Dr. Stephanie Arel is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for the Bio-Cultural Study of Religion (IBCSR) at Boston University, where she completed her Ph.D. in Theological Studies. Her research interests lie at the intersection of theology, psychology, and philosophy where she focuses on issues of human suffering, especially in the aftermath of trauma. She studied religion and psychiatry at Union Theological Seminary, and she holds a certificate in trauma modalities for clinical treatment from the New York Institute for the Psychotherapies. She is also the Secretary/Treasurer of the Society of Ricoeur Studies, an international, interdisciplinary body dedicated to the work of Paul Ricoeur. Probing questions  about the body’s affective response to life experiences, including how rhetoric and practice shape bodies as a means of self-formation, her work advances the interrelation between theology and the humanities and social sciences. 

Jessica Daugherty is a producer and director of documentary film and podcasts, a multimedia live production producer and performer, and co-founder of the production studio, Shrine13, in Portland, Oregon. She is a member of the Documentary Producer’s Alliance (Board Member 2021-2023), member of Women in Film PDX, and an alumni of Rotterdam Lab 2022, International Emerging Film Talent Association and the New York Film and Video Council. Over a 14 year career in theatre, film, tv, and non-fiction casting, she worked with world renowned artists and filmmakers including Judith Malina and The Living Theatre, George Stoney, Peter Yarrow, and Billy Joel. In 2018 she won Best Producer at DOCLA for the feature Thank You for Supporting the Arts (dir by W. Alexander Jones.) In 2020, she produced the short La Tienda (The Shop) (dir by Karina Ripper,) a Vimeo Staff Pick 2020 that aired on The Latino Experience on PBS (2021.)