Full Spectrum and NYTW to Present THE SKEPTICS Panel Discussion 10/27

Full Spectrum and New York Theatre Workshop  will present THE SKEPTICS, a panel discussion with six creators whose work explores the ground between belief and uncertainty on October 27th, 2008. Writer Faith Adiele, transmedia artist Ebon Fisher, visual artist Chitra Ganesh, writer/musician Kyle Jarrow, and filmmaker Helen Whitney, together with poet/historian Jennifer Michael Hecht, the panel's moderator, will explore the question, "In the search for meaning, can doubt dig deeper than faith?".
 
This free event will begin with a screening of the short film, Faith, [the final act of The Millennial Pope], by director Helen Whitney. It will take place at New York Theatre Workshop, located at 79 E. 4th Street [btwn 2nd Ave & Bowery/Third Ave in the East Village]. New York, NY 10003. For more information please call 212-780-9037 or visit www.nytw.org.

Schedule of Events
6:30 film screening of Faith
7:00 panel discussion
8:00 audience Q&A
9:00 mingle
 
THE SKEPTICS will coincide with New York Theatre Workshop's and Theatre For A New Audience's co-presentation of C.I.C.T./Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord's The Grand Inquisitor, based on Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov [adapted by Marie-Hélène Estienne, featuring Bruce Myers & Jake Smith, directed by Peter Brook].  
 
Full Spectrum is a multidisciplinary forum where cutting-edge creators discuss the ideas and experiences behind their work.  The series gives audiences an intimate look at the creative process, while exploring complex social issues through a prism of arts and culture. Full Spectrum was developed by musician/event producer Brian Tate, and painter/gallery owner/philanthropist Danny Simmons [Co-founder, Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation].
 
The Full Spectrum 2008-2009 Panel Discussion Series is presented by Con Edison, with generous support from Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation. Panel discussions will be held once per month for nine months at Dance Theater Workshop, Danny Simmons' Corridor Gallery, and New York Theatre Workshop.  
 
Writer Faith Adiele has been a Buddhist nun, community educator, diversity trainer, and petty bureaucrat. She is the author of Meeting Faith, an award-winning memoir about becoming Thailand's first black Buddhist nun and the intersection between art, spirituality and politics. Her documentary film, My Journey Home uses the body, travel, and her Nigerian/Nordic/American heritage to interrogate personal and national identity. www.adiele.com.
 
Transmedia artist Ebon Fisher [Stevens Institute of Technology] works at the intersection of art, biology and digital media. Exposed to cybernetics and feedback systems at the MIT Media Lab in the 1980s, Fisher approaches his work as an evolving collaboration with the world, culminating in a nervelike system of ethics conveyed through a transmedia world called The Nervepool. His "Wigglism Manifesto" established Wigglism as one of the first intentionally open source systems of philosophy. www.nervepool.net
 
Visual artist Chitra Ganesh uses collage, photography, and drawing to explore narratives that are neglected or excluded from the official canons of history, literature, and art. Inspired by Hindu and other mythologies, Ganesh's work articulates the body as a metaphor for social and psychic conflict. In disquieting and often violent ways, she combines real and imagined figures in scenes that transgress time, culture, and faith, to confront each other, and their audiences, in provocative illusionary spaces.  www.chitraganesh.com
 
Poet/historian Jennifer Michael Hecht [panel moderator] is the author of award-winning books of philosophy, history, and poetry. Her book, Doubt: A History, demonstrates a worldwide history of religious doubt from the origins of written history to the present day. Hecht's The End of the Soul has been lauded by the Phi Beta Kappa Society "for scholarly studies that contribute significantly to interpretations of the intellectual and cultural condition of humanity." www.jennifermichaelhecht.com
 
Writer/musician Kyle Jarrow writes for the stage, television and film, often focusing on existential questions of what to believe and how to live. He won the OBIE Award for A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant, which has been produced across the U.S. His other plays include Gorilla Man, Armless, and the recent hit, Hostage Song. Kyle also plays in the rock bands, The Fabulous Entourage, and Sputnik Sweetheart. www.landoftrust.com
 
Filmmaker Helen Whitney has produced, directed, and written documentaries and feature films since 1971. Her award-winning work has dealt with youth gangs, a Trappist Monastery, Pope John Paul II, the Mormons, and other subjects. Whitney maintains a passionate personal interest in the religious journey. In her documentary, Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero, she explores the spiritual questioning in the wake of 9/11 among myriad voices: victim's families, survivors, rabbis, priests,  Islamic scholars, poets, opera singers, atheists, and others. www.helenwhitney.com

To post a comment, you must register and login.