An Experiment with an Air Pump
by Shelagh Stephenson
Friday, January 10, 2014 at 7:30pm
An award winning play where medical ethics are entwined in a detective story, spanning two hundred years. In 1799, on the eve of a new century, an English house buzzes with scientific experiments and furtive romance. An Experiment with an Air Pump catapults us to 1999, present day in the same house where we encounter a world of scientific chaos, genetic engineering and a dark secret that has been buried for over 200 years. The story is one of exploration into past events where humans, art, and science create questions with answers that are beautifully intertwined.
Areas of science: Bioethics, biology (stem cells, human body dissection)
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Adapted by Lauren Gunderson from a book by Bill Bryson
Saturday, January 11, 2014 at 1:00pm
Adapted from Bill Bryson’s book of the same name, A Short History of Nearly Everything is a fast-paced, fun, informative discussion among Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. Written for young people, the play explores the theories and history behind the Big Bang, evolution and scientific discoveries in a “funny, fast, bumbling race for knowledge.”
Areas of science: Physics, biology
Photograph 51
by Anna Ziegler
Saturday, January 11, 2014 at 7:30pm
An intriguing portrait of British scientist Rosalind Franklin and her—often overlooked—role in the discovery of DNA’s double helix structure. This complex tale explores how Franklin, a smart, stubborn, and courageous woman, operated in a field dominated by men. A balance of the historical, romantic, and scientific, Photograph 51 is a touching human play of ideas.
Areas of science: Biology (DNA), x-ray crystallography
Isaac’s Eye
by Lucas Hnath
January 12, 2014 at 7:30pm
To understand light and optics better, young Isaac Newton inserted a long needle “between my eye and the bone, as near to the backside of my eye as I could.” Why take such a risk? Playwright Lucas Hnath reimagines the contentious, plague-ravaged world Newton inhabited in Isaac’s Eye, exploring the dreams and longings that drove the rural farm boy to become one of the greatest thinkers in modern science.
Areas of science: Physics, light/light particles