There is a successful alliance of science and theatre that has given the world beauty and perspective for centuries. Starting from the debate ignited by the milestone book of C.Percy Snow The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution, Kaye de Metz in her article Toward a Synthesis of Science and Theatre Arts, analyzes the relation between science and theatre through the centuries to show how it has positive effects on our culture by providing aesthetic satisfaction and educational resources and by influencing public policy.
Theatre today has entered the scientific institutions and it is used widely by scientists not only to explain scientific issues but also to meet the society’s needs where science could be of great help. As from different studies, science theatre has been already used in the developing countries as a vehicle of knowledge transfer and as an agent for changes in behavior to instal wealthy habits. We have used science theatre at INGV (Italy) to explains earthquakes, and the interior of the Earth to install a positive attitudes towards natural hazard in children of the primary school. While we have used a cutting-edge formula, the Eco-museum itineraries, with students of secondary school. By proposing itineraries, the Eco-museum is an open air museum that focuses on the identity of a place, is based on local participation and involves the whole cultural heritage. Our intent was to raise awareness of the geo-hazard in the Castelli Romani area, interested by volcanisms for thousands of years.
Science theatre has been also used in the form of satire to raise awareness on climate change in the U: The comedy of global warming, a comedy that had a companion website: Albertville. A research was conducted in consultation with the audience and the results published in Science Communication.
Other examples of using theatre in academic endeavor comes from the so-called participatory theatre. In one case was used for disseminating new agricultural knowledge among subsistence farmers in Timor Leste.
We have just given a few examples of how science theatre is used to spread knowledge about the Earth and the problems related to her sustainability. Here follow some references.
DeMetz, K. (2007). Toward a Synthesis of Science and Theatre Arts, Forum on Public Policy Online, 11-13. ISSN 1938-9809.
Walker, G. J. (2010, December). Science theatre: A novel tool for HIV intervention in South Africa. Proceedings 11th International Conference on Public Communication of Science and Technology, New Delhi, India.
Lanza, T., Crescimbene, M., La Longa, F. and D’Addezio G. (2014) Bringing Earth Into the Scene of a Primary School: A Science Theatre Experience in Science Communication Vol 36(1) 131 –139
La Longa F ., Lanza T . and Crescimbene M. (2013) Ecomuseum itineraries, a path of rediscovery and enhancement of the territory EGU 2013 Poster Session http://www.earthprints.org/bitstream/2122/8703/1/ Posterecomuseo_EGU2013 .pdf
Inger-Lise Kalviknes Bore & Grace Reid (2014) Laughing in the Face of Climate Change? Satire as a Device for Engaging Audiences in Public Debate Science Communication Vol 36(4) 454-478
Chris McGillion & Merryn McKinnon (2014) Participatory Theater as a Science Communication Tool in Timor Leste Science Communication Vol. 36 (4) 502-510
percorsi di narrativa nelle science della terra (in Italian)