Director: Jackson Gay
Jackson's recent work: Natural History by Collin Van Son (2023 O’Neill Festival); Christina Anderson's the ripple, the wave that carried me home (world premiere co-production Berkeley Rep and Goodman Theatre); Endless Loop of Gratitude with New Neighborhood www.newneighborhood.net (New Ohio's Ice Factory); Lucy Thurber's Transfers for Audible, MCC, and New York Stage & Film; These Paper Bullets! by Rolin Jones with music by Billie Joe Armstrong (New Neighborhood, Atlantic, Geffen, Yale Rep). Upcoming: Workshop of The Yellow Wallpaper 2.0 2020 by Jennifer Maisel (Lucille Lortel); Into the Breeches by George Brant (Gulfshore Playhouse); the new musical Hard Road (book by Willy Holtzman, music by Marty Dodson and David Spangler). MFA Directing Yale School of Drama. www.jacksongracegay.com
Cast
Dan Domingues(Jake in Echo, Geoffery Hinton in Prometheus) most recently appeared in Tales from the Gutenberg Bible with 80’s and 90’s movie star Steve Guttenberg at George Street Playhouse and Bay Street Theater. In New York Dan has worked at New World Stages in A Sherlock Carol, The Public Theater (The Tempest, Wild Goose Dreams, Fidelis, The Great Immensity), 59E59, Rattlestick, Abingdon, BAM, INTAR, Atlantic, Cherry Lane. Regional work includes leading roles at Barrington Stage, the Alley Theatre, Arena Stage, the Guthrie, the Goodman, New York Stage & Film, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Pioneer Theatre, Long Wharf, and Portland Stage. Film & TV includes Zoo, Run All Night, Future ’38, In Stereo, “New Amsterdam,” “West 40s,” “Blacklist,” “Royal Pains,” and “Law & Order.” Dan holds an MFA from the A.R.T. Institute at Harvard, is an associate artist with The Civilians and co-host of the movie podcast Hot Date.
April Matthis (Henny in The Penguin Play, Kim in Echo, Contemporary Scientist in Prometheus) is an Obie Award-winning actor. Broadway: August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson. Off-Broadway: Primary Trust, Toni Stone (Roundabout), Help (The Shed); Fairview, LEAR (Soho Rep); Signature Plays—Funnyhouse of a Negro (Signature Theatre); IOWA, Antlia Pneumatica (Playwrights Horizons). With Elevator Repair Service: Baldwin/Buckley at Cambridge (Festival d’Avignon), The Sound & the Fury; Fondly, Collette Richland (NYTW); Measure for Measure (The Public); Everyone’s Fine with Virginia Woolf (Abrons Art Center); GATZ (Perth Festival). TV/Film Credits include: Life & Beth (Hulu), “The Blacklist” (NBC), “Evil”, “The Good Fight” (Paramount Plus), “New Amsterdam” (NBC), Black Card, Fugitive Dreams, Ramona at Midlife.
Sam Morales(Person in Chair in Echo, Elizabeth in Prometheus) is NYC-based & is a proud member of both AEA & SAG-AFTRA.Off-Broadway:Medea(starring Rose Byrne & Bobby Cannavale, BAM);The Tempest(The Public);Pericles(dir. Trevor Nunn), The Skin of Our Teeth, Measure for Measure(TFANA);The Courage to Right A Woman's Wrongs, Paradise Lost, Volpone(Red Bull Theater).Regional:The Mousetrap(Hartford Stage);The House on the Hill(World Premiere, CATF);Woman in Mind(Delaware REP);Teach,Last Night in Inwood(Gulfshore Playhouse).Television:Dead Ringersstarring Rachel Weisz;Law & Order: SVU;FBI;Blue Bloods.She's represented by DGRW. Sam is also on faculty at AMDA & NYU where she teaches Acting for TV/Film among other classes. @_sam_morales_ |officialsammorales.com.
Robert Emmet Lunney(Paul in The Penguin Play, Monster in Prometheus) is and actor and playwright) Broadway highlights:A Delicate Balance,Dancing at Lughnasa, Born Yesterday,The Graduate,andMauritius.Off Broadway and Regional: Howard Barker'sGary; The Thief (World Premier/PTP/NYC); Mr. Barker'sVictory(PTP/NYC); Pinter’sThe Homecoming;To Kill A Mockingbird(Ford's Theater/D.C.); Ira Levin’sDeathtrap; and Tony Kushner'sAngels In America.Television: Fox’sThe Exorcist(iHorror Award nominee: Best Actor),WeCrashed(Apple TV+),Boardwalk Empire(HBO),The Blacklist,Blindspot, Elementary,andLaw & Order. Robert is a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Playwrights Unit. His writing includesFamous Blue Raincoat,For Nina,An Occurrence at Yankee Stadium,Cannon Beach, andWhen You Wake(screenplay).
www.robertemmetlunney.com
Johnny M. Wu (Mario in Echo, Victor in Prometheus) recently finished a run ofTheHeadlandsat A.C.T. Inthetheater, Johnny has worked on Broadway, at Lincoln Center Theater, Guthrie Theater, Goodman Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, A.C.T. and Berkeley Rep. Johnny is currently filming Marvel'sDaredevil: Born Againfor Disney+. He has recurred onChicago Med,TheGoodWife, Law and Order: SVU,and24and has guest starred onTheOther Two, Manifest, New Amsterdam, High Maintenance,TheCode, Blue Bloods, Kevin Can Wait, Covert Affairs, Person of Interest, and Cold Case.Films includeA Journal for Jordan(dir. Denzel Washington),Tracers, Hold FastGoodLuck, Limitless.Johnny earned his MFA from UC San Diego and is on faculty at Yale School of Drama. http://johnnywu.tv/
Panel Discussion featuring Playwrights and Scientists
Ken Weitzman
Co-Moderator
Principal Investigator
Program Originator
Associate Professor, Department of English
Ken is a playwright and educator whose work has been produced and developed at theatres across the country and internationally. Ken’s most recent productions include his solo play, Fire in the Garden (starring Sean Astin). Previous productions include, among others, Halftime with Don (National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere), The Catch (The Denver Center Theatre Company), The As If Body Loop (Humana Festival of New American Plays), seal boy (American Academy of Dramatic Arts), Arrangements (Atlantic Theatre Company, Weissberger Award). His ensemble-created work includes Hominid, based on the work of primatologist Frans de Waal (Out of Hand Theatre/Theatre Emory/Oerol Festival Netherlands). Ken is a faculty member here at Stony Brook in the English Department and is affiliated with Theatre Arts, Writing and Rhetoric, and the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science. Ken conceived of and first produced Science on Stage in 2020, and was one of the three playwrights, collaborating with SBU researcher, Alexander Orlov. kenweitzman.com
J.D. Allen
Co-Moderator
News Director, WSHU Public Radio
Instructor, School of Communication & Journalism
J.D.is an adjunct instructor at the School of Communication and Journalism and the managing editor of WSHU, a Long Island NPR affiliate station.
J.D. won an Eric and Wendy Schmidt Excellence in Science Communication Award from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine for the first season of his WSHU-produced podcast, Higher Ground. The award was in the Best Science Reporting in the Local/Regional Level category. Formerly WAMC's Berkshire bureau chief, J.D. has reported for public radio stations, including bylines with WSHU, WNYC, WBUR, WNPR and NPR. J.D. has reported on healthcare and small businesses for "Long Island Business News" and real estate and land-use for The Express News Group newspapers. He holds a B.A. in journalism and sociology from Stony Brook and an M.S. in communications from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University.
Nilanjan Chakraborty
Stony Brook Scientist
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Inspiration forPrometheus or Modern Frankenstein
Greg Kotis
Playwright
Prometheus or Modern Frankenstein
Heather J. Lynch
Stony Brook Scientist
Institute for Advanced Computational Science Endowed Chair for Ecology & Evolution
Inspiration forThe Penguin Play
Michelle Lowe
Playwright
The Penguin Play
Suparna Rajaram
Stony Brook Scientist
SUNY Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science
Inspiration forEcho
Rogelio Martinez
Playwright
Echo
