Oxygen
by Carl Dejerassi and Roald Hoffmann
Pasant Theatre
Wharton Center for Performing Arts
September 27 – 29, 2002
“Science in Theatre” may be seem to be a contradiction, but it shouldn’t. A common topic in theatre is the conflict between human aspiration and human behavior. The men and women who pursue science aspire to the loftiest goals – to understand, on the most profound levels, the physical world the rest of us merely experience and enjoy. And like all human beings who aspire, the high purposes of their dreams are often in conflict with their actions.
So it is with the men and women who populate this play. Who discovered oxygen? As it turns out, this is not a simple question and the scientist who claim the distinction were all too human in their desire to be recognized as first. What does it mean to discover something? Should we understand the full implications of that discovery in order to claim credit? Is that ever possible? Knowledge is, after all, an incremental process which is never complete. To what do we owe the people on whose ideas we build our own discoveries?
These are the questions at the heart of “Oxygen”. They are just as relevant today as they were in 1777 when Joseph Priestly, Carl Scheele and Antoine Lavoisier sought both knowledge and fame. They are relevant not just to scientists, but all of us in the human community.
Production Team
| Director: | Mary Job |
| Choreography: | Dr. Dixie Durr |
| Scene Design: | Roger Funk |
| Costume Design: | Karen Kangas-Preston |
| Lighting Design: | Danielle M. Baisden |
| Sound Design: | Charles Krey |
| Scenic Artist: | Kirk Domer |
| Technical Director: | Mark Hoffland |
| Costume Shop Supervisor: | Karen Kangas-Preston |
| Production Stage Manager: | Erin A. Haggerty |
| Assistant Director: | Terrance Tatum |
| Assistant Lighting Designer: | Jonathan T. Sage |
Cast List
| Marie Lavoisier | Christiane Morel |
| Mary Priestly | Monica Clark-Robinson |
| Sara Margaretha Pohl | Sarah Faix |
| Carl Wilhelm Scheele/Sune Kallstenius | Andrew Towler |
| Antoine Lavoisier/Bengt Hjalmarsson | Bill Henson |
| Joseph Priestly/Ulf Svanholm | R. Scott Cantrell |
| Astrid Rosenqvist | Julia Lenardon |
| Ulla Zorn | Rachel M. Roberts |