Monday Night at the Math Playhouse

February 13, 2009

What could playwrights do with the mathematical concept of one-sidedness? Six one-act plays inspired by this idea will debut on Feb. 16, 2009, at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, Calif., as part of its Monday Night PlayGround program.

Earlier in the month, writers associated with Monday Night PlayGround visited mathematicians at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley to learn about one-sidedness. Talking to experts, they delved, for example, into how the concept appears in popular culture and how non-orientability might manifest itself in the universe. They investigated Mőbius strips, Klein bottles, and other one-sided objects. They tried to find out how mathematicians think and work.

Afterwards, each writer had less than a week to write a 10-minute play exploring some aspect of one-sidedness. Six of the plays—authors and titles not yet revealed—were deemed worthy of staged readings before an audience on Monday evening, Feb. 16.

A pre-show discussion will provide additional insight into the writers' process, the state of Bay Area theatre, and varying approaches to a mathematical topic.

The play's the thing—even when the subject is mathematical.

Source: Monday Night PlayGround