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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:
​
Hypatia -
  • Zany Planets (online performance) Crafton Hills New Works Festival, Yucaipa, California, May 9, 2020, directed by Jared Diamond
  • Crazy Planets  (reading) ICRL Playwriting Competition, Princeton, New Jersey, April 4, 2020, produced by Jeff Dunne
  • Zany Planets (staged reading) New Play Contest,The Chameleon Theatre Circle, Ames Center, Burnsville, Minnesota, November 5, 2016, directed by ​Jenny Marie Midnight-Thunder Moeller
    • ​Winner of the THEATRE FOR YOUTH category
Marie Curie -
  • Upcoming: Table in the Air (staged reading)  Dragon Eggs, Dragon Productions Theatre Company, Redwood City, California, January 17, 2021
  • Table in the Air (online reading)  Moving Parts, Paris, France, November 22, 2020, directed by Stephanie Campion 
  • Table in the Air  (workshop/reading) Stage to Page, Playwrights' Studio, Centre of Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, UK, November 25, 2019, directed by Calum Beaton
Marie-Anne Lavoisier -
  • Mother of Chemistry 365 Women a Year Festival,White Mouse Productions, Tallahassee, Florida, ​November 20, 2020, directed by Linoi Chemla
  • Mother of Chemistry (online reading) Moving Parts, Paris, France, October 11, 2020, directed by Stephanie Campion