Time is of the Essence: The Centrality of Time in Science Plays and the Cultural Implications By © 2017 Jeanne Tiehen Submitted to the graduate degree program in Theatre and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Chair: Rebecca Rovit Mechele Leon John Gronbeck-Tedesco Iris Smith Fischer Philip Baringer Date Defended: April 3, 2017 The dissertation committee for Jeanne Tiehen certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Time is of the Essence: The Centrality of Time in Science Plays and the Cultural Implications Chair: Rebecca Rovit Date Approved: April 3, 2017 ii Abstract Time is of the Essence: The Centrality of Time in Science Plays and the Cultural Implications examines how time operates within the narrative and structure of science plays. Combining analysis of play texts and production critiques with phenomenological theories of time and embodiment, and also exploring related theories about time in physics and philosophy, I extrapolate what science plays may illuminate about our cultural relationship to science because of how we experience time—both in and out of the theatre. In the dissertation I investigate three groups of science plays: 1) contemporary plays that display time in innovative ways, such as Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia (1993), Anna Ziegler’s Photograph 51 (2011), Shelagh Stephenson’s An Experiment with an Air Pump (2000), and Nick Payne’s Constellations (2012); 2) plays about the atomic bomb that presented apprehensions mankind made a scientific device to end time as we knew it, seen in Robert Nichols and Maurice Browne’s Wings Over Europe (1927), Arch Oboler’s Night of the Auk (1956), Lorraine Hansberry’s What Use Are Flowers? (1969), Arthur Kopit’s The End of the World (1984), and Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen (1998); and 3) plays about climate change that demonstrate how mankind may be running out of time to change the course of events, including Moira Buffini, Matt Charman, Penelope Skinner, and Jack Thorne’s Greenland (2011), Mike Bartlett’s Earthquakes in London (2010), and Stephen Emmott’s Ten Billion (2012). I compare these plays to other representations of science in film, museums, and literature, contrasting the phenomenological experiences and positioning theatre as a rare, time-oriented art that can reveal important scientific ideas. By investigating science plays, I argue that theatre, because of its own phenomenological and temporal particularities, enables us to examine how we as a culture view our scientific past, present, and future in ways few other experiences can compare. iii Acknowledgments I would like to sincerely thank my advisor, Dr. Rebecca Rovit, for her continued generosity, support, and sharp critical eye. Having worked with her for many years, I am grateful not only for her thoughtful and exceptionally helpful guidance on my dissertation, but for her tutelage in my time throughout graduate school. Years ago her class was the first class I attended as a potential student, and years later, I find her ideas to be just as informative and intelligent. I am a better writer and scholar because of the careful thought she has dedicated to my education and writing. To my committee members, I am deeply appreciative of the time and effort you have put into serving on my committee. To Dr. Mechele Leon, Dr. John Gronbeck-Tedesco, Dr. Iris Smith Fischer, and Dr. Philip Baringer, I am humbled to share my work with you yet again. I have spent many nights writing and editing, accepting I could not anticipate what such great minds would point out that would never occur to me. This dissertation and my scholarship are better for your generosity, teaching, and wisdom. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Dr. Nicole Hodges Persley and Dr. Jane Barnette for shepherding this last phase for me, as I greatly appreciate it. To all of the University of Kansas professors and faculty I was fortunate to be taught by or work with, I owe my deepest thanks. To my fellow graduate students in the Department of Theatre from past, present, and future, you are the reason I came to KU and the reason I finished my Ph.D. at KU. The graduate students I have found myself in company with are brilliant, talented artists, and overall some of the kindest, most supportive people you could wish for during such a life experience. Know that I am proud to have earned my education with you and to call you my friends—particularly Rachel Blackburn, Amanda Boyle, Alison Christy, Scott Knowles, and Danny Devlin—who have been lifelines more times than I can count. iv I have spent this last phase of my dissertation working in a completely unrelated profession, but I have stumbled across people who have been nothing short of astoundingly supportive. They have cheered me on, been patient when I have come in to the office exhausted from a night of writing, and have asked me often about my defense in hopes of celebrating this milestone for me. To Laura, Jenny, and Bill especially—for giving a theatre Ph.D. candidate an opportunity and telling her she has many talents—I am forever grateful. To my family, I cannot express my thanks in these few words. You have shaped me to be the type of person who would spend this many years in school, wanting to learn everything I could. To Mom and Dad, thank you will never be sufficient to express all you have done for me in this life and on this graduate school journey. To Justin and Ariela—you have offered me so much guidance as professors and endless support in navigating these waters of higher education. To Natalie and Duane, your patience and support—particularly in this past year—have been continually generous. I love you all. To my four young nieces who give me tremendous joy—Anabel, Simone, Felicity, and Lorelei—that you exist means I will everyday dream, hope, write about, and fight for a world that is better and that continues to be so. If this dissertation has instilled anything in me, it is that the future needs to be a place where rationality, intelligence, and passion are not only essential but highly valued. Finally, to all of the many people who have dotted my past in school, theatre, and in life that gave me a moment to think, to aspire for more, or to push ahead, I am grateful for you as well. One cannot write a dissertation about time and phenomenology and not realize there are many moments of life that might not be remembered or go unrecognized, but that greatly mattered nonetheless. v Table of Contents ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION: The Times When Science and Theatre Meet ........................................ 1 CHAPTER ONE SECTION ONE: An Overview of Time ................................................................... 35 SECTION TWO: Phenomenology, Time, and the Body .......................................... 54 CHAPTER TWO SECTION ONE: How Culture, Time, and Science Intersect .................................... 96 SECTION TWO: Contemporary Science Plays and Time: The Possibilities Never Before Possible .......................................................................................................... 109 CHAPTER THREE SECTION ONE: Tensed Time and The Atomic Bomb ............................................ 165 SECTION TWO: The Atomic Bomb: A Past that Persists ....................................... 175 CHAPTER FOUR SECTION ONE: Presentism and Climate Change: A Theory of Time Convenience ............................................................................................................. 223 SECTION TWO: Climate Change on Stage: A Future of Present Concern ............ 233 CONCLUSION: Culture Transformations ............................................................................ 287 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................. 291 APPENDIX: IMAGES .......................................................................................................... 313 vi Introduction: The Times When Theatre and Science Meet “For all that science has contributed to our lives in the past half century, it hasn’t yet universally changed the way we think. And it won’t unless we understand and address why.”1 --Adam Bly, Science is Culture At a glance it is hard to discern how greatly science has affected and influenced our culture in the past hundred years, or if it has changed the way we think, as Adam Bly suggests. In considering such thoughts, this dissertation is an investigation of science plays, specifically examining the various ways in which science plays utilize time in their narrative and structure. I argue that theatre, because of its own phenomenological and temporal particularities, enables us to envision how we as a culture view science as part of our past, present, and future in ways few other experiences can equal. To do so, in this dissertation I establish parameters of time theory, primarily as time is understood through phenomenology, and closely examine three groups of science plays—contemporary plays where time is integral to the story, plays about the atomic bomb, and plays about climate change.