In “Operation Epsilon,” World War II is nearing its end and 10 of Germany’s top nuclear scientists are being held as prisoners of war at a mansion in England. Credit: A.R. Sinclair Photography.
The Catalyst Collaborative at MIT (CC@MIT) is a collaboration between MIT and two non-profit professional theater companies, Underground Railway Theater and the Nora Theater Company. Both companies are in residence at the Central Square Theater.
CC@MIT brings together theater artists and scientists to create and present plays that deepen public understanding of science and technology.
Through performances and post-show conversations with scientists and artists, CC@MIT:
- engages audiences in thinking about themes in science and technology of social and ethical concern;
- provides insight into the culture of science and the impact of that culture on our society;
- examines the human condition through the lens of science and technology
CC@MIT in the Community:
- Commissions playwrights and scientists to create new works together
- Collaborates with the Cambridge Science Festival and MIT Museum
- Stages readings of plays in the community, followed by conversations with scientists and artists
- Engages students through internships and science theater courses
- Conducts a youth apprenticeship project mentoring under-served teenagers with scientists and artists
- Creates professional development workshops for teachers and new curricular materials for youth and children
CATALYST COLLABORATIVE AT MIT ADVISORY BOARD
Co Directors
| Janet Sonenberg | Professor, Music & Theater Arts, MIT |
| Debra Wise | Artistic Director, Underground Railway Theater |
| Alan Brody | Playwright, Professor of Theater, MIT |
Artistic Co Director
| Alan Lightman | Author, Physicist, Professor of Science Writing, MIT |
Advisory Committee
| Philip S. Khoury | Director of the Advisory Committee, Vice Provost, MIT |
| Claude Canizares | Vice President, MIT |
| Bruno Rossi | Professor of Physics, MIT |
| Robert Desimone | Director, McGovern Institute for Brain Research Doris and Dawn Berkey Professor of Neuroscience, MIT |
| John Durant | Director, MIT Museum |
| Jerome Friedman | Institute Professor of Physics Emeritus, MIT 1990 Nobel Laureate |
| Owen Gingerich | Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and History of Science, Harvard University |
| Nancy Hopkins | Amgen, Inc. Professor of Biology, MIT |
| Robert L. Jaffe | MIT Morningstar Professor of Physics MacVicar Faculty Fellow, MIT |
| David Kaiser | Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science Head of the Program in Science, Technology, and Society Senior Lecturer in MIT’s Department of Physics |
| Leila W. Kinney | Executive Director of Arts Initiatives and the Center for Art, Science & Technology, MIT |
| Natalie Kuldell | Biological Engineering, MIT Coalition for the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS) |
| Alan Guth | Cosmologist, Weisskopf Professor of Physics, MIT |
| Irene Porro | Director, Youth Astronomy Program MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research |
| Kate Snodgrass | Artistic Director, Boston Playwrights Theatre |
| Melanie Wallace | Senior Series Producer, NOVA WGBH TV |
| Jason Weeks | Executive Director, Cambridge Arts Council |
Honorary Member
| Eric Lander | Director, Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard CoChair, President Obama’s Advisory Council on Science and Technology |