McCormick theater production to spread messages about science, social impact


Source: Brian Bell

Laura Taylor, Tom McElroy and Michael McDonald perform “A Life of Galileo.” The Engineering Transdisciplinary Outreach Project in the Arts is putting the play on as its yearly production.

Emily Chin, Social Media Editor


A stage director based in Berlin is bringing a taste of Germany to Northwestern through his production of Bertolt Brecht’s “A Life of Galileo,” opening this weekend.

The Engineering Transdisciplinary Outreach Project in the Arts, housed in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, puts on a play each year that highlights science and technology. “A Life of Galileo” will be their largest production to date.

McCormick Prof. Matthew Grayson, who does theater as a hobby, began ETOPiA eight years ago as an outreach tool to improve scientific education in the community. It has grown from the amateur level to a professional production, as ETOPiA now brings in professional actors.

“The science and research community needs to do whatever it can to reach out to the public so they understand what science is about,” he said. “This is a great way to do this by telling stories which have an emotional side to them because that’s what the public connects with.”

“A Life of Galileo” is about astronomer Galileo Galilei, who in the early 1600s proved Nicolaus Copernicus’ theory that the earth revolved around the sun, and came into conflict with the church and the state because of his radical discoveries.

Although the play is important and widely-produced in Germany, it is not performed often in the United States, said director Brian Bell. He chose the play because it depicts the social implications of scientific action.

“It’s about advanced understanding,” Bell said. “It’s not really teaching people about science. Advanced understanding is interesting because that means posing questions, telling stories, getting people excited about science and technology and how they’re changing our lives.”

Most of the plays that ETOPiA chooses involve scientists and the social impact of their actions, rather than just hard facts, Grayson said. He hopes that doing so will create more compelling stories so that people are more likely to think through the ideas brought out in the play.

There will be talkbacks after the performances in which audience members can discuss the social implications of some of the topics brought out in the play.

Grayson hopes people will leave the show with a greater understanding of the importance of science.

“There are people who are suspicious of science, there are people who don’t trust scientific advice, there are people who don’t know the difference between a scientific opinion and a political agenda,” he said.

The play is particularly timely because Galileo’s struggles with the church and state can be paralleled with climate change denial, Bell said.

He also emphasized the “visceral connection” between the location and content of the play, as it is being put on in an academic and scientific setting, the Technological Institute’s Ryan Family Auditorium, rather than a traditional theater space.

“It’s interesting because this is a place where science happens,” he said. “There’s a direct professional connection. We’re talking about these scientific issues in a place where that happens everyday.”

However, the location and budget present some challenges for the performers. Due to a low budget, there are only three actors performing a production that typically casts more than 30 actors. Bell has also condensed a typically three-hour play to one-and-a-half hours. However, he welcomes the challenges.

“It’s a completely different way of working,” Bell said. “The production value is very small, which can be successful because there is no barrier between the audience and the actors.”

Tom McElroy, who plays Galileo, also noted that Brecht attempted to break the barrier between the audience and the performers.

In the play, the actors come out of character, which allows the audience to better interact with the play, he said.

McElroy is excited to see this interaction and hear what the audience thinks about the show.

“I expect them to laugh a lot,” he said. “I expect them to ponder and begin to think. There are some pretty solid deep emotions that go on in ‘A Life of Galileo.’”

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