Updated 11.3.05

Ilana Brownstein

 

List of plays about Science and Scientists

 

Originally compiled by Miriam Yahil‑Wax with LMDA

 

 

Arcadia, by Tom Stoppard

 

A Short History of Night by John Mighton

(about astronomer Johannes Keppler). A great show, contemporary take on historical subject. Canadian playwright John Mighton, Assistant Professor Department of Theatre, Film and Creative Writing, University of British Columbia, 604‑822‑0037

 

After Darwin by Timberlake Wertenbaker, British writer.

 

Blinded by the Sun, by Stephen Poliakoff published by Methuen,

 

Chaos, A Science Fiction Opera, Michael Gordon and Matthew Maguire.

 

Copenhagen, by Michael Frayn

 

Dead End Kids by Joanne Akalaitis

 

Marie Curie, nuclear physicists a great play about quantum physics and

love that premiered in Chicago this year.

 

Double Double Helix by Kate Walat.

It was read last year as part of UNDERGROUND VOICES – it deals with the story of Rosalind Franklin ( the woman who came up with the data that Crick and Watson stole, proving DNA was a helical structure) and , in a larger sense the place of women in American Science. (All of of this through the prism of 8th grade twin girls.) It won (?) a Sloan Science foundation award.

 

Experiment with an Air Pump by Shelagh Stevenson, Performed at Manhattan Theatre Club.

 

Galileo Galilei, by Bertolt Brecht.

 

Great Men of Science, Nos. 21 & 22 by Glen Berger

This play to my knowledge has had two productions, one at Florida Stage and another very successful one at Circle X Theatre in Los Angeles. It is a great play which focuses on two little known but very influential 18th Century scientists and their search for the secrets to life. Glen can be reached at (212) 865 1312

 

Imperfect Chemistry, Comedy, Musical, Off Broadway

If Copenhagen has proved one thing, it is that audiences are hardly averse to seeing science on stage, regardless of whether they understand the jargon. Still, it is questionable whether they all like their musicals wrapped around the scientific method; but as any good chemist will tell

you, the only way to discover is to perform an experiment. This musical comedy with music by Albert Tapper and book and lyrics by James Racheff was formerly titled “After the Follicle” and tells the story of an experiment in genetics gone awry. An experimental treatment developed to cure baldness has the diabolical side effect of threatening humankind. If only we’d stuck to snake oils such as Rogaine and Propecia!

 

Infinity's House by Ellen McLaughlin

I has science (Oppenheimer and others who worked on the development atom bomb) and several time periods portrayed simultaneously.

 

In The Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by Heiner Kipphardt, (London, Methuen, 1967)

 

Les Palmes de M. Schultz, by Jean‑Noel Fenewick.

It's a comedy about Pierre and Marie Curie with quite a bit of non‑trivial science in it.

 

Louis Slotin Sonata by Paul Mullin

Based on true events circa 1950, this is the story of a nuclear scientist who, while at Los Alamos, made a slight slip of the hand and caused a small nuclear reaction. This accident turned out to be an immediate death sentence. This play had a successful run at Circle X Theatre as well.

Paul Mullin can be reached at 51‑01 39th Ave., W43, Sunnyside, NY 11104

 

Necessity, by Theater Oobleck,

About Thomas Edison. For young audiences.

 

No Mercy, by Constance Cogdon

 

Notes on the Uncertainty Principle, Todd Irvine (Minneapolis, Cheap Theatre)

(Same theme as Copenhagen)

 

Now Then and Again, by Penny Penniston.  Opened at the Bailiwick, February 2000.

 

On the Verge, Eric Overmyer.

It involves time travel, and interaction with worldly and otherworldly beings.

(three Victorian explorers begin an adventure that takes them through time and space, history

and geography, to Africa, the Himalayas and Terra Ingonita. The women use machetes in the wilderness, scale sheer cliffs and traverse deep gorges. They encounter trolls, an enigmatic fortuneteller and various other denizens in this strange new land.

 

Oxygen, Carl Djerassi (new)

 

Picasso At The Lapin Agile, Steve Martin.  Involving Einstein.

 

Prometheus,  Aeschylus

 

Proof, by David Auburn.  A woman in search of a mathematical proof.

R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe by D.W. Jacobs

performed at San Deigo Rep in by a local actor named Ron Campbell. It's a one‑man show about Bucky Fuller, scientist and socio‑political thinker. It's overwritten, but thoughtful and engaging, and has been a hit in San Diego.

 

Sarcophagus: A Tragedy, by V. Gubaryev, (London, Penguin 1987).

It was written in the late 80's following the Chernobyl disaster, and takesits title from the cement casing which was put over the damaged reactor to prevent the spread of further radioactive contamination; the casing was dubbed a "Sarcophagus."

 

The Anatomist by James Bridie.

 

The Doctor's Dilemma , G. B. Shaw.

There's quite a bit of immunology in it, although it's been superseded by modern science.

 

The Immaculate Misconception, Carl Djerassi

 

The Physicists, by Friedrich Durrenmatt

 

The Second Man, by N. Behrman, comedy.

It has a character who's a chemist, he gets off a good defense of his discipline, but it's not really a play about science.

 

The Starry Messenger, by Justin Fleming

Justin is a wonderful playwright from the Australian National Playwrights Conference currently in residence at New Dramatists.

 

The Verge, by Susan Glasspell.

Though the play is coming back into its own as a model for Woman's studies, I think it has great potential as science fiction.

 

Terra Continuum, by Susan Mendelsohn.  Contact Projects for a New Millenium for the text.

 

Transit of Venus, by Canadian playwright Maureen Hunter

An astronomer in pursuit of the "Transit of Venus" ‑‑ a historical figure, but the play is more of a romance, and has been produced across Canada.

 

Yellow Jack: A History, by Sidney Howard and Paul DeKruif, (Harcourt Brace  & Co 1934)

About the fight to control yellow fever.

 

A woman by the name of J Dakota Powell has a play about the A bomb and the

scientists who created it. It was  developed at the Circle Rep Lab in the

early nineties and she may be reachable through Gotham Writers Workshop

 

Einstein’s Gift: Vern Thiessen

 

Lamp at Midnight: Barrie Stavis

 

The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer: Carson Kreitzer

 

Inherit the Wind:

Splitting Infinity: Jamie Pachino 
The Monkey Room: Kevin Fisher
The Sequence: Paul Mullin
Luminescence Dating: Carey Perloff 
Shroedinger's Girlfriend: Matthew Wells
Flow: Crystal Skilman 
The Ice-Breaker: David RamboPremiering this March at the Magic.

A Short History of Night: John Mighton

He just won $100,000 Siminovich Prize; about astronomer Johannes Keppler. 

Chaos, A Science Fiction Opera: Michael Gordon and Matthew Maguire

Dead End Kids: Joanne Akalaitis

With Mabou Mines; about nuclear physics.

Double Double Helix: Kate Walat

Rosalind Franklin, who worked with Watson and Crick, died of cancer in her 30s and thus was ineligible for Nobel, which isn't given posthumously.

Great Men of Science, Nos. 21 & 22: Glen Berger

 

Infinity's House: Ellen McLaughlin

 

Notes on the Uncertainty Principle: Todd Irvine

 

Now Then and Again: Penny Penniston

 

Sarcophagus: A Tragedy: V. Gubaryev

Written in the late 80's following Chernobyl disaster, title from the cement casing which was put over the damaged reactor to prevent the spread of further radioactive contamination 

The Anatomist: James Bridie

The Starry Messenger: Justin Fleming

Terra Continuum: Susan Mendelsohn