Diagonally Toward the Sublime

COVER FEATURE UM^^^^^H ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H ^^^^^^^^^^^3 October 2010theNational Science Foundation sponsored a conference attheGraduateCenter oftheCityUniversity ofNew Yorkcalled "Communicating Scienceto the Public Through thePerforming Arts." Gathered among preeminent artistic andscientific minds, GraemeGillis,director of theEnsembleStudioTheatre 's SloanProject (EST/Sloan Project) heraldedan "emerging genre"of American theater - playsaboutscience. Through commissioning , developing, producing, andchampioningnewAmerican playsaboutscience, ESTand other well-respected institutions liketheAlfred P. Sloan Foundation, theUniversity of Santa Barbara, theKennedy Center, and Manhattan Theatre Club havebrought scienceplaysinto vogue, andthis begssomeimportant questions. Whyhastheater become thechosen artform to examine science (seeinset onpage 52)?What constitutes a successful playaboutscience? What are theramifications ofthecreation ofa system in which oneclassofcitizens (scientists) patronizes another classofcitizens (artists)? Whydo scientists needartists toexplain science andscientists totherest oftheworld? ^D 1959C. P. Snow,theEnglishphysicistcum -novelist, gavea famous RedeLecture at Cambridge called"TheTwoCultures" inwhich he lamented whathe saw as a growing gulf between twocampsin theEnglish intellectual community. Thespeechhas becomea partof theintellectual canon, buttosummarize Snow: smart peoplewhoknowa lotaboutscience and smart peoplewhoknowa lotaboutthehumanitiesarefinding itincreasingly difficult to talk tooneanother. Thisisbad becausetheEnglish educational system privileges the humanities overthesciences tothedetriment ofanincreasingly scientific world. Needlessto say,thisspeechhas sparked generations of debate, fence-mending, and basic hissy-fitting thatpersiststoday.However ,regardless ofwhichsideoftheargument one fallson, it's hard to arguethatSnow's generalizations aren'tresilient. The recently knighted James Dysonofvacuum-cleaner fame and "unofficial technology Czarofthe[British] Conservative government" proclaimed in the NewYorker that "artandTVandthelikearenot necessarily industries, becausetheydon'tmake anything" (Sept. 20,2010). There's alwaystheexception where thetail wags thegiantbluespacecreature and James Cameron makesa film thatcommissions innovationsin 3Dcameraconstruction or deep-sea exploration, butdon'tmostofus, likeDyson, harbor thebelief that it'sthescientists whocreateempirical knowledge andmakethings? Isn't it the scientists who spawn innovations and create wealth that's capableofdoingthings like spurring economies, endingenergy crises, and paying playwrights towrite plays? Don'twriters andthelikeexist toexplain empirical knowledge toeveryone else?Therefore, isn'ttheir time best spent focused onverisimilitude andgetting scienceandscientists correct? first blush,itseemsstrange thattheater, theleastliterary ofthelanguagehumaniJanuary -February2011 151 ties(meaning itdoesn'tneedtobe readtobe consumed), hasbecomeuseful fordepictions of science becausetheater isvery badatexplaining complex, highly technical concepts. A playis a bewildering torrent of spectacle and informationthattravels against itsownparticular and unyielding clock. Playwriting 101saysthatifa concept or plot-point is important, it mustbe statedno less thanthree timesin orderto be understood through all thenoise.In general, audience members cannot askquestions during a performance. They cannot halta production and "rewind" forfurther review. Theycannot take notes. They donothaveaccesstoreference materials , oratleastit'squitefrowned uponifthey access them during aperformance. Alltold, a play isnotthe best waytoprepare a student for a pop quizonthefiner intricacies ofquantum physics. Moreover, a theater piece in whichthe audience is moreengagedwithan explanation ofa science concept thanthedramatic conflict that's happening between thecharacters ismost probably a blandandboring pieceoftheater. All theater ultimately traffics inemotions. Aristotle isright inhiscontention that plays, attheir best, exist tomakeusfeel. Theinduction ofemotions inanaudience isno smallfeat andcanonlybe accomplished ifevery secondofa playis spent inservice ofdeveloping character orconflict. Wefeel sadorangry orjoyful whenwesee a playbecausewe havenatural proclivities for empathy andsympathy thataredeeplyrooted in ourpsychology and neurology. Regardless whether a playissetina Danishroyal court, an Austrian abbey,or an Italianobservatory, the dramatist's job is to use herskillsto drawon these proclivities toelicit anemotional, cathartic response intheaudience members. Inso doing, she engagesour mostbasic,albeitimperfect, toolsfor divining morality. (Moreonthat later.) Is a platform designed to elicit emotions a goodplatform onwhich tothen explain science? Onewouldn't study physics ina biology lab.Isn't studying science in a theater akinto shattering Plutonium-239 in a petridish?* Perhaps, butI wouldcontend that science andtheater aresowell metbecause theater istheartform that canmost plausibly shatter plutonium ina petri dish! Truly, thestage isa poorlectern, butthat's notreally the point, isit? Thepoint isthat the theater hasproved a very hospitable placefor scientific ideas. Why? I elaborate, I think it'simportant to notethat"science and thearts"organizations havebeenattracted totheater as a means fordisseminating hardscience forsomepretty straightforward reasons.Firstofall,theater is usefulforencouraging curiosity aboutscience. Yes,allelements ofa playneedtoservecharacterdevelopment and conflict, butthere's nothingthat saysthat thesetting ortheideaswhich * Granted, some mayarguethatGalileoand Platobothuseddialoguetoengageinimportant andcomplexideas,butthere isa big difference betweendialecticand theater. PutGalileo'sDialogue Concerning theTwoChief World Systems on stage,and see how quickly thepiecebecomeslessaboutCopernicus vs.Ptolemy and moreaboutSalviati vs.Simplicio. Abolit th© Through a partnership with theAlfred P.SloanFoundation, EST hasspentthepasttwelveyearscommissioning, developU I 'n9'Proc*ucing, anc'championing newAmerican playsaboutscienceandtechnology. Inthistime, nearly a million dollars Cl 13d I iLMcr ^as keenSpentcommissioning dozensofnewtheater works. Theseplayshavebeenproduced throughout theworld, and StlldiO Tll63tr6 / theorganizations thathavepartnered

Art · Art history · Club · Media studies · Political science · Sociology · Sublime · The arts · Visual arts · Philosophy · Theatre and Performance Studies · Geology

• Creating the theatrical learning environment in the educational setting

  Open Access•Bo Chang•Psychology in the Schools•2023

  Add to list