Science on Stage
Monday, Oct. 30
Staller Theatre Two
An uncommon application of science communication, welcome to a show that transforms cutting-edge research into theater. We hope these 3 one-act plays and the resulting panel discussion to bring together artists, experts and the rest of us in a fascinating and valuable transdisciplinary conversation.
I am regularly in awe of the creative interdisciplinary collaborations that our resesarchers and scholars pursue at Stony Brook.
This project is a great example, bringing together artists and scientists to put a spotlight on Stony Brook's innovation and discovery in the most literal sense.
I am glad to see this project continue in-person and pleased to support this project through the CASSH seed grants.
- Carl Lejuez
Provost and Executive Vice President
Stony Brook University
The Penguin Play
by Michele Lowe
Michele Lowe is an award-winning playwright whose work has been translated and produced around the world. Upcoming: world premiere of MOSES at Theater J, in Washington, DC. Broadway: The Smell of the Kill; Off Broadway: String of Pearls (Outer Critics nom for best play. Awards: Francesca Primus Prize and two Edgerton New Play Awards. Finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and a double finalist for the American Theater Critics Association/Steinberg New Play Award. Michele conceived and wrote the book for Split, with music and lyrics by Zoe Sarnak, commissioned by Transport Group. She is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Michele lives in New York and coaches writers and rabbis across the country. www.michelelowe.net
Directed by Jackson Gay
Performed by:
April Matthis as Henny Schwartz
Robert Emmet Lunney as Paul Bass
Stony Brook Scientist:
Heather J. Lynch is the Institute for Advanced Computational Science Endowed Chair for Ecology & Evolution at Stony Brook University. Her research is dedicated to Antarctic wildlife ecology and conservation, with a particular focus on Antarctic penguins. Her lab spends up to four months a year working in the Antarctic, primarily on Antarctic passenger cruise vessels, and she works closely with the cruise industry and Antarctic policymakers on issues relating to climate change and sustainable tourism.
Echo
by Rogelio Martinez
Martinez is a Guggenheim award-winning playwright whose work has been produced, workshopped, and commissioned by theaters across the United States including the Public Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Mark Taper Forum, South Coast Repertory, Atlantic Theater Company, Arden Theater, Asolo Repertory, TheaterWorks, Ojai Theater Company, South Coast Repertory, and others. He is a co-producer on the TV show Billion Dollar Whale, created by David Henry Hwang and Anchuli Felicia King, based on the book by Tom Wright & Bradley Hope. Martinez has written for children's television on Nickelodeon and worked on a 2021 television project for Tom Fontana based on the book Year of Dangerous Days. Syracuse Stage commissioned Martinez to write a new play. The National Pastime deals with both the Houston Astros cheating scandal and Havana Syndrome. The play will be part of Syracuse Stage's 24-25 season.
Directed by Jackson Gay
Performed by:
Dan Domingues as Jake
April Matthis as Kim
Sam Morales as Person in Chair
Johnny M. Wu as Mario
Stony Brook Scientist
Suparna Rajaram is SUNY Distinguished Professor at Stony Brook University in the Cognitive Science
program at the Department of Psychology. She studies the nature of human memory, with
a focus on social memory. Using experiments, surveys, and computational analyses,
her group explores social transmission of memory in groups, the overpowering impact
of social media on memory, and how conversational recall both improves and distorts
our memories, together revealing how people settle on a collective narrative for events
from their past.
https://rajarammemorylab.com/
Prometheus, or The Modern Frankenstein
by Greg Kotis
Greg Kotis is the author of many plays and musicals including Urinetown (Book/Lyrics, for which he won an Obie Award and two Tony® Awards), The End of All Flesh, I Am Nobody, Lunchtime, ZM, Give the People What They Want, Michael von Siebenburg Melts Through the Floorboards, Yeast Nation (Book/Lyrics), The Truth About Santa, Pig Farm, Eat the Taste, and Jobey and Katherine. Greg is a member of ASCAP and The Dramatists Guild, and is a co-founder of Theater of the Apes.
Directed by Jackson Gay
Performed By:
Robert Emmet Lunney as Creature
April Matthis as A Contemporary Scientist
Sam Morales as Elizabeth Frankenstein
Johnny M. Wu as Victor Frankenstein
Dan Domingues as Geoffery Hinton
Stony Brook Scientist:
Nilanjan Chakraborty is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stony Brook University. His research interests are in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. His research is guided by the principle that interaction is key to intelligence. Consequently, his research group develops approaches to endow robots with capabilities to (a) interact with its environment by physically manipulating objects in the environment (b) interact with each other and humans to accomplish a goal. He hopes to develop robots that can work with human caregivers to help elderly people as well as people with motor disabilities live independently.
Director: Jackson Gay
Jackson's recent work: Natural History by Collin Van Son (2023 O’Neill Festival); Christina Anderson's the ripple, the wave that carried me home (world premiere co-production Berkeley Rep and Goodman Theatre); Endless Loop of Gratitude with New Neighborhood www.newneighborhood.net (New Ohio's Ice Factory); Lucy Thurber's Transfers for Audible, MCC, and New York Stage & Film; These Paper Bullets! by Rolin Jones with music by Billie Joe Armstrong (New Neighborhood, Atlantic, Geffen, Yale Rep). Upcoming: Workshop of The Yellow Wallpaper 2.0 2020 by Jennifer Maisel (Lucille Lortel); Into the Breeches by George Brant (Gulfshore Playhouse); the new musical Hard Road (book by Willy Holtzman, music by Marty Dodson and David Spangler). MFA Directing Yale School of Drama. www.jacksongracegay.com
Cast
Dan Domingues (Jake in Echo, Geoffery Hinton in Prometheus) most recently appeared in Tales from the Gutenberg Bible with 80’s and 90’s movie star Steve Guttenberg at George Street Playhouse and Bay Street Theater. In New York Dan has worked at New World Stages in A Sherlock Carol, The Public Theater (The Tempest, Wild Goose Dreams, Fidelis, The Great Immensity), 59E59, Rattlestick, Abingdon, BAM, INTAR, Atlantic, Cherry Lane. Regional work includes leading roles at Barrington Stage, the Alley Theatre, Arena Stage, the Guthrie, the Goodman, New York Stage & Film, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Pioneer Theatre, Long Wharf, and Portland Stage. Film & TV includes Zoo, Run All Night, Future ’38, In Stereo, “New Amsterdam,” “West 40s,” “Blacklist,” “Royal Pains,” and “Law & Order.” Dan holds an MFA from the A.R.T. Institute at Harvard, is an associate artist with The Civilians and co-host of the movie podcast Hot Date.
April Matthis (Henny in The Penguin Play, Kim in Echo, Contemporary Scientist in Prometheus) is an Obie Award-winning actor. Broadway: August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson. Off-Broadway: Primary Trust, Toni Stone (Roundabout), Help (The Shed); Fairview, LEAR (Soho Rep); Signature Plays—Funnyhouse of a Negro (Signature Theatre); IOWA, Antlia Pneumatica (Playwrights Horizons). With Elevator Repair Service: Baldwin/Buckley at Cambridge (Festival d’Avignon), The Sound & the Fury; Fondly, Collette Richland (NYTW); Measure for Measure (The Public); Everyone’s Fine with Virginia Woolf (Abrons Art Center); GATZ (Perth Festival). TV/Film Credits include: Life & Beth (Hulu), “The Blacklist” (NBC), “Evil”, “The Good Fight” (Paramount Plus), “New Amsterdam” (NBC), Black Card, Fugitive Dreams, Ramona at Midlife.
Sam Morales (Person in Chair in Echo, Elizabeth in Prometheus) is NYC-based & is a proud member of both AEA & SAG-AFTRA. Off-Broadway: Medea (starring Rose Byrne & Bobby Cannavale, BAM); The Tempest (The Public); Pericles (dir. Trevor Nunn), The Skin of Our Teeth, Measure for Measure (TFANA); The Courage to Right A Woman's Wrongs, Paradise Lost, Volpone (Red Bull Theater). Regional: The Mousetrap (Hartford Stage); The House on the Hill (World Premiere, CATF); Woman in Mind (Delaware REP); Teach, Last Night in Inwood (Gulfshore Playhouse). Television: Dead Ringers starring Rachel Weisz; Law & Order: SVU; FBI; Blue Bloods. She's represented by DGRW. Sam is also on faculty at AMDA & NYU where she teaches Acting for TV/Film among other classes. @_sam_morales_ | officialsammorales.com.
Robert Emmet Lunney (Paul in The Penguin Play, Monster in Prometheus) is and actor and playwright) Broadway highlights: A Delicate Balance, Dancing at Lughnasa, Born Yesterday, The Graduate, and Mauritius. Off Broadway and Regional: Howard Barker's Gary; The Thief (World Premier/PTP/NYC); Mr. Barker's Victory (PTP/NYC); Pinter’s The Homecoming; To Kill A Mockingbird (Ford's Theater/D.C.); Ira Levin’s Deathtrap; and Tony Kushner's Angels In America. Television: Fox’s The Exorcist (iHorror Award nominee: Best Actor), WeCrashed (Apple TV+), Boardwalk Empire (HBO), The Blacklist, Blindspot, Elementary, and Law & Order. Robert is a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Playwrights Unit. His writing includes Famous Blue Raincoat, For Nina, An Occurrence at Yankee Stadium, Cannon Beach, and When You Wake (screenplay).
www.robertemmetlunney.com
Johnny M. Wu (Mario in Echo, Victor in Prometheus) recently finished a run of The Headlands at A.C.T. In the theater, Johnny has worked on Broadway, at Lincoln Center Theater, Guthrie Theater, Goodman Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, A.C.T. and Berkeley Rep. Johnny is currently filming Marvel's Daredevil: Born Again for Disney+. He has recurred on Chicago Med, The Good Wife, Law and Order: SVU, and 24 and has guest starred on The Other Two, Manifest, New Amsterdam, High Maintenance, The Code, Blue Bloods, Kevin Can Wait, Covert Affairs, Person of Interest, and Cold Case. Films include A Journal for Jordan (dir. Denzel Washington), Tracers, Hold Fast Good Luck, Limitless. Johnny earned his MFA from UC San Diego and is on faculty at Yale School of Drama. http://johnnywu.tv/
Panel Discussion featuring Playwrights and Scientists
Ken Weitzman
Co-Moderator
Principal Investigator
Program Originator
Associate Professor, Department of English
Ken is a playwright and educator whose work has been produced and developed at theatres across the country and internationally. Ken’s most recent productions include his solo play, Fire in the Garden (starring Sean Astin). Previous productions include, among others, Halftime with Don (National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere), The Catch (The Denver Center Theatre Company), The As If Body Loop (Humana Festival of New American Plays), seal boy (American Academy of Dramatic Arts), Arrangements (Atlantic Theatre Company, Weissberger Award). His ensemble-created work includes Hominid, based on the work of primatologist Frans de Waal (Out of Hand Theatre/Theatre Emory/Oerol Festival Netherlands). Ken is a faculty member here at Stony Brook in the English Department and is affiliated with Theatre Arts, Writing and Rhetoric, and the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science. Ken conceived of and first produced Science on Stage in 2020, and was one of the three playwrights, collaborating with SBU researcher, Alexander Orlov. kenweitzman.com
J.D. Allen
Co-Moderator
News Director, WSHU Public Radio
Instructor, School of Communication & Journalism
J.D. is an adjunct instructor at the School of Communication and Journalism and the managing editor of WSHU, a Long Island NPR affiliate station.
J.D. won an Eric and Wendy Schmidt Excellence in Science Communication Award from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine for the first season of his WSHU-produced podcast, Higher Ground. The award was in the Best Science Reporting in the Local/Regional Level category. Formerly WAMC's Berkshire bureau chief, J.D. has reported for public radio stations, including bylines with WSHU, WNYC, WBUR, WNPR and NPR. J.D. has reported on healthcare and small businesses for "Long Island Business News" and real estate and land-use for The Express News Group newspapers. He holds a B.A. in journalism and sociology from Stony Brook and an M.S. in communications from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University.
Nilanjan Chakraborty
Stony Brook Scientist
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Inspiration for Prometheus or Modern Frankenstein
Greg Kotis
Playwright
Prometheus or Modern Frankenstein
Heather J. Lynch
Stony Brook Scientist
Institute for Advanced Computational Science Endowed Chair for Ecology & Evolution
Inspiration for The Penguin Play
Michelle Lowe
Playwright
The Penguin Play
Suparna Rajaram
Stony Brook Scientist
SUNY Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science
Inspiration for Echo
Rogelio Martinez
Playwright
Echo
Program Support
Christina Anselmo
Assistant Dean for Finance and Administration
Alda Center for Communicating Science
School of Communication & Journalism
Christina Kenny Anselmo joined the School of Communication and Journalism and the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science in 2014. As the Assistant Dean for Finance and Administration, Christina is responsible for all financial management and overall administration of both units. She also serves as the diversity liaison and Title IX deputy for the School and Center.
Previously, Christina worked for a decade in financial services and investment banking in Manhattan and Washington, D.C. She has a bachelor’s degree in economics and finance from Gettysburg College and graduated with a master’s degree in higher education administration from Stony Brook in 2016.
Abby Bender
Science Communication Master's Student
Science on Stage Intern
Abby is in her second year as a Science Communication Masters student. After she finishes her Masters degree, her goal is to continue creating and producing work like the Science on Stage project to use narrative storytelling and theatre to communicate science with a wide audience. In addition to her current Masters degree she holds a Bachelors of Science with a double major in Biology and Theatre Performance. She has additionally worked as a director on The How and The Why by Sarah Treem and Into the Woods Jr. During her time as an undergraduate she also served as the assistant director for a production In the Next Room by Sarah Ruhl.
Lori Kie
Communications Director
Alda Center for Communicating Science
School of Communication & Journalism
Lori was delighted to help bring Science on Stage back to Stony Brook, and to see it performed in person for the first time. Watching scientists and theater professionals come together for Science on Stage, and being part of the team has been one of the most rewarding and fun projects she's been part of at Stony Brook.
As communications director, Lori helps the Alda Center and SoCJ tell their stories in print and online, including program marketing and internal and external communications. She serves on the School and Center executive leadership team, and works with colleagues across the university to support Stony Brook branding and storytelling. A journalist by training, Lori has worked in higher-education communications for a decade. She holds a master's degree in journalism from the University of Memphis and a bachelor's degree in communication and political science from Goucher College in Baltimore.
With gratitude to our sponsors & partners
This evening's performance is funded by the Stony Brook Office of the Provost through a Provostial SEED Grant for Interdisciplinary Work Creative Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (CASSH). We are deeply grateful for the support.
We are also grateful for our partners:
- Stony Brook University English Department
- Alda Center for Communicating Science
- WSHU Public Radio
Special Thanks to:
- Carl Lejuez and the Office of the Provost staff
- Laura Lindenfeld, executive director of the Alda Center for Communicating Science and dean of the School of Communication and Journalism, and the Alda Center team
- Margaret Hanley and the English Department
- Phil Altiere, production supervisor, School of Communication and Journalism
- Dave Barnett, Theatre Arts technical director
- Timothy Giorlando, mass communication student
- Tim Hautle, Staller Center house/building manager
- Will Montolio, Staller Center
- Lisa Pfeiffer, administrative assistant, Alda Center and School of Communication and Journalism
CASSH Seed Grant Co-Principal Investigators:
- Nicole Leavey, associate director of strategic partnerships, Alda Center for Communicating Science
- Alexander Orlov, professor of materials science and engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Science on Stage 2020 Participants:
Playwrights:
- Ken Weitzman
- Deborah Zoe Laufer
- Nathan Alan Davis
Scientists:
- Alexander Orlov, professor of materials science and engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
- Clare Whitney, assistant professor of nursing, School of Nursing
- H. Andrew Schwartz, associate professor of computer science, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences