For Immediate Release: March 14, 2007
Media Contact: Megan Wendell, for The Wilma Theater, 215.242.6393

The Wilma Theater is thrilled to present the American Premiere of a new translation of the Bertolt Brecht masterpiece The Life of Galileo, translated by Tony® and Olivier award-winning playwright David Edgar (The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby) and directed by Wilma Co-Artistic Director Blanka Zizka. The epic story of Galileo comes to life in an ambitious production, with a cast of 23 actors, which runs from April 11th through May 13th. The Galileo Project, a panel discussion series featuring an impressive group of panelists will also be presented in conjunction with the production.

The lead cast of 13 that includes many Philadelphia favorites, plus an additional 10 actors cast as “The People,” features Los Angeles-based veteran actor John Campion as Galileo, Scott Barrow, Zac Chew, Grace Gonglewski, Scott Greer, David Howey, Anthony Lawton, Ross Manson, Dante Mignucci, Peter Pryor, Sarah Sanford, Greg Wood, and John Zak.

In a simple study in Padua, Galileo raises his telescope to the skies and transforms hypothesis into proof that Earth is not the center of the universe. Word of his discovery radiates from the streets of Venice to the palaces of Rome, shaking the age-old core beliefs of his society. Galileo is ultimately brought before the Holy Inquisition and forced to make a decision that fuels passionate debates over science, politics, religion, and ethics – even to this day.

The Life of Galileo begins previews April 11th, opens on April 18th and closes on May 13th. Tickets are $35 to $50, with $10 student rush tickets available the day of performances and half-price general rush tickets available 30 minutes before performances, both subject to availability. Tickets can be purchased at The Wilma Theater Box Office (265 South Broad Street), online at www.wilmatheater.org or by phone at (215) 546-7824. [The Life of Galileo Fact Sheet is available upon request and at www.canarypromo.com/wilma.]

Blanka Zizka’s re-imagining of this classic relates to Brecht’s time by setting Galileo’s story of the search for truth and the struggle between science, ethics, and religion in the context of the early 20th century. Brecht wrote The Life of Galileo for a “new age,” brimming with utopian excitement of better conditions for the working class, a parallel to Galileo’s belief in an age of human reason and new science.

“When deciding to use costumes that suggest the early 20th century,” Zizka says, “I wanted to heighten the conflict between the new and the old; between the need to doubt and change and the effort to retain power and the status quo, which is explored in the play through the lens of Marxist ideology. Brecht’s Galileo believes that science’s purpose is to relieve suffering and to support a collective goal to make the world a better place – a notion Galileo, according to Brecht, later betrays by his recantation. I want to dramatize this on stage by creating a milieu in which Brecht’s observations about human, socioeconomic and political dynamics resonate for our audiences with renewed urgency and immediacy.”

David Edgar, a British playwright whose original work has been strongly influenced by Brecht, has written a translation that looks at the play from a contemporary perspective in which political, religious, and ethical debates rage over evolution, stem cell research, artificial intelligence, and global warming, and when science and technology affect our everyday lives in countless ways.
In 2005 Edgar wrote in The Guardian, “…the character of my translation is informed, not by the thesaurus, but by the times.” Edgar continues, “Brecht’s Galileo – a play about a man who revolutionized science by the application of reason, but recanted his beliefs to save his skin – changes its meaning through the three versions Brecht worked on, and has continued to mutate ever since.”

Although not a biographical play, of either Galileo or Brecht, many view The Life of Galileo as Brecht’s most autobiographical work, and he continued to revise the play over the course of many years in response to world events. After the use of the atomic bomb, Galileo’s final speech was rewritten to address the responsibility of scientists, saying, “I hold it that the only proper goal of science is to relieve the miseries of human existence. If scientists, cut off from the masses by selfish rulers, seek merely to heap up knowledge for its own sake, then science is a cripple and your new inventions will merely bring about new drudgeries.”

As Galileo’s ideas were a target for the church, Brecht’s plays became a target for the Nazis. Fleeing Germany the day after the German Parliament burned and fearing he was on a death list, Brecht remained in exile for nearly 15 years. He returned to a Communist state that required him to publicly support its violent suppression of a workers’ revolt in order to hold on to his theater. Just as Brecht compromised his ideals for survival, so did Galileo eventually recant his own scientific findings and belief in truth and reason to avoid torture and to hold onto his worldly comforts, but ultimately to live and eventually finish a major work on mechanics and falling bodies, the Discorsi.

The set designed by Mimi Lien, who won a 2005 Barrymore Award for her set design for the Wilma’s Outrage, places the characters before a scaffold on which an undefined future is being constructed by a group of workers.

The 1920s-style costumes are designed by Janus Stefanowicz, who has worked on numerous Wilma productions over the past 10 years, winning two Barrymore Awards for her work with the company. Lighting is designed by Tyler Micoleau, with sound design and composition by Troy Robert Herion, and mask and puppet design by Aaron Cromie.

The Galileo Project, a 4-week series of Monday panel discussions, gives audiences an opportunity to explore the relevance of Brecht’s classic play in today’s society. Panelists include Chief Astronomer of the Franklin Institute, Derrick Pitts; Research Director in anthropology at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris, France, Scott Atran; American stage director Richard Foreman; evolutionary psychologist and biologist and Harvard College professor Marc Hauser; and author and contributor to The New York Times, NPR, and The Washington Post, Arthur L. Caplan. Additionally, guest speaker George V. Coyne, S.J., Director Emeritus of the Vatican Observatory, will hold a post-show discussion on April 17th. Panel discussion topics include “Science and Culture from Galileo to the 21st Century”; “Science, Ethics, and Politics”; “Dangerous Ideas”; and “Science and Religion in the 21st Century”. Admission to panel discussions is free to all Galileo ticket-holders and $10 for others. [A full panel schedule and details are available upon request and at www.canarypromo.com/wilma]

The Galileo Project is sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation and the Pennsylvania Humanities Council. The Jewish Exponent and WHYY are Media Sponsors. Coventry First and The Sporting Club at The Bellevue are 2006-2007 Season Sponsors. The Life of Galileo is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts and from the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative, a program of the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by The University of the Arts. Additional generous support has been provided by Honorary Producers Daniel Berger and Michael J. Finney.

To request more information, photos, and interviews, please contact: Megan Wendell, Canary Promotion + Design, (215) 242-6393, megan@canarypromo.com

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