Fernandez and Tec To Speak At Long Wharf Theatre's Sunday Symposium Series 12/13

Long Wharf Theatre's Sunday Symposium series continues with a conversation about the nature of hatred, confession and forgiveness. The event will follow the 2 p.m. matinee performance of Have You Seen Us? on Sunday, December 13, 2009. Symposiums are free and open to all.

Entitled "Hatred and Forgiveness: An Intersection of Ideas in Athol Fugard's Have You Seen Us?," the symposium will focus on the theme of healing between individuals and cultures. Joining the discussion will be Holocaust scholar and author Nechama Tec and Center for American Progress Fellow Henry Fernandez. The Sunday Symposium series is designed to encourage conversations about the work on our stages and features a panel of experts and artists who discuss ideas related to the play's theme.

Nechama Tec, Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of Connecticut, received her PhD from Columbia University. For years, Tec's research and publications have concentrated on the intricate relationships between self-preservation, compassion, altruism, rescue, resistance, cooperation, and gender. She has authored numerous books and scholarly articles on the Holocaust and Jewish/Christian relationships and identities, including When Light Pierced the Darkness (1986), In the Lion's Den (1990), Resilience and Courage (2003), and Every Day Lasts a Year (2007). Her book about Jewish wartime heroism, Defiance (2008), was recently adapted into a major motion picture, directed by Edward Zwick and starring Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, and Jamie Bell.

Henry Fernandez is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, a political think tank. He has worked broadly in local government, including as an economic development administrator for New Haven, and has served on numerous boards and commissions, including the National Commission on Civic Renewal and the Connecticut Commission on Arts, Culture, and Tourism. Fernandez has helped lead local and state political campaigns, including the early campaigns of Ken Reeves, Cambridge, Massachusetts' first African American mayor, and John DeStefano's primary and general election campaigns for governor of Connecticut. He was the founding executive director of LEAP, a nationally recognized child development program serving over 1,200 low income youth, and he is principal of Fernandez Advisors, LLC, a strategic and management consulting firm counseling businesses, foundations, non-profits, and government agencies.

For more information about Long Wharf Theatre, or to purchase tickets, visit www.longwharf.org or call 203-787-4282.

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