Carl Djerassi & Roald Hoffmann.             Priestley, Lavoisier, and Scheele debate a point.

OXYGEN

A Staged Reading by Break-A-Leg Productions
Monday, May 20, 6 pm
Elebash Recital Hall
Free

At the beginning of the 21st century, the Nobel Committee for Chemistry is meeting to discuss the award of the first "retro" Nobel Prize as a way of marking the centenary of the first Nobel Prize in 1901. After some discussion, the committee decides to investigate the claims of three chemists, Joseph Priestley, Antoine Lavoisier, and Carl Wilhelm Scheele associated with the discovery of Oxygen. Oxygen has a relatively simple plot. In 1777, Priestley, (British, age 44), Lavoisier (French, age 34) and Scheele (Swedish, age 35) are in Stockholm at the invitation of King Gustav III to resolve the question: "Who discovered oxygen?" Priestley and Lavoisier are accompanied by their wives, Mary Priestley, 35, and Marie Anne Lavoisier, 19; Scheele, by Sara Margaretha Pohl, 26, his longtime companion who became his wife three days prior to his death. In these scenes, we learn a great deal about the three men, primarily through the women in their lives. The play shifts between the 18th-century characters, their process of science, politics and ambitions, and the Nobel committee's 21st century sensibilities as they argue about which of these men should be awarded the first "retro" Nobel Prize for chemistry.

Oxygen (produced in April 2001 at the San Diego Repertory Theatre, in September at the Mainfranken Theater in Wurzburg, Germany and in November at the Riverside Studios in London as well as broadcast in December 2001 by the BBC World Service and the German Broadcasting Corporation) is the fruit of a unique collaboration between two world-renowned chemists who are also prolific authors, Roald Hoffmann and Carl Djerassi. Hoffmann is a Nobel laureate in chemistry and the Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor in Humane Letters at Cornell University. Djerassi is a professor of chemistry at Stanford University, best known as developer of the oral contraceptive pill, and both scientists have published a range of other literary works. Djerassi's play An Immaculate Misconception opened at the 1998 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and after runs in London, San Francisco, Vienna, Cologne, Munich, Stockholm and Sofia opened recently in Manhattan at Primary Stages Theatre, with French and Japanese productions forthcoming. It was broadcast on the BBC World Service as "Play of the Week" as well as by the German and Swedish Broadcasting Corporations. Oxygen has been published in book form by John Wiley in 2001, (ISBN: 3-527-30413-4).

More Information

Links to Roald Hoffmann
http://www.nobel.se/chemistry/laureates/1981/hoffmann-autobio.html
http://www.chem.cornell.edu/department/Faculty/Hoffmann/hoffmann.html

For further information contact Brian Schwartz, bschwartz@gc.cuny.edu

The Science and the Arts Series is presented by the Science Center and the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center and is part of the Continuing Education and Public Programs at The Graduate Center. Science Vaudeville is in cooperation with the Theater program at CUNY, Schrödinger's Girlfriend is in cooperation with the Physics program at CUNY, and Oxygen is in cooperation with the Chemistry program at CUNY. The presentations and performances bridge the two worlds of art and science. For the spring 2002 schedule, scientists, actors and performers present clear, entertaining and informative examples of science and the arts in theater.

All events are held at The Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave (at 34th Street)

The Science and the Arts series is presented by the Science Center and is part of the Continuing Education and Public Programs at The Graduate Center. Free and open to the public. For tickets contact: phone: (212) 817-8215, email: continuinged@gc.cuny.edu or visit the web site http://web.gc.cuny.edu/cepp