Bay Street Theater's DOUBLE HELIX to Host Panel Discussion With Women Scientists

For Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts' Double Helix, the development team of the show's creator Madeline Myers and director Scott Schwartz went to extraordinary lengths to not only deliver a wonderfully entertaining and compelling new musical but also to ensure that script and performances are scientifically precise. “Rosalind Franklin was one of the most brilliant scientific minds of her generation. Creating a new musical about her life has required us to understand the work she did. We are very lucky to have worked with an amazing team of expert consultants to help ensure ‘Double Helix’ presents the science of DNA with truth and accuracy,'" says Schwartz.

Over the years of the show's development, esteemed specialists in their respective fields were consulted to achieve optimal scientific accuracy. Double Helix's consultants include Dr. Sonya Hanson, Ph.D., Research Scientist, CCB, of the Flatiron Institute whose research focuses on structural and molecular biophysics; Dr. Ruth Angus an Assistant Curator and Professor of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History and an Associate Research Scientist at the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics; Dr. Gordon Chiu, an author, futurist, innovator, and investor in health, wellness, science who has been granted over 40 domestic and international patents across a wide array of scientific applications; and Dr. Michael Airola an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University whose lab studies lipid metabolism with a specific focus on enzymes that modify lipids and are relevant to cancer, cardiovascular disease, and fungal infections and whose work has recently been recognized with the prestigious national award, the Walter A. Shaw Young Investigator of Lipid Research. 

In addition to working with these scientists to ensure the scientific accuracy of the production, on June 10th from 5-6 PM, prior to the evening's performance of Double Helix, Bay Street Theater will host a panel of distinguished women scientists working across a range of disciplines to address the challenges they have faced working in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Medince) and their accomplishments. During the discussion, entitled Behind the Microscope: Today's Women Pioneers in Science panelists including Dr. Heather Lynch, ecologist and explorer; Dr. Krystal Airola. MD, breast imaging radiologist; Dr. Marina Astitha, environmental physicist and Dr. Melanie Chui, synthetic chemist will discuss what has changed since the '50s, the era in which Double Helix is set, the hurdles they have overcome during the course of their careers, as well as their vision for the future of women working in STEMM. The panel will be moderated by science communications expert Lydia Franco-Hodges. The pre-performance event is free and they invite the general public.

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