New Seminar Series Examines How Science and Theatre Interact
The Theatre of Science Seminar Series is in full swing, and attendees are coming to the University of Toronto Mississauga from across disciplines, campuses – and even generations – to explore some of the many modes in which the sciences and theatre interact.
Organized by UTM professors Martin Revermann (Historical Studies) and Madeleine Mant (Anthropology), the series is made possible with funding from the UTM/JHI Annual Seminar, which was developed in partnership between the Jackman Humanities Institute (JHI) and the Office of the Vice-Principal, Research and Innovation (OVPRI).
The program is designed to bring experts and community members to U of T’s west campus, and to inspire collaboration between UTM’s diverse researchers. Previous recipients include Seminar leaders from Language Studies, Political Science, Visual Studies, and English & Drama.
This the second iteration for Revermann; he co-led a highly successful Seminar in 2019-20 that has since morphed into the UTM Annual Classics Seminar (UTMACS), which brings in speakers from all over the world.
The “Theatre of Science” may sound familiar. Revermann, who specializes in classical civilization and theatre studies, received the Desmond Morton Research Excellence Award in 2021 and delivered his lecture “The Sciences Need the Theatre!” at the celebration.
Revermann’s argument is that theatre and science have long interacted and, in view of many pressing 21st-century challenges, need to interact – now more than ever. This premise led to his interdisciplinary collaboration with Mant, a popular social scientist whose work on public health, medical history, and infectious diseases involves both history and hard science. Mant uses role play in her teaching and has a long-standing interest in bringing the pedagogy of theatre and play into the classroom.
Theatre of Science events are held in the Collaborative Digital Research Space (CDRS) on select Fridays across the 2024-25 academic year. The series includes lectures, panel discussions, workshops, and performances, and the light-filled facility was chosen for the way it can be quickly reconfigured throughout the sessions.
Modules cover topics including the relationship between theatre and the environment, Indigenous science, and mobility and disability, key areas of contact between theatre and math, medicine, physics, and more. Each of the eight seminars is individually conceived, but they build upon one another and attendees can attend all eight or join any time. Student participation is built into the series at every level, and the organizers have designed flexible seminars that encourage cross-disciplinary, transdisciplinary discussion.
This made me think a lot about fraught or difficult subjects, and how they can be brought to the forefront in a way that is emotional and personal, but also academic. The activeness in the room, the excitement, and people sticking around for a long time afterwards to chat about it and discuss – you’ve stayed for a seminar and now you want to stay longer, because you’re excited by the ideas.
And I thought, this is it. This is what school should be. We’re doing it.” — Madeleine Mant
The series kicked off with a two-part exploration of “Theatre and the Environment.” Guests enjoyed a distinguished lecture by Canadian playwright and climate activist Chantal Bilodeau, who brought six comedic scripts on climate change. Attendees then read the short vignettes. For Revermann, watching the groups interact was profoundly moving.
“We had one group where you had a 20-something drama student, a 20-something science student, a 30-something postdoctoral fellow, and a 70-something alumna all reading this script,” he says.
“I felt, this is what university should be, what a university is capable of doing, bringing these people together. It felt right.”
In October, Dawn King’s dystopian courtroom drama, The Trials took centre stage. Professor Monika Havelka from the Department of Geography, Geomatics and Environment put the play in perspective, and the team welcomed the director, collaborators, and the cast of the U of T production of The Trials, which took place at the Hart House Theatre in March 2024.
“We performed a scene where the jurors are discussing the case, and then we sat in a group and became that jury and had to decide whether the defendants should be put to death.” says Mant. “It was so fraught, and I could see people’s cheeks getting red.”
“It made me think a lot about fraught or difficult subjects, and how they can be brought to the forefront in a way that is emotional and personal, but also academic. And I thought, this is it. This is what school should be. We’re doing it.”
In November, a two-part seminar on Medicine and Theatre took place. In the first part, participants read Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning tragedy, W;t, and U of T scholars Linda Hutcheon (Comparative Literature) and Michael Hutcheon (Medicine) spoke about the play.
The diversity of ages is enormously enriching. We had six groups reading these very short vignettes, and one group included a 20-something drama student, a 20-something science student, a 30-something postdoctoral fellow, and a 70-something alumna all reading a script.
I felt, this is what university should be, what a university is capable of doing, bringing these people together. I found it profoundly moving. — Martin Revermann
Looking ahead, Revermann and Mant will be expanding scope with topics like mobility and disability, physics, math, and Indigenous science.
“I think Winter 2025 will appeal to different audiences than we’ve seen so far,” Mant predicts. “We’ll listen to some opera, watch some filmed and live performances, and listen to audio performances.”
With projects including edited collections, lectures, and pedagogical workshops already planned after the Theatre of Science wraps, it’s clear the duo is finding ample inspiration to expand – and their work is connecting with more scholars in the field. Revermann has been contacted by faculty from other universities who are interested in the series and in participating in what's to come.
It’s the kind of collaboration the program intends to foster.
“The UTM/JHI Seminar a powerful and flexible funding tool that can be used to build friendships, scholarly collaborations, public partnerships, and enhanced disciplinary power,” says Kimberley Yates, the JHI’s Associate Director. She wrote about her experience moderating a panel of four Seminar leaders at CDRS last year.
“It offers a generous and flexible structure for leaders in the humanities and qualitative social sciences to design programming that meets their needs as researchers, sparking lively conversations, and often resulting in continuing research in the years that follow.”
Dr. Yates credits UTM’s outstanding facilities, staff, and technical support as one reason that the Seminars are so successful.
The Seminars have benefitted every leader who has undertaken to run one: promotions, larger research endeavours, and an impressive number of publications have been generated. The UTM/JHI Seminar is a powerful and flexible funding tool that can be used to build friendships, scholarly collaborations, public partnerships, and enhanced disciplinary power.” — Kimberley Yates, Associate Director, JHI
Daniel Wright, UTM’s Associate Vice-Principal, Research and Innovation, agrees.
“The UTM/JHI Seminar is such an exciting opportunity for humanities and social science researchers at UTM and across the tri-campus,” he says. “And the Collaborative Digital Research Space is the perfect venue. CDRS is the only core facility across our three campuses dedicated to supporting research in these fields; it’s ideal for this kind of interdisciplinary collaboration, with the capacity to host everything from large lectures to intimate workshops.”
Although the Theatre of Science is large and interdisciplinary, researchers are welcome to produce Seminars of all sizes.
“A Seminar can be vast and ambitious, or small and discipline focused; inward or outward looking,” Yates explains. “It's clear that they've benefitted every leader who has undertaken to run one: promotions, larger research endeavours, and an impressive number of publications have been generated.”
Revermann notes the importance of establishing a core group who can commit to attending, and recommends that researchers who are considering collaboration be aligned in their pedagogical values. Revermann and Mant spoke in depth about their respective approaches to teaching and attended each others’ classes.
“What drew me to working with Martin was his insistence on student-led work, and on encouraging undergraduate and graduate students to be part of the creative process,” says Mant, who quickly recognized that they shared the same approach to teaching.
Revermann adds, “We both strongly believe in personal intellectual ownership.” They agreed that a central goal would be to empower students in the series. “This has to be a collaborative process – you need shared interests and values.”
He strongly encourages other faculty, both teaching and research stream, to apply to the program.
“The support you receive is excellent. And you have a lot of freedom for creativity and experimentation,” he says. “These seminars are about quality and not quantity – so, I say, be entrepreneurial and take risks.”
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The Theatre of Science returns to UTM later this month! “Mobility/Disability and Performance” is coming up on Friday, January 17, 2025, when they’ll welcome Toronto’s Disability Collective and Professor Cassandra Hartblay from UTSC’s Department of Anthropology as guests. Learn more and register.
Join them this term for three other exciting discussions:
- February 7: Oppenheimer – Theatricalizing Physics and Physicists
- March 7: Mathematics: David Auburn’s Proof – Turning Math into Theatre
- March 21: Indigenous Science
