AMERICAN THEATRE: Maybe Wilbur Wright didn’t actually lob this accusation at his brother Orville on the beach at Kitty Hawk, N.C., in 1900, but he did so onstage at New York City’s Ensemble Studio Theatre in November 1997. This was the debut of Flight, a play by Arthur Giron which, like the Wright Brothers’ fateful experiment, also marked the beginning of something big. Flight was the modest kickoff of a long line of science-themed plays supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, in a unique funding program that continues to this day and shows no signs of stopping.
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I love that there's a grant to sponsor shows about science. I think that theatre is one of the best tools that we as a species have for conveying excitement about a thing, and showing the discoveries of great moments in science would be really compelling for a younger me who is just starting out in the sciences. I love it when art makes me consider a perspective or a new way of looking at things that I hadn't before, and it makes me want to write my own play. I've had this idea kicking around in my head for a while about writing a play about the early development of toxicology in the early 19th century New York, and I really enjoy playing with that time. It would be partially based off of a book called "The Poisoner's Handbook," which deals with very similar subject matter. I think that this grant has inspired many a playwright, and I would also love to add my ideas onto that list.
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