Carnegie Mellon sees itself at the crossroads of art and technology. This year’s drama season has chosen to explore that zone where the two meet.

“Whether seen from the perspective of science as nightmare or conversely, science as utopia,” said Drama School Head Elizabeth Bradley, “this theme provides a rich array of dramatic material and is uniquely suited to Carnegie Mellon.

“At this university we daily celebrate the conjunction between scientific and artistic endeavor. Both drama and science seek to make sense of the world. Science, however, often radically changes the world the rest of us must make sense of,” Bradley said.

She said the School of Drama chose plays that explore scientific ideas and their impact on the world. “The plays chosen register our fascination with, and often our alarm at, what emerges from the scientist’s endeavors, both in theory and practice.”

Arcadia by Tom Stoppard
Winner, 1993 Olivier Award for best play
Preview 10/7/2004
10/8/2004 – 10/16/2004

Interweaving two cultural periods, Arcadia tells the story of an adolescent prodigy who discovers the chaos theory, and her descendants, who try to piece together her life more than a century later. The first period, in the 18th century, deals with post-Newtonian science, physics, Romantic poetry and the emerging Industrial Revolution. The second period, in the late 20th century, is hilariously engaged in academically researching the first. In a theatrical tour-de-force, the two periods merge in the final scene.

The Duchess of Malfi
directed by Di Trevis
Preview 12/2/2004
12/3/2004 – 12/11/2004

The Duchess of Malfi by 17th century playwright John Webster is a powerful Jacobean tragedy set in Italy. The young Duchess dares to choose her lover and husband against the threats of her powerful brothers and the conventions of her lethally repressive society. The lovers create a centre of sanity and beauty in a tormented world driven to violence and madness by their love. Prominent director Di Trevis has created productions in leading British theatre companies including the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Three American Plays in Repertory
Preview 2/28/2005
3/3/2005 – 3/26/2005

The third production at Carnegie Mellon will be three shows performed in rotating repertory: Paul Zindel’s The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, Mojie Crigler’s Fzzn Grrl, and Kia Corthron’s Slide Glide, the Slippery Slope. The productions examine science in the contemporary world.

Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
directed by Geoffrey Hitch
Pulitzer Prize, Obie Award

This work tells the story of a young girl who finds a sustaining refuge from complex family relationships in the beauty and unlimited horizons of scientific exploration. The play is a moving illustration of the effects of loneliness and shattered dreams on the past, present and future of family life.

Fzzn Grrl
directed by Jed Allen Harris

Developed in conjunction with the Ensemble Studio Theatre and with the support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Fzzn Grrl will be a world premiere and a post-Columbine rumination of the factors that incubate alienation in contemporary society. Fzzn Grrl tells the story of a prodigiously gifted freshman whose science-fair experiment spins into a nightmare.

Slide Glide, the Slippery Slope
directed by Mladen Kiselov

Kia Corthron’s Slide Glide, the Slippery Slope investigates questions of nature versus nurture through the story of two African-American identical twins separated at birth. Each twin carries corrosive resentment, assuming that the other got the better deal in life. When they reunite after 36 years of separation, their assumptions and prejudices are challenged as they are forced to look into the mirror image that is each other. The play explores cloning, gene theory and race.

Candide directed by Gregory Lehane,
in collaboration with the School of Music
Preview 4/21/2005
4/22/2005 – 4/30/2005

Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, with lyrics by Richard Wilbur, Stephen Sondheim and John Latouche, is based on an adaptation of Voltaire’s satirical novella, in which the French rationalist and admirer of Isaac Newton directs the intellectual weaponry of the Age of Reason (and Science) upon the perennial follies of humankind. Candide tells the story of a young man who circles the globe trying to find his lover, secure happiness and maintain optimism in the face of cruelty and oppression.