Goodman Theatre

For Immediate Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Chicago, IL - September 26, 2007) Using the themes of Sarah Ruhl's Passion Play: a cycle in three parts as a springboard, Goodman Theatre and Illinois Humanities Council's The Public Square present a panel discussion entitled Myth of Separation: Politics, Religion and Secular Space. Four of Chicago's leading scholars and religious personnel discuss the politicization of religion and its effect on civic discourse. Panelists include Cassie Meyer (Interfaith Youth Core), Barbara Ransby (University of Illinois at Chicago), Robert V. Thompson (Minister at Lake Street Church in Evanston) and Adam Walker (Center for Inquiry). The free 90-minute program takes place on Monday, October 15 at 6:30pm; reservations are required and may be made through the Goodman Theatre Box Office, 170 North Dearborn Street, or by phoning 312.443.3800.

Panel moderator Willa J. Taylor, Goodman Theatre's Director of Education and Community Outreach said, "Sarah's provocative play is a beacon during a time when it feels impossible to discuss ethics, faith and politics in a public arena. I have always been intrigued by how religion has been used to justify atrocities, to corral and circumscribe a group's behavior or to demonize whole nations of people. I am also fascinated by how we seemingly cling to the false notion of the separation of church and state in this country, while simultaneously holding it up as the more enlightened way of democracy. Passion Play: a cycle in three parts was written, as Sarah notes, 'in the spirit of conversation.' Her play has begun a dialogue, and I hope our panel touches upon those insights and continues that conversation."

Myth of Separation: Politics, Religion and Secular Space is the first event of Goodman Theatre's new CONTEXT series, a forum to engage the community in debate, discussion and deeper exploration of themes within Goodman productions. Unlike post-show discussions that focus primarily on the production, CONTEXT events concentrate on how particular issues raised within the plays resonate in today's culture.

About the Panelists

Barbara Ransby (Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago) is a historian, writer and longtime political activist. She received her B.A. from Columbia University in New York and her PhD in history from the University of Michigan, where she was a National Mellon Fellow, and was a national Ford Foundation Postdoctoral fellow in 2000/2001. She authored the award-winning biography of civil rights activist, Ella Baker-Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision (2003). In addition to her academic work, Ransby is a freelance contributor to The Nation, The Black Scholar, Sojourners, The Denver Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, The Miami Herald, Newsday and USA Today. She is a guest contributor to Eight Forty-Eight on WBEZ and writes regularly for the Progressive Media Project. She chairs the advisory board of The Public Square.

Reverend Robert V. Thompson (Lake Street Church) became the minister of Lake Street Church in 1980, after having served pastorates in Kansas and Ohio. A native of California, he enrolled in the Berkeley Baptist Divinity School (a member of the Graduate Theological Union) in 1970. His ministry is characterized by a strong commitment to the prophetic vision of peace and justice; he is involved with the Third Side project of the Global Negotiation Program at Harvard University. Thompson has written a number of articles on diverse topics for publications including Parents magazine, The Christian Century magazine, The Chicago Tribune and the Muslim outlet Soundvision. His first book, A Voluptuous God: A Christian Heretic Speaks, will be published this fall.

Cassie Meyer (Outreach, Education and Training Coordinator, Interfaith Youth Core) completed her Masters at University of Chicago Divinity School where her work focused on social justice movements in American Christianity, and she instituted an online forum on faith and politics. She currently teaches a course, along with Eboo Patel, on interfaith action in the world at the Chicago Theological Seminary. Meyer completed her undergraduate work at Lawrence University, where she majored in Religious Studies with a concentration on Christianity and Islam. She is a member of Community Renewal Society's Associate Board.

Adam R. Walker (Center for Inquiry) is the founder of the Center for Inquiry, the Chicago metropolitan area's leading organization for the use of reason and free inquiry into all aspects of human interest. Formerly known as the Secular Humanist Society of Chicago, the Center is one of dozens of Centers for Inquiry throughout the world that embrace a scientific, naturalistic, ethical and non-religious outlook on human life and the world at large. Walker was recently a panelist on the "God in America" debate, a 90-minute live national broadcast sponsored by the Total Living Network (TLN), a Christian cable channel. He was the subject of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin's extensive profile on the relationship between secularism and the law. A municipal finance and tax increment financing attorney, Walker is also a violinist and bassist who performs with various jazz and classical groups and is active in community affairs for the University Village/Taylor Street neighborhood, where he and his wife make their home.

Passion Play: a cycle in three parts takes a humorous and unsettling look at the thorny relationship between politics and religion, using the traditional dramatic restaging of the final days of Christ as a basis for the exploration of three explosive historical periods: Elizabethan England, pre-World War II Germany and Reagan-era America. Startlingly original and beautifully human, Passion Play pits religious dogma, personal faith and politics against love, beauty and truth-all with Ruhl's signature wit, seductive theatricality and devastating insight. The Boeing Company is the Exclusive Corporate Sponsor of Passion Play: a cycle in three parts.

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September 28, 2007