Honorable Mention - 2024 American Prize for Excellence in the Arts (Opera/Theater)

A New STEM Musical* Music, Book, and Lyrics by Ted Vives

About Scientific Method

Story

Claire Jennings is a physics professor at Farragut College. Despite being liked by her students, she is not as happy as she would like to be in her current situation. She faces gender-bias and resistance from colleagues and does not feel that she is respected as a scientist. She is also somewhat lonely and would like to find a partner who both understands and respects her.

Claire has collaborated with her colleague John Hood on a device to measure quantum anomalies. Unexpectedly, the device begins to function on its own, sending her back in time where she observes the similar struggles of scientists from underrepresented populations. One of these experimental runs goes very wrong when it actually transports Johannes Kepler to the present. All this causes her to run afoul of her department head and puts her job and career (and the entire time line of science) in jeopardy. Will she figure out how to get Kepler back to his own time and save both herself and her career?

Characters (act 1)

Claire Jennings – a bright, young physics professor at Farragut College. (Soprano)

John Hood – a close colleague and friend of Claire, also a physics professor. (Tenor)

Terrence Smallwood – Physics Department Head (Baritone)

Darryl Fredericks – President of Farragut College

Secretary – to President Fredericks

Translator – a student at Farragut College (Tenor/Baritone)

Student #1 – female (Soprano)

Student #2 (Anthony) – male, African-American* (Baritone)

Student #3 (Esperanza) – female (Alto)

Student #4 (Alex) – male, Indian-Asian* (Tenor)

Student #5 – female (Soprano)

Aristotle – ancient Greek philosopher and scientist, one of the greatest intellectual figures of history.

Plato – another ancient Greek Philosopher, teacher of Aristotle (Tenor)

Abu Nasr Al-Farabi – founder of philosophy within the Islamic world (Tenor/Baritone)

Hypatia of Alexandria - famed inventor, astronomer, mathematician and philosopher from Egypt (Mezzo Soprano)

Pythagoras – Ionian philosopher and mathematician

Euclid – most prominent mathematician of Greco-Roman antiquity

Ptolemy – Egyptian astronomer, mathematician

Archimedes – Greek mathematician, inventor and scientist

Diogenes, the Cynic – major early Cynic philosopher from Sinope

Epicurus– Greek philosopher, author of an ethical philosophy of simple pleasure, friendship, and retirement (no dialogue)

Characters (Act 2)

Tycho Brahe – Danish, one of the great astronomers of the 16th century. He has a gold nose. (Baritone)

Johannes Kepler - German astronomer and mathematician, discovered laws of planetary motion (Tenor)

Baron Johann Friedrich Hoffman– advisor to the Emperor and friend of Kepler

3 Wenches – servant girls of the court, not necessarily of “ill repute” names are Laverne, Maxene , and Patty. (SSA)

Nicolaus Reimers – “The Bear” an astronomer and imperial mathematician to Emperor Rudolf II (no dialogue)

Jeppe – servant, a dwarf (no dialogue)

Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II- King of Hungary and Croatia, King of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria (no dialogue)

A dog

A tame Elk

Marie Curie – physicist, first woman to win a Nobel Prize (Soprano)

George Washington Carver – American agricultural chemist, agronomist, and experimenter (Baritone)

Srinivasa Ramanujan - Indian mathematician, referred to as the man who knew infinity (Tenor)

Sofia Kovalavskaya - first major Russian female mathematician (Soprano)

Rosalind Franklin - British scientist best known for her contributions to the discovery of the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) (Alto)

*It is not the intention of the author to imply or direct any stereotypical or racially insensitive casting choices. All roles in Scientific Method should be considered as colorblind. However, please note that because the characters of George Washington Carver and Srinivasa Ramanujan specifically address the racism they experienced as persons of color, it is the feeling of the author that these roles should be respectively (and respectfully) filled by an African-American and an Indian-Asian male actors. This would also apply to the dual casting considerations as stated below.

(See also "casting considerations" below.)

Casting Considerations

The roles of John Hood and Johannes Kepler are intended to be played by the same actor.

The roles of Terrence Smallwood and Tycho Brahe are intended to be played by the same actor.

The roles of the five scientists and mathematicians in “The Void” are intended to be played by the same actors who portray Students #1 - #5. In particular, Student #2 (Anthony) and Student #4 (Alex) are to play George Washington Carver and Srinivasa Ramanujan, respectively. (See recommendation above.)

For economy considerations:
Hypatia of Alexandria and the Secretary may be portrayed by the same actor.
Abu Nasr Al-Farabi may be portrayed by either of the actors in the roles of the male students. The 3 wenches and the three female students may be portrayed by the same actors.
Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II and Darryl Fredericks may be portrayed by the same actor

Dual acting duties may also be utilized for extras, the other Greek philosophers and mathematicians and other non-speaking/singing roles in the crowd in Ancient Greece, at the Banquet Hall of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, as well as other students that may be used to populate the physics department at Farragut College.

THE MUSIC