Science Theater

Theatrical plays can explore the human aspects of science and scientists, including the ethical, moral, or political implications of science, while engaging audiences in a narrative. Plays also have the potential to communicate scientific ideas within a cultural context. Carl Djerassi, renowned chemist turned playwright, has said that he wants to use fictional portrayals to “smuggle scientific facts” into the minds “of a scientifically illiterate public.” Djerassi, along with a handful of scholars who study science theater, believe that if the narrative is convincing and the representations of science are accurate, science theater can be a compelling way to increase the public understanding of science or to raise awareness of scientific issues.

A number of factors increase the likelihood of audience engagement in scientific topics through theater. First, the immediacy and intimacy of a theatrical performance can be quite moving, so science plays have the ability to stir emotions about complex scientific issues. Similarly, the narrative style of theater can keep audiences interested in these issues. Science plays may offer cultural and historical context for scientific information, situating [Page 743]scientists in a recognizable set of circumstances. Finally, theater may also help audiences identify scientists as humans, reducing perceived boundaries between scientists and the public.

Kirstin Shepherd-Barr, the author of one of the few books devoted to science theater, Science on Stage (2006), claims that Christopher Marlowe's The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, written at the end of the 16th century, was the first science play, though there is not much in the play that would be considered science today. Shepherd-Barr says that the “quantity of the science” in such a play is not what matters, rather the “quality of its integration” into the play is what is most important. She argues that without Doctor Faustus, the modern science play would not exist, arguing that Marlowe's use of an “archetypal scientist” helped to establish new links among “theatricality, science and subversion” that are found over and over in other theatrical treatments of science.

Science theater can be divided into two broad categories: science in theater and theater in science education. Science in theater, theatrical productions that incorporate scientific themes and problems, is presented as art or entertainment. Theater in science education (TISE), on the other hand, is a subfield of theater in education (TIE), in which the dramatic arts are used to facilitate learning in an educational setting.