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(***EXTENDED THROUGH SEPTEMBER 27***)
Underground Railway Theater
presents MIT alumna Gioia De Cari's Truth Values, September 10-20
For Immediate Release: July 13,
2009
Contact:
Kathy Rochefort
Central Square Theater
Email kathyrochefort@mindspring.com
(617) 247-1299
Cambridge, MA... Are women inherently inferior to men in
math and science, as Lawrence Summers, then President of Harvard,
suggested several years ago? MIT alumna, writer/performer and recovering
mathematician,
Gioia
De Cari (SM 1988) offers a woman's perspective on this question in TRUTH
VALUES: ONE GIRL'S ROMP THROUGH MIT'S MALE MATH MAZE, an
autobiographical solo show coming to Cambridge's Central Square Theater
in a limited engagement this fall. Presented by Underground Railway
Theater and directed by Miriam Eusebio,
TRUTH VALUES plays Thursday, September 10 through Sunday, September
20; press night is set for Friday, September 11 at 8pm. Selected performances
will be followed by conversations with artists and scientists from
MIT and Harvard.
On Friday, September 11, Nancy Hopkins, Professor of Biology
at MIT, will lead a talk-back following the show. From 1995 to 1997,
Hopkins chaired MIT's first Committee on Women Faculty in the School
of Science. The committee's findings, published in 1999, led to reforms
at MIT as well as to an examination of gender equity issues at other
academic institutions. Hopkins later stirred a controversy in 2005
when she walked out on then-president of Harvard Lawrence Summers'
statement that innate differences between men and women might be a reason
fewer women succeed in science and math careers.
In TRUTH VALUES: ONE GIRL'S ROMP THROUGH MIT'S MALE MATH MAZE ,
Gioia De Cari shares her experiences in the exotic boys club of
higher mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
While making the most of the comic absurdity of being pawed by nerds,
being asked to serve cookies at a seminar, and retaliating with fashion
experiments, TRUTH
VALUES is also
a serious exploration of the world of elite mathematics and the role
of women in science.
TRUTH VALUES will be featured in the New York International
Fringe Festival in August 2009. Gioia's first solo play, The 9th Envelope,
which she wrote and performed, received a rave in the Off-Off-Broadway
Review: "Dazzling performance...Captivating." TRUTH
VALUES, her second solo, recently garnered a Puffin Foundation grant.
Development of the show has been in good hands, having originated
with the legendary coach Wynn Handman, who discovered and coached John
Leguizamo and many other stellar monologuists, as well as solo show
expert Matt Hoverman, a Drama Desk nominee, and a collaborator on the
award winning solo show, "Bridezilla
Strikes Back." Director Miriam
Eusebio, a member of Lincoln Center Directors Lab, has won two OOBR
awards for excellence.
TRUTH VALUES plays Thursday, September 10 through Sunday, September
20 at the Central Square Theater, 450 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge.
Performances are Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm
and Sundays at 2pm. Tickets are priced at $35; $25 for seniors; and
$20 for students with a valid ID; student rush tickets can be purchased
the day of the show for $15 in person at the box office or by calling
(617) 576-9278 x213. Tickets can be purchased by calling (866) 811-4111,
online at www.centralsquaretheater.org ,
or at the Central Square Theater box office. For box office hours,
group discounts, and more info call (617) 576-9278 x213.
ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCES:
- Wed 9/23, 7:30pm
- Thu 9/24, 7:30pm
- Fri 9/25, 8:00pm
- Sat 9/26, 8:00pm
- Sun 9/27, 2:00pm
About Central Square Theater
At Central Square Theater, a new state-of-the-art community-based theatrical arts facility, audiences find, under one roof, the distinctive repertoires of two award-winning non-profit professional companies, The Nora and Underground Railway Theater, as well as collaborative projects drawing on their creative synergy. Schools, families and community groups benefit from outreach and educational programs, and local businesses enjoy increased foot traffic and new customers. As the first permanent home for these two theater companies, Central Square Theater is a vibrant hub of theatrical, educational and social activity, where artists and audiences come together to create theater vital to our communities.
The seeds of the Central Square Theater (CST) were sown in 1997, with a partnership between The Nora Theatre Company,
Underground Railway Theater, and the Community Development Department of the City of Cambridge, which brokered a
relationship with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). MIT constructed the building and provided an
extraordinary 20-year lease commitment at under $5 per square foot -- a contribution valued at more than $2 million
over time. For more information, please call (617) 576-9278 or go to
www.centralsquaretheater.org
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