Female Scientists to the Rescue

Hypatia, Marie Curie and Marie-Anne Lavoisier use their wits to save the day.

Characters
NICLAS KOPERNIK, 18, Polish astronomy student
HYPATIA, ageless Egyptian scientist
MARIA PAULA, 18, Polish postulant nun
PIERRE CURIE, 45, French scientist
MARIE CURIE, 37, Polish scientist
SAPIA (EUSAPIA PALLADINO), 51, Italian conjurer
ANTOINE LAVOISIER, 50, French scientist
MARIE-ANNE LAVOISIER, 36, French scientist
LOUIS SAINT-JUST, 26, French politician
NANOU (MARIE-ANNE LENORMAND), 21, French fortune teller
 
Doubling
The play may be performed with a cast of 4 actors:
Mature female actor: HYPATIA, MARIE, MARIE-ANNE
Young female actor: MARIA PAULA, SAPIA, NANOU
Mature male actor: PIERRE, ANTOINE
Young male actor: NICLAS, LOUIS              
  
Settings
Scene 1. HYPATIA. 1491. A student’s lodging at the University of Kraków, Poland.
The stars move across the sky in an orderly fashion. But sometimes the planets stop and go backwards! This doesn’t make sense to young Niclas Kopernik. He seeks help from Hypatia, an astronomer who lived a thousand years earlier.
 
Scene 2. MARIE CURIE. 1905. Psychological Institute, Paris.
Marie Curie prides herself in being a rational scientist. Unfortunately, her husband has fallen under the spell of a notorious “medium”. To protect Pierre’s reputation, Marie must expose the fraud.

Scene 3. MARIE-ANNE LAVOISIER. May 8, 1794. A cell in the Conciergerie Prison, Paris.
The Reign of Terror is at its height. Antoine Lavoisier, “The Father of Chemistry,” is facing the guillotine. Marie-Anne, his wife and laboratory partner, desperately tries to save his life.

Featured in Science Plays

Each of the plays in the collection has been produced or read online:
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Hypatia - Marie Curie - Marie-Anne Lavoisier -