ATHENS, Ohio -- Ohio University's College of Fine Arts, the Office of Public Occasions, and the Performing Arts Series collaboratively present Who Are We? -- a series of special events March 29 to April 8, leading up to the performance of Pudd'nhead Wilson at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium at 8 p.m. Friday, April 5.

The purpose of the week's activities is to use arts and scholarship as a catalyst to encourage people to question their roles in our society.

Adapted and interpreted by Playwright and Ohio University School of Theater Professor Charles Smith, the play Pudd'nhead Wilson is based on Mark Twain's mischievous book The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson. The story is about two babies -- one who is white and free and one a light-skinned slave -- who are switched in their cradles and grow up with mistaken identities.

The week's events include lectures by national figures Jane Elliot and Randall Kennedy. A human rights activist and educator, Elliot is best known for her anti-racism awareness programs and her blue-eyed/brown-eyed exercise. Kennedy is a Harvard Law School professor and author of the book "Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word."

Other events during the week include readings from Pudd'nhead Wilson, a video presentation of Jane Elliot's Blue Eyed, lectures and discussions by Charles Smith, a lecture and discussion on the novel, "The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson" by Judith Yaross Lee, Ohio University professor of Interpersonal Communication, and a Diversity Education Series presentation on Racism.

For more information about the week's events, please contact the Office of Public Occasions at (740) 593-1791.