ralph Ellison, Classicism, and African American Studies (2007). Professor Rankine is an expert on the classics in addition to contemporary African francophone cultures.

This lecture is free and open to the public. Tickets for the 3 pm matinee performance of Metamorphoses (following the lecture) can be purchased on the Raven Foundation event page.