ESTOOLS - Advances with human embryonic stem cells - Theatre premiere: Staminalia - A Dream and a Trial
Theatre premiere: Staminalia - A Dream and a Trial
Workshop 3: Ethical Aspects of Stem Cell Research in Europe
19-20 April 2007, Berlin
Staminalia goes beyond the science of stem cells and tries to represent the complex palette of emotion and human feelings of a scientist, depicting the inextricable link between science, philosophy, politics and aspects of every day social life that characterise stem cell research.
Performance: 7.30pm Thursday 27 May
Auditorio 2, Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon
Free entry
Staminalia is the story of a stem cell researcher and a mother who sees ethical and political limitations impacting not only into her scientific freedom, but also into her private life, where she is challenged by the conflicting ideas of a "theocon" teenage daughter.
Valeria Patera (www.valeriapatera.it), writer and theatre director, is the president of TIMOS Teatro eventi - an Italian group that promotes creative dialogue between Art & Science, pursuing a new model of representation that captures voices and issues of contemporary life across art and science. Staminalia is Patera's latest step of a "science-in-theatre" series that has already featured plays about Alan Turing, Max Perutz, and Charles Darwin.
This special 30-minute production was especially created for the ESTOOLS symposium in Lisbon, as a joint effort of EU networks toward public outreach.
The play is inspired by the book "Staminalia. Le cellule etiche e i nemici della ricerca" by Armando Massarenti, (Nature 456, 444-445, 2008) and this premiere performance in Lisbon was reviewed in Nature and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
The intense creation comprises a performance by two actresses and two dancers that integrates with an orginal video projection and soundtrack. The video projection incorporates 20 images from the ESTOOLS Photo-Exhibition Smile of a Stem Cell that was created by ESTOOLS scientists (see the article in Stem Cell Research Art and Human Embryonic Stem Cells: from the bench to the high street).
STAMINALIA is the first step - the theatre - of two new linked activities about "SCIENCE ON STAGE". The second step in the development of Science on Stage is the film, BEHIND THE SCIENCE - a videoproject focusing on what happens behind the scenes of a complex international scientific endeavour. DOWNLOAD A CARTOLINO (7MB pdf) about both steps in "Science on Stage".
STAMINALIA: VIEW THE THEATRE TRAILER (3'10") - click the image (courtesy Christian Unger) below, taken during the preamble to the 27 May 2010 performance:
The stills below are from the 27 May 2010 performance, all rights reserved © Davide d'Ortona - see his website www.davidedortona.com which has many more photos:
Below, left to right: the creators Armando Massarenti, Valeria Patera and Elena Cattaneo; the on-stage actresses and dancers Johan King Silverhult, Anna Elena Pepe, Cariddi Nardulli, Patrick King:
Below, left to right, in the control room: Francesca Rotolo (production), Francesco Rampichini (music), Umberto Ravera (film sound), Gulbenkian Foundation technician, Valeria Spera (video creation), Trui Malten (lighting), Gulbenkian Foundation technician:
The Lisbon performance was supported by:
Workshop 3: Ethical Aspects of Stem Cell Research in Europe
19-20 April 2007, Berlin
The ESTOOLS project completed its 4 years of activity. This website remains online as a reference archive.
For hESC and iPSC news and information go to: www.eurostemcell.org
