Spotlighters Theatre to Bring New Ancient Play Reading to 2016 Maryland STEM Festival

What happens when you mix classical Greek and Roman text with the true story of a 4th century woman mathematician and the bright lights of theater? Attendees at this year's Maryland STEM Festival aim to find out.

The tragedy "Hypatia's Math" is a collaboration between the festival and two local Baltimore theaters: Spotlighters Theatre, who first were interested in the text and propelled the project forward, and The Strand Theatre, whose focus is to promote women's voices in drama and who are crafting an amazing production. Play director Alice Stanley leads the way with an outstanding cast in this workshop performance.

The play was conceived of and written by Daniel Helman, a PhD student in Prescott, Arizona, a sleepy town where Western silent films had been shot and people like Tom Mix were in their heyday. Helman first became interested in the play after hearing Hypatia's tragic story about five years ago.

"I was really dismayed that I hadn't heard of her before," says Helman, the play's author. "A woman mathematician famous in antiquity who was the top scientist of her day, and yet there had been no mention of her in anything I had ever read or heard about."

Helman says that he decided the best thing to do was to write a play himself. He was taking courses for a master's degree in geology in California at the time, and was able to put together the structure of the play and write a few acts, but geophysics and other coursework got in the way. The play was finished last year. The workshop performance here in Baltimore will be followed next year by a full production.

The Maryland STEM Festival is a statewide event that provides inspirational, educational, and accessible programming in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) geared to inspire the next generation of STEM leaders. Events are free (though the play reading is Pay What You Can) and designed to appeal to a range of ages and interests. This year the festival is hosting 450 separate events in twenty-three counties and Baltimore City at 230 different venues. The festival runs November 4th through the 14th, with more than 50,000 people expected to attend.

What better way to look to a kinder future than by getting a firm grounding in the ancient story of the brave Hypatia of Alexandria, who lived at a time when sociopolitical turmoil was reaching a high point? Perhaps the ancients have something important to tell us.

Workshop performances of "Hypatia's Math" will be held at the Strand Theater on Friday, November 11 and Saturday, November 12, each at 8 pm. It is a ticketed event even though admission is Pay What You Can.

For more information go to the Maryland STEM Festival website at marylandstemfestival.org or the website for The Strand Theater at www.strand-theater.org or Spotlighters Theatre at www.spotlighters.org.

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