Bonding Theatre and Chemistry: An Educational Exploration

Transcription

1 James Madison University JMU Scholarly Commons Senior Honors Proects, 2010-current Honors College Fall 2016 Bonding Theatre and Chemistry: An Educational Exploration Matthe Gurniak James Madison University Follo this and additional orks at: Part of the Acting Commons, Art Education Commons, Chemistry Commons, Composition Commons, Music Education Commons, and the Playriting Commons Recommended Citation Gurniak, Matthe, "Bonding Theatre and Chemistry: An Educational Exploration" (2016). Senior Honors Proects, 2010-current This Thesis is rought to you for free and open access y the Honors College at JMU Scholarly Commons. It has een accepted for inclusion in Senior Honors Proects, 2010-current y an authorized administrator of JMU Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact dc_admin@mu.edu.

2 Bonding Theatre and Chemistry An Educational Exploration A Proect Presented to The Faculty of the Undergraduate College of Visual and Performing Arts James Madison University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Bachelor of Arts y Matthe Richard Gurniak Decemer 2016 Accepted y the faculty of the Department of Theatre and Dance, James Madison University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts. FACULTY COMMITTEE: Faculty Proect Advisor: Kate Arecchi, M.F.A. Associate Professor, Musical Theatre Bradley Necomer, Ph.D. Director, Honors Program Reader: Kevin L. Caran, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Organic Chemistry Reader: Ingrid DeSanctis, M.F.A. Assistant Professor, Playriting Reader: Zachary Dorsey, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Theatre

3 2016 Matthe Gurniak All rights reserved. 2

4 Dedicated to Mary Magdalene Gurniak, a eloved great grandmother and supporter. (Novemer 11, 1919 to April 3, 2016) Da mi uzi 3

5 Tale of Contents Acknoledgements 5 Astract 6 Introduction 7 Theatrical Teaching Tools 8 Musical Memorization Methods 12 Pragmatic Playriting Practices 14 Common Chemical Concepts # Interdisciplinary Instructor Intervies # Methods and Design # Discussion and Analysis # Conclusion # Appendix # Biliography # 4

6 Acknoledgements I ould like to thank Kate Arecchi, Dr. Kevin Caran, Ingrid DeSanctis, Dr. Zachary Dorsey, Dr. Terry Dean, Dr. Donna Amenta, Dr. Brycelynn Boardman, Dr. Nathan Wright, David Neman, Rachel Jones, Dale Schreier, Casey Klein, Elizaeth Addington, Jake Kantor, Lindsay Bohon, Morgan Miller, Olivia Ice, Morgan Arrivillaga, Cody Edards, Sierra Carlson, and Allyson Hak for their continued support and assistance throughout the duration of this proect. I ould also like to thank the College of Visual and Performing Arts and the School of Theatre and Dance for their gracious financial funding in this educational endeavor and their support of undergraduate student research. 5

7 Astract This paper analyzes the educational aspects of theatre and music and the impact that they have on an audience. The goal as to egin a ne conversation aout science and theatre and ho the to can learn and gain unique insight from each other. To examine ho these to antithetical fields can interact, I composed a ne, innovative musical that tells the love story eteen to professors through the use of concepts from general chemistry. The results and responses from the performance of the play ere overhelmingly positive from memers of oth disciplines. They have inspired continued interest in this ork and ill hopefully allo this interdisciplinary conversation to continue. 6

8 Introduction I love science, and it pains me to think that so many are terrified of the suect or feel that choosing science means you cannot also choose compassion, or the arts, or e aed y nature. Science is not meant to cure us of mystery, ut to reinvent and reinvigorate it. Roert Sapolsky According to Martin S. Silererg s Principles of General Chemistry, a ond is a force that holds to atoms together in a molecule. My Senior Honors Proect, BONDED: The Musical, is the onding of my to maors, chemistry and theatre. As a doule maor, my goal as to comine my passions into a singular, creative, and educational proect that exemplifies ho to antithetical fields can inform each other in ne, eneficial, and unexpected ays. Therefore, I rote and composed a one act chemical comedy that uses music and storytelling to teach and reinforce fundamental topics in chemistry. Through the simplification and personification of various chemistry concepts, I explored theatre as an effective educational tool for oth chemistry literate and illiterate audiences. 7

9 Theatrical Teaching Tools While theatre may e vieed y the masses as strictly entertainment and usiness oriented, and rightfully so, it can also e and is employed as an educational tool for social and academic purposes. This section of my paper ill focus on the academic applications of theatre and performance and ho they can influence other areas of study. Learning from Live Theatre, an article y Jay P. Greene, Collin Hitt, Anne Krayill, and Cari A. Bogulski, pulished a research study analyzing students and the effects of seeing live theatre. The examination as a lead y TheatreSquare, an aard inning professional theatre in Arkansas and studied a total of 670 students. They ere given the opportunity to see a performance of Hamlet or A Christmas Carol. After control groups ere estalished, ackground information as taken, and analysis techniques ere validated, data as recorded and analyzed to provide information ased on knoledge of the play. According to the article, students [ere asked] six questions aout the plot and five questions aout the vocaulary used [for each play] (Greene 57). As featured in Figure 1, students ho attended the live performances increased their overall knoledge of the plays y 63 percent of a standard deviation. This oservation as an improvement of five percent over students ho read or vieed filmed versions of the plays. Furthermore, hen asked specific plot points and vocaulary, students ho attended the live performances shoed consistent increases in knoledge over the control group. For example, the data from the article shos that 8

10 more than 94 percent of students ho sa the play kne that Ophelia drons in Hamlet, compared to 62 percent of those ho did not see it, and of those ho sa A Christmas Carol, 93 percent kne that humug meant nonsense or a trick compared to 62 percent of the control group (Greene 57). The data from this singular experiment provides overhelming evidence for theatre as an effective educational method in academia. It proves that educators should, at the very least, consider implementing theatrical devices in their teaching or include excursions to academically relevant productions into their course curriculum. Figure 1. Gains from live theatre (Greene 58). 9

11 The goals ehind this educational endeavor, hoever, are to not only teach chemistry through theatrical performance, ut to engage scientific and thespian audiences in a conversation aout theatre as a means of learning in itself. In a Time magazine article entitled What Actors Can Teach Us Aout Memory and Learning, Annie Murphy Paul discusses hat e can learn from an actor s aility to memorize entire scripts and perform them ord for ord every night. In her article, she examines Helga Noice, a psychology professor at Elmhurst College, and Noice s study on actors. According to Paul, Noice concludes from her investigations that most actors don t memorize their lines in the traditional sense rather, they egin y reading the script over and over again, looking for hat they call the throughline. From my on experiences, this is something that most chemistry and other science maors do not consider hen revieing for a test or preparing a pulic presentation. Rather, many students focus ho many facts they can cram into their rain efore the time comes hen they must communicate hat they have memorized. Actors, on the other hand, search for the oectives ehind the characters actions in the play. Noice points out from her research that hile the actors attempted to determine the intentions of the character and their reasons for saying those ords, the memorization ust seemed to occur automatically and ithout much effort at all. This same method, ith some effort, can easily e adapted to scientific learning. Instead of trying to memorize individual definitions and fact, students can learn to find the meanings and connections eteen a particular scientific suect or topic of study and find much more success ith memorization. 10

12 Not surprisingly, Noice s study found that the motions and movement that accompany a particular line of text also aid in the memorization for an actor. The to feed into one another and create a sort of mnemonic device ithin the ody. Paul s summarizes the findings y saying, months after the final performance of a play, actors recalled dialogue that had een accompanied y movement aout the stage etter than dialogue that had een spoken hile remaining in place. Consequently, one could conclude that movement or dance accompanied ith music and lyrics ould create an even more effective memory device. This assertion is, of course, ased on the claim that music itself is a practical and useful memory device, hich I ill discuss in the next section of this paper. Nevertheless, it can e concluded thus far that devising specific hand gestures, movements, or even going so far as to choreograph a dance can provide the necessary means to improved memory recall and recollection. 11

13 Musical Memorization Methods Learning ne lyrics can e sustantially easier than memorizing the material for your upcoming chemistry test. Melodies can easily get stuck in our heads for hours or days on end. So hat is it that causes us to respond so strongly to music What is it that makes these tunes so catchy In this section of my paper I ill provide evidence for the claim that music can e used as an effective and efficient memory mechanism. Daniel Levitin, a psychologist studying the neuroscience of music at McGill University in Montreal, descries the science ehind our relationship ith music: the structures that respond to music in the rain evolved earlier than the structures that respond to language (Landau 13). Generations ago, efore the development of riting, our ancestors needed a ay to rememer everyday things, such as preparing food and directions to the nearest ater source. They discovered that songs could help retain such things to memory. It as not until much more recently that scientists discovered the iological processes that explain the reasons for these phenomena. Music is strongly associated ith the rain s reard system (Landau 19). When listening to music, a structure in the rain releases dopamine, hich in turns causes humans to feel pleasure. This pleasure causes a response in humans so strong that e give it significance and commit it to our memory, hich is hy humans especially children have an easier time learning things taught to them in song. The creators of Schoolhouse Rock capitalized on this very idea. They simplified suects taught in school and contextualized them ithin songs and storylines. To this 12

14 day, I still rememer ho a ill ecomes a la ecause the song from Schoolhouse Rock ould get stuck in my head. I ould sing it over and over again until I could not help ut rememer. According to Daniel Levitin, these songs are so catchy ecause they are melodically and rhythmically simple (Landau 8). The compositions for my play included some of these same components of music in an attempt to make them effective memory devices for academic learning. 13

15 Pragmatic Playriting Practices Playriting ith Ingrid DeSanctis as a vital tool for introducing myself into the orld of riting for theatre. I as ale to learn the asics of constructing a solid plot and conflict for my characters. Conflict, according to Jean Claude van Itallie in his The Playright s Workook, is the magic essential (Itallie 32). A conflict is not simply an argument eteen to individuals, ut rather a clash or ostacle that prevents a character from getting hat he or he desires. It is sustainale throughout the entire story. An argument, hoever, has a shorter fuse a fizzes out ithin a single scene. Musicalizing a story intensifies it, says author of The Musical Theatre Writer s Survival Guide David Spencer (Spencer 29). It rings a hole other level to the theatrical experience. When the story is too ig or too intense to fit into the natural universe, you add music to complement the intentions of the characters and their larger than life plots. This simple aspect of musical theatre is one of the many reasons I incorporated it into the telling of my story. The other reasons eing to reinforce the educational goals of this proect and to challenge myself to create memorale and melodic music. In his ook, Spencer goes on to descrie ten specific selling points that he considers to e asis for constructing a successful liretto. One such selling point, as he descries is: The setup of hat are called your permissions your dramatic theme, your stylistic conceits, your tone, your vocaulary, your ground rules right at the top. And sticking to them. This selling point is one that I stuck to hile constructing my 14

16 musical. I kne that it ould e essential to acquaint the audience ith the style and structure of the musical, chemical comedy. It ould e something that they had never seen or experienced. Therefore, I put a lot of thought into the first estalishing scenes of the play and the overture. In addition, I used visual graphics and posters to advertise the performance, as can e seen in Figure 2 and Figure 3 in the Appendix. They had to convey ithout ords the quirky, comedic, and scientific orld I had created. 15

17 Common Chemical Concepts Martin S. Silererg defines chemistry as, the study of matter and its properties, the changes that matter undergoes, and the energy associated ith those changes (Silererg 2). For my scientific research, I stuck to my trusty General Chemistry textook, Principles of General Chemistry. I figured since it as good enough to teach me chemistry, it as good enough to use to teach other people chemistry. Whether or not my reasoning as sound, it proved to e a very useful resource hile constructing my play. As the plot of the play developed, I as ale to solidify more concepts that I anted to include in the script and in the music. I tried to progress from topic to topic in a logic order that folloed the order of the ook and the complexity of the material. I started ith the asics matter, atoms, and elements in the first to songs of the sho, Chemistry 101 and The Element Song. According to Silererg s definition, matter is the stuff of the universe: air, glass, planets students anything that has mass and volume (Silererg 2). Matter is made up of tiny particles knon as atoms. Silererg descries them as tiny indivisile particles of an element that cannot e created or destroyed (Silererg 37). They are the smallest form of matter, yet they still maintain all the properties of an element. An element, as Silererg says, is the simplest type of sustance ith unique physical and chemical properties (Silererg 860). These are the definitions I started ith for the songs, and then I continued from there. 16

18 He s So Cute as scientifically ased off phase changes and emotionally ased on the sudden changes that occur hen e start to like someone. In Principle of General Chemistry, a phase change is defined as a physical change from one state to another (Silererg 357). They occur from changes in strength of intermolecular forces, hich are the attractive and repulsive forces among the particles molecules, atoms, or ions in a sample of matter (Silererg 862). This song, He s So Cute, paralleled the lesson eing taught that day in class. Dr. Iona sang aout the phase changes she as experiencing hile Dr. Adams attempted to explain intermolecular forces to some confused students. In the love song, Bonding, the to leads sing a song aout ionic onding, hich is the attraction of oppositely charged ions that arise through electron transfer eteen atoms ith large differences in their tendencies to lose or gain electrons (Silererg 862). 17

19 Interdisciplinary Instructor Intervies On Octoer 12, 2015, I conducted an informal intervie, entitled Life as a Chemistry Professor, ith my Biochemistry professor, Dr. Nathan Wright. I had approached him several eeks earlier aout my proect and asked if he ould e illing to anser some questions aout eing a professor and teaching chemistry. He as immediately intrigued. I started y asking some questions aout ho he got into chemistry and ho he decided to ecome a professor. During this line of question, I discovered his favorite chemistry oke as, the ase under a salt, and his alternate field of study ould have een environmental chemistry if he did not go into iochemistry. Figure 2. "Back at School(s)." James Savanna. N.p., 18 Aug We. 14 Mar We also discussed asic iographical information and character traits. For instance, Dr. Wright gre up as a Quaker in North Carolina ith to scientifically illiterate parents and a troulemaking younger rother. His parents ere very supportive of Wright s choice to pursue science in school, ut at one point they had to say to him, hen you talk, it doesn t make any sense anymore. 18

20 Once prompted, Wright descried himself as a emotionally open and spazzy person, hich can e confirmed from his over exuerance in the classroom. He ent on to explain that professors must e at least a little extroverted in order to teach in front of a class. As a scientist, he explained that he, like most, does not handle authority ell and is not afraid of a little confrontation as it is a medium of the field. Just imagine to chemists going at it hile arguing aout transferases, says Wright. I did. It to e quite amusing. While in school, he met his ife. He as her RA during her freshman year of college. They met efore classes started hile he as orking on a rather smelling reaction in his la. It as summer so he as earing shorts, hich his la coat covered. He admits that he must have looked rather funny ecause it looked like he as not earing pants. Nevertheless, this girl, his soon to e ife, struck up a conversation ith him hile he had a test tue holder stuck on his finger. After that he says, for some reason she decided to date me. Why did I fail to put this hilariously adorale scene into my script I have no idea. As the intervie ent on, he revealed some of the things he learned from his time as a professor. The numer one thing eing that, as a professor, you have to speak on a certain level. He says, you have to realize ho students think. From his experiences, students try to memorize fast and hard, ut he sees things differently than them and is ale to find more of the interrelations eteen these iochemical concepts that he teaches ecause he has een doing it so much longer. These comments ere especially useful to my proect and supporting my research. 19

21 Methods and Design The in depth portion of the research commenced in my unior year of college, the spring of I gathered relevant literature over the scope of three main areas of research: playriting and music composition, the science of learning through theatre and music, and current theatrical and artistic orks in science (specifically, chemistry). I then adusted the readth of my research as the proect progressed and developed, ut these main topics stayed the primary aid in creating a asis for my proect. During the summer of 2015, I researched literature on playriting to create an outline and asis for my script and prepare myself for playright class, THEA 347, in the fall ith Ingrid DeSanctis. Through enrollment and completion of this course, the goal as to hone my playriting skills and further understand the main components of a ell made play. I as ale to learn such essential practices as character, character development, and most importantly conflict. Throughout the semester, my playriting class as fortunate to have estalished playrights, such as Daniel Beaty, Scott Organ, and Ricky J. Martinez come to class and share their professional expertise and riting techniques. The riting of the music also egan during the summer, hich aided in the overall development of my final piece. In my research, I explored the asic elements of music that make songs so memorale such as repetition, rhyme, and melody. While starting to rite, I experimented ith finding the musical style and voice of the piece. It 20

22 as helpful to revie the asic literature on playriting and riting for musical theatre. I gained a more thorough understanding of plot and here songs fit into its structure. As I discovered melodic phrases and chord progresses that I liked, I recorded them as a Voice Memo on my phone to playack later during my riting sessions. Inconveniently, I discovered myself creating and riting more music and lyrics hilst attempting to sleep or alking home from campus than in my scheduled riting sessions. Therefore, it as imperative to record or transcrie the music or lyrics immediately so I did not forget it. Surprisingly, it as in these unscheduled or random moments here I rote some of my favorite pieces. The first melody I recorded, We Just Don t Mix, dates ack to August The song can e found as a 30 second Voice Memo and is in an almost unrecognizale state. Hoever, this rief snippet of the song shos ho songs and musicals gro and develop over the time span of the riting process. I Hate Falling in Love as the next song to emerge into the aural orld of the play. It too came to an early irth in the summer, ut as not fully estalished and fleshed out until several months later. Many of the lyrics, in fact, ere inspired y a poem I rote during the folloing fall semester. As I as attempting to rite lyrics for the fe short melodies that I had ritten during the summer some of hich did not make it into the final draft score I reread chapters of my General Chemistry textook and took notes on the topics I anted to convey to the audience ith that particular song. In addition to the playriting and compositional research and riting, the chemistry research for my piece as started during the summer as ell. I studied 21

23 previously ritten orks that incorporated science into their plots and themes. This literature helped me gain knoledge of the current ork in the field and use it as inspiration for my on piece. Additionally, since the songs and storyline of my play are ased off of topics in chemistry, I used this time to choose fundamental topics that could e incorporated into the script. I anted concepts that ere teachale, ut could also provide some sort of structure for the storyline and e used as devices to help advance the plot. Dr. Kevin Caran as an indispensale resource hen it came to this part. He has experience ith using familiar melodies to compose his on songs aout chemistry (Caran, The Alkane Song ). I as ale to have periodic rainstorm sessions ith Dr. Caran during the fall and spring of senior year to ork out some of the lyrics and chemistry ehind some of the songs, for example He s So Cute, We Just Don t Mix, and Will They or Won t They. Throughout the fall semester I continued to rite, compose, and experiment. The most difficult part of riting an educational play aout chemistry as developing a strong plot and conflict that could simultaneously teach and entertain. Oviously, throing information and facts don the throats of the audience is ineffective and, quite frankly, useless. No audience is going to e receptive to that method ecause noody ants to e preached at hile atching a play. Therefore, the question ecame: Ho can I preach at my audience and make it ork The anser ecame quite clear after I finally defined the question. My characters had to e teachers. They could not e atoms, or molecules, or any type personified chemistry concept. They had to e 22

24 professors so that they could stand on stage and teach a class ithout the audience questioning hy. As a student, I realized I did not have a thorough knoledge or adequate perspective for riting from a professor s point of vie. Therefore, I decided I needed to intervie a professor to get an idea aout hat the classroom looks like from their side of the room. I as enrolled in Biochemistry I during the fall semester and my professor, Dr. Nathan Wright, seemed like the ideal candidate for the character research my play needed. He as a quirky, funny, and extremely knoledgeale professor ho provided an initial inspiration for the character of Dr. Net Adams. He illingly oliged to an intervie aout his ideas on teaching and life as a chemistry professor and e had a informative and eye opening conversation in his office in the Physics and Chemistry Building. Once I had fully fleshed out characters to place into my loosely constructed love story of a plot, I started creating a scene layout off hich to ase my script. I had multiple meetings ith Ingrid DeSanctis during the fall semester in order to discuss the characters and their chemical love story. Together e finalized a scene layout off hich I as to ase my scenes. Over the inter reak finished riting the first full draft of the script ith a plan to edit it over the course of the spring semester. Ingrid and I continued to meet throughout the spring to edit the scenes as e read them together and to further develop the chemistry eteen the to professors on the page. While riting the script and score for the play, I also rote and sumitted an undergraduate research grant proposal during the fall of 2015, hich can e seen in in 23

25 the Appendix in Tale 1. The purpose of the grant as to to provide funding for the purpose of encouraging undergraduate students to explore practical or scholarly investigation in a proect or suect of interest relevant to the student s maor that results in a product, performance, pulication, final presentation/report. In Novemer, I as approved for the research grant funding in the amount of $500. The financial acking ent toard the acquisition of to computer programs for documentation, transcription, and streamlining of the riting process. I purchased Finale 2014 for music composition and Final Draft for playriting. These to programs alloed for the production of professional grade riting and formatting of the script and score in proect. In addition to the grant proposal, I composed a orkshop production proposal for the School of Theatre and Dance, hich can e vieed in Tale 2. To officialize the performance of my Senior Honors Proect ithin the production season, I sumitted a proposal for a orkshop production of my musical to the School of Theatre and Dance faculty in Decemer The proposal included a description of the proect, a purpose for pursuing the proect, and required personnel. Within the proposal, I also fleshed out the timeline for auditions, casting, rehearsals, and performances of the piece. Finally, I requested permission to acquire Wayland Hall as a performance space for the reading of my play and funds for printing and distriuting full scripts and scores to my cast. By the end of January 2016 I as fully approved to go ahead ith my orkshop production, and y the eginning of Feruary 2016 I had confirmed reservations to use Wayland Hall for the performances of my proect. 24

26 Over the inter reak, I egan to finalize the score for the musical. I added and sutracted some songs here and there, and rote them all don into Finale 2014, a program purchased ith the funding from my undergraduate research grant. Edits continued to e made ell into the spring semester and continued even hile in rehearsals for the performance of my proect. The Element Song as a last minute addition to the score, and as given to my actors 3 days efore the opening of the sho. The song had een contemplated during the riting process, ut as pushed aside for a song that as later cut entitled What s the Matter. A first draft of the script and ith audio files of the songs ere presented to my advisor and readers at the start of the spring semester. Casting my musical egan the first eek of March. Auditions ere Monday, Feruary 29th and callacks ere scheduled for Tuesday, March 1st; hoever, callacks ere extended to Wednesday, March 2nd due to unexpected actor conflicts. By the end of callacks I had my cast and e held a first readthrough of the script on that Thursday. Edits of the script and score ere made over Spring Break and an entire scene ith Dr. Constance Planck as added. An entire second draft as then presented to my cast and production team upon return. The rehearsals for the performance of BONDED: The Musical egan after Spring Break on Monday, March 14th. My team consisted of assistant director Rachel Jones, music director Casey Klein, stage manager Dale Schreier, assistant stage manager Elizaeth Addington, and graphic designer Allyson Hak. Their dedication and assistance on this proect as indispensale and the production ould not have 25

27 succeeded ithout them. My cast consisted of sophomore musical theatre maors Jake Kantor and Lindsay Bohon, unior musical theatre maor Morgan Miller, freshman musical theatre maor Olivia Ice and Morgan Arrivillaga, and freshman theatre maor Cody Edards. Again, their dedication to the ork as such that ithout them the production ould not have reached its fullest potential. During rehearsals, they ere ale to discover ne things aout the characters and ring a ne life to the script that I never even thought as possile. Throughout the rehearsal process and hile orking scenes, edits ere made to the script as necessary. Songs ere expanded and some ere even added. The Element Song as a last minute addition, replacing What s The Matter that as given to the actors three days efore opening. While melodically and rhythmically simple, the song is rather complicated lyrically and moves rather quickly. Hoever, Jake Kantor and Lindsay Bohon ere ale to learn and perform the song ith ease in the limited rehearsal time. Another song, entitled A Chemical (Over)Reaction came to fruition during the rehearsal process, ut the idea as ultimately scrapped for creative reasons. A final script and score as printed through the School of Theatre and Dance and presented to the cast, production team, and advisor on Tuesday, March 22nd. Performances ere then held on Thursday, March 24th and Friday, March 25th at 7:00pm in Wayland Hall. Seats ere reserved for professors ho expressed interest in attending the shos. On Thursday night, there ere approximately 70 audience memers in attendance from oth the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the School of Theatre and Dance for the opening and premiere of BONDED: The 26

28 Musical. On Friday night, there ere approximately 50 audience memers in attendance. After oth performances a rief talkack as held collect initial feedack and reactions from the audience memers regarding hat they had seen in the production as a hole and in performances of the actors ( Figure 4 ). The Thursday night talkack as proctored y Rachel Jones and the Friday night performance as proctored y Ingrid DeSanctis. We started ith a short discourse on the proect and process and then folloed ith questions for the audience. Such questions included: What are some of your initial reactions and moments that stood out to you Where and ho as the merging of chemistry and theatre effective or not What ould you like to see more of and ho could it e expanded These questions helped guide a very engaging and exciting conversation eteen us and the audience. 27

29 Discussion and Analysis Writing a musical is hard. Writing a musical aout chemistry is even harder. Those are ust to of the things I learned from this extensive and lengthy process of researching, riting, and directing. Going into this proect, I kne it ould e a colossal undertaking, ut I never could have imagined the struggles I ould experience to create a successful theatrical ork. Immediately folloing the performances of my musical, a talkack as held to collect initial reactions and feedack from the audience. To my relief, the comments ere overhelmingly positive. The audience appeared to fall right into the orld of the play and stay ith it through the very end. They only ished that it did not end. They anted to see more of the love story eteen Dr. Adams and Dr. Iona. While I had considered expanded the play into a full length musical, the excitement and enthusiasm aout the performances makes me more likely to continue orking on this piece. I already have ideas to dive deeper into the relationship eteen the to leads and sho more of their story onstage. Also, I ould further develop the alluded relationship eteen Dr. Adams and Dr. Planck. I have some ne scenes in mind to advance these plots and have ideas for more songs as ell. I elieve that Dr. Planck ill definitely need a song or to in the expanded version since she had none in the original. The students, too, ill need to e developed and given more musical commentaries in the Greek chorus style that I introduced in this draft of the play. 28

30 Another comment stood out among the discussion in the talkacks and as reiterated y multiple memers of the audience. Some of the audience memers, ho identified themselves as having little experience or knoledge of chemistry, noted that they ere reminded of their high school chemistry classes and actually realized that they rememered more aout chemistry than they originally thought. To me, this makes my play successful even if it as only ale to teach, reinforce, or remind one person aout a singular chemical topic. It also ecame evident hile listening to the comments at the talkacks that even though the audience memers came from to very different disciplines, they ere oth ale to appreciate and recognize the physical and metaphorical relationships uilt into the plot of the play. This realization further confirms the notion that humans instinctively try to find relationships and form onds eteen oth similar and dissimilar things in an attempt to etter understand them. Theatre can provide the frameork necessary to advance this phenomenon. The relationships that theatre can evoke onstage can foster an educational environment that encourages and improves human's association and learning ailities. Therefore, a continuance of this collaorative conversation ould e eneficial to oth the orld of theatre and the orld of academia alike. The direct feedack from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry as also overhelmingly positive. They commented on seeing parts of themselves in the characters and appreciated a piece of art eing made aout their ons passions. They liked the play so much, in fact, that they have invited the cast to perform for the entire department at their eekly Friday seminar. The encore performance ill take place on 29

31 Friday, April 22nd in room 159 of the Integrated Science and Technology uilding at 3:35pm. The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry also invited the entire School of Theatre and Dance to the seminar to experience the revival of BONDED: The Musical. The encore performance, hoever, is not here the interest stops. Rachel Jones, a senior Theatre and Media Arts Design (SMAD) doule maor and fello Honors student has adapted the script for the silver screen. As a current student enrolled in SMAD 405, she along ith her group memers, Christopher Strunk and Nicole Goldstein as assigned to direct and produce a 20 minute short film. With my supervision, she edited the 50 minute play into a short, musical film. The proect is currently in production and ill premiere at SMADFest, a free student film festival, on May 3, 2016 in Grafton Stovall Theater at 6:00pm. The filming process is giving my actors another opportunity to explore these characters and experience the orld of chemistry. One educational aspect aout my proect that I had not considered during the riting process as the learning opportunity for the actors cast in my play. Oviously, I kne that they ould e reciting the chemistry infused lines of text I had ritten. It did not initially occur to me, hoever, that they ould need to understand the chemical concepts aout hich they ere singing. It makes sense, nevertheless. Just like any Shakespearean actor must understand their heightened text, my actors must also understand their heightened text in order for the audience to follo along ith them. 30

32 This realization granted me a unique opportunity as a director. I had the chance to step into the shoes of professor and help my cast understand at least at an elementary level each and every chemistry reference in the script. To my delight and astonishment, they ere extremely receptive and eager to learn aout the chemistry ehind the the story they ere telling. They, too, ere reminded of their high school chemistry classes and rememered more information than they expected. I only ish the rehearsal process for my staged reading as longer so that e could spend more time discussing the chemical allusions and references made in my script. Hoever, from the feedack I received from the actors, it as an experience that they ould never forget. 31

33 Conclusion After 18 months of research, riting, and experimentation, I as ale to complete and direct my one act chemical comedy ith much success. Both chemistry and theatre audiences alike enoyed the educational and acky story that as enacted efore them. Chemistry audience memers ere introduced to the orld of theatre and theatre audience memers ere enlightened and reminded of asic chemistry concepts. In the future, I hope to expand my play and ring it to more audiences to continue educating and advancing this interdisciplinary conversation. 32

34 Appendix See attached for script and score of BONDED: The Musical. Figure 2. Logo for BONDED: The Musical. Designed y Allyson Hak. Figure 3. Poster for the performance of BONDED: The Musical. Designed y Allyson Hak. 33

35 Figure 4. Program for the performance of BONDED: The Musical. Figure 5. Outline for the post performance talkack. 34

36 Tale 1. College of Visual and Performing Arts Undergraduate Student Research Grant Application: Lead Applicant: Matthe Gurniak Lead Applicant s mattgurniak@gmail.com Lead Applicant s Telephone Numer: (484) Lead Applicant s School: Theatre and Dance Proect Title: Senior Honors Thesis: Bonding Theatre and Chemistry Short Synopsis: (In no more than 4 sentences, summarize your proect) I am comining my to passions, chemistry and theatre, into an original musical that exemplifies ho to antithetical fields can inform each other in unexpected and eneficial ays. I ill communicate fundamental topics in chemistry through the use of creative music and storytelling that simultaneously teaches and entertains. Essentially, I aim to explore theatre as an effective educational tool for children and adults alike. The proect and research ill culminate in a performance of the play in Wayland Hall. Proect Narrative: (In no more than 2 pages, descrie your proect, particularly the value of the research/creative activity in the discipline, and the anticipated outcome of the proect) I love science, and it pains me to think that so many are terrified of the suect or feel that choosing science means you cannot also choose compassion, or the arts, or e aed y nature. Science is not meant to cure us of mystery, ut to reinvent and reinvigorate it. Roert Sapolsky Learning ne lyrics can e sustantially easier than memorizing the material for your upcoming chemistry test. Melodies can easily get stuck in our heads for hours or days on end. So hat is it that causes us to respond so strongly to music What is it that makes these tunes so catchy The science ehind our relationship ith music refers ack to our iological evolution. Generations ago, efore the development of riting, our ancestors needed a ay to rememer everyday things, such as preparing food or directions to the nearest ater source. They realized that songs could easily help retain such things to memory. It as not until much more recently that scientists discovered the reason this phenomenon occurs. They found that hen listening to music dopamine is released causing humans to feel pleasure. This pleasure causes a response so strong that e give it significance and commit it to our memory. Therefore, humans, especially children, have an easier time learning things taught to them through song. The creators of Schoolhouse Rock capitalized on this very idea. They simplified suects taught in school and contextualized them ithin songs and storylines. The songs are designed to e melodically and rhythmically simple so that they get stuck in 35

37 your head. To this day, I can still recall ho a ill ecomes a la ecause the song from Schoolhouse Rock as so catchy. As a theatre and chemistry doule maor, I elieve it is important and eneficial for one to allo other fields of study to inform their on. After all, it is through others that e, ourselves, gro. Therefore, I am comining my passions into a singular, creative proect that rings these to unexpected fields together in an educational experience. In an original theatrical production I ill teach fundamental topics in chemistry through the use of music and storytelling. Through the personification of various chemistry concepts, I hope to explore theatre as an effective educational tool for oth children and adults alike. My proect encompasses three main areas of research: playriting and music composition, the science of learning through theatre and music, and current theatrical and artistic orks in science (specifically, chemistry). A fourth area of research ill contain the chemistry knoledge and concepts that ill e examined in the play and the music. And lastly, I ill e talking ith various chemistry professors aout their experiences as teachers, scientists, and colleagues. During the intervies, I ill also ask hat effective tools they have discovered for promoting student learning and ho they implement them in their on classrooms. As I explore the components of music and composition such as repetition, rhyme, and melody I ill need a method of documentation for my music. Finale is a standard in music notation softare and is supportive of educational endeavors. I am already familiar ith other versions of Finale, and they are illing to reduce the price of the 2014 softare package y almost 50 percent for academic purchases. The incorporation of this advanced music softare ill e imperative since it does not inhiit creative musical composition. Other versions are less advanced and restrictive in hat they allo one to create on the printed page. Additionally, the Finale softare supports the use of MIDI keyoards. While the pianos in the Fores Center are convenient for musical exploration and preliminary riting, access to a personal MIDI keyoard ould consideraly enhance the physical riting process and allo for more creativity and innovation in my proect. Ingrid DeSanctis Playriting class is also serving as a source for honing my skills as a playright. Final Draft is a specialized playriting and screenriting softare that ill e vital for professional formatting and quality of my script. Like Finale, Final Draft also offers significant discounts on academic purchases. This softare ill promote creativity in my proect y streamlining the riting process and ill allo me more time to reread and edit my script. Without these softare and musical enhancements to my research and riting, my proect ould e significantly stunted and not reach its fullest potential. In addition to my on chemistry literature and that hich I otain from the lirary, I ill employ ooks from the Chemistry for Dummies series to aid in the simplification of these concepts and make them more accessile for audiences of all ackgrounds and disciplines. In order to ensure my proect secure and all data is acked up, I ill need to store all the music and documents that I create on an external hard drive. External hard 36

38 drives are inexpensive and ill ensure that my data is not lost should I encounter any technical difficulties during the process. And lastly, I ill need to employ an accompanist for the rehearsals and the actual performance of my piece. Indicate hich category elo is most applicale Disciplinary Interdisciplinary X Entrepreneurial Partnership: (Indicate the School in partnership ith) Chemistry and Biochemistry Interdisciplinary Description: (In a paragraph, descrie the nature of the Interdisciplinary collaoration) This Honors proect is quite evidently an interdisciplinary effort. I have professors from oth disciplines collaorating ith me on the proect, and all are eager to see it progression from concept to reality. Simply put, the chemistry concepts from my research directly impact the development of the script and music. They ill guide me through the storytelling process of my play. Additionally, I elieve the theatre aspect greatly enefits the scientific orld as ell. Whether you ecome a teacher, a doctor, or a researcher, your ork ecomes meaningless if it cannot e effectively communicated. This proect is a prime example of this very idea and strongly promotes scientific communication and education. Timeline: (Indicate a proect timeline ith expected deadline for completion) Much of the initial riting and composing ill e accomplished during the Fall of A first draft ill e completed y the end of the semester. Winter reak ill e used to look over the draft, add to it, and make preliminary edits. A second draft ill e sumitted to my Advisor and Readers for feedack and comments y the start of the Spring of During the next fe eeks, edits and additions ill e made to the script ased on the revieers comments and suggestions, resulting in a third, more complete draft. Folloing the completion of this third draft, I ill hold auditions for the staged reading that ill e held in April All research, papers, scripts, and compositions ill e completed y April 11, Budget: (Indicate a udget for your proect, ith a $500 minimum and $10,000 maximum) The udget for this proect is $ A reakdon of the finances can e found elo. Item Description Price Tax Total MIDI Keyoard Alesis Q25 25 Key Keyoard MIDI Controller $49.00 $0.00 $49.00 USB Cale Live Wire USB Cale 5 ft. $7.99 $0.00 $7.99 Finale Finale 2014 (Academic Donload) $ $21.00 $

39 Final Draft Final Draft 9 Educational $ $0.00 $ External Hard Drive Hard Drive Cale WD My Passport Ultra 2 TB Portale External Hard Drive WD Grip Pack for My Passport Ultra 2TB / USB 3.0 Cale $89.00 $6.54* $95.54 $12.99 $0.00 $12.99 Hard Drive Case Western Digital My Passport Carrying Case $6.99 $0.00 $6.99 Chemistry Book Chemistry for Dummies $12.75 $0.77 $13.52 Chemistry Book Chemistry II for Dummies $15.34 $0.56 $15.90 Chemistry Book Chemistry Essentials for Dummies $9.18 $0.92 $10.10 Accompanist $ $0.00 $ Grand Total: $ * The taxes for the external hard drive, cale, and case have een comined and total $6.54. Faculty Advisor: Kate Arecchi Kate Arecchi Signature indicating agreement to e advisor (required) School : Theatre and Dance 4/5/16 Date Matthe Gurniak Lead Student Signature 4/5/16 Date Tale 2. School of Theatre and Dance Workshop Proposal. The title of the proect, the name(s) of the proposer(s), and the faculty advisor Title of the Proect: Bonding Theatre and Chemistry: An Educational Exploration Name of Proposer: Matthe Gurniak Faculty Advisor: Kate Arecchi A description of the proect The proect I am proposing is a culmination of my yearlong research for my Senior Honors Proect. It ill e a staged reading of my original script and score called Bonded: A Chemical Comedy. Scripts and sheet music ill e utilized during the 38

40 performance to allo actors to focus more on the acting and the story of the play rather than memorization since the rehearsal process ill e short. Hoever, actors ill e very familiar ith their music and scripts for the performances. An explanation of hy the proposer(s) ant(s) to pursue the proect I am comining my to passions, chemistry and theatre, into an original musical that exemplifies ho to antithetical fields can inform each other in unexpected and eneficial ays. Through this proect I ant to encourage and foster a greater interest in interdisciplinary ork and collaoration among students. I also ant to communicate fundamental topics in chemistry through the use of creative music and storytelling that simultaneously teaches and entertains. Essentially, I aim to explore theatre as an effective educational tool for children and adults alike. A rough estimate of the personnel required The proect ould include a stage manager (Dale Schreier has already agreed to fill this position), an accompanist, and a cast of 2 6 actors (a maximum of 3 men and 3 omen). An outline of the rehearsal process, including the total numer of hours eing requested for rehearsal I am looking to hold auditions on Feruary 29th ith callacks on March 1st. A first read through ould take place then on March 2nd to allo time for editing the script. A final draft of the script ould e presented to the cast and production team after Spring Break. Intermittent rehearsals ould e then scheduled throughout the next 2 eeks according to actors schedules. Ideally, actors ould not e cast in another sho during the rehearsal process to allo for maximum focus on this proect since the process is so short. Tentatively, performances ould e the eek of March 21st. I ask for to days of performances so that Chemistry and Theatre students and faculty ho are interested are ale to attend. I ould prefer the sho to go up no later than March 25th to allo time for riting my reflection on the performances and audience feedack. Estimated total numer of rehearsal hours: A space or spaces that could e utilized for the performances Wayland Hall s performance venue ould provide an intimate location for the audience to vie my ork. It also already contains a piano necessary for accompanying the musical numers in the play. Other spaces, such at 2240, could also e considered for performances depending on availaility. Funding that is requested for royalties and scripts (Note: any potential overages to approved funding ill not e asored y the School.) Since there are no royalties for this piece, copies of the finalized script ould e the only funds necessary for this production. During read throughs and initial rehearsals, actors ill e asked to read off their personal computers or talets to save paper and money until the script is finalized. 39