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Poppy Northcutt SPOTLIGHT ON SCIENCE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 Cloudgate Theatre. “But what I was struck by in researching Gettler was how extremely rigorous he was. … He did immense work across many, many, many toxins and poisons and substances. I focused on two of his major accomplishments: his developing testing for cyanide, [and] his work essentially processing and dealing with the effects of Prohibition.” Bernfield, who describes herself as a “very rhythmic” writer, says she was drawn to the plosives and interesting sounds in math’s vocabulary while researching “Sizzle, Sizzle, Fly.” She laughs while recalling how validated she felt when her Caltech adviser said she got the numbers and their terminology right. Then she asked him about thinking. “Dramatizing thinking onstage is a bit of a conundrum, but I find thinking really fascinating as an activity,” she explains. “He described two different ways of thinking: one is figuring out how to solve a problem, which is ‘looking at blue sky’ thinking; and the other is actually solving the problem using what you figured out.” It’s pertinent because, while the blonde, twenty-something Poppy Northcutt’s bold fashion sense grabbed eyeballs and press attention, it was her mathematical brilliance that earned her a position alongside career NASA engineers; she subsequently helped design the trajectory for Apollo 8 and also helped land Apollo 13. Making that intellectual process engaging without a filmmaker’s cinematic tools, and without fetishizing Northcutt’s femininity, goes to the play’s core. “The amazing thing I learned about NASA, the reason it worked, was its organizational structure,” Bernfield explains. “These teams were incredibly collaborative, and then they were pitted against each other to see who was gonna come up with stuff first. They had so little time, so if you could do it, you were on the team. … There was a lot of pressure on her, but it wasn’t what we expect. She could do the work and they needed her.” Recent films like “Hidden Figures” have celebrated the many women involved in early computer research and coding. Later, that cultural condition shifted, and fewer women became engineers. Bernfield, who is also artistic director of a woman-focused theater company (New Georges), wants people to ask why. “Structures didn’t really exist at NASA to get in the way of people advancing in this field; they just needed people who could get the work done,” Bernfield observes. “In the meantime we’ve actually put together more structures that have kept people out. That’s a really interesting lesson.” Armstrong, Bernfield and Idaszak all touch on science’s value, and questions of privilege. Idaszak hopes audiences will discuss the appropriate role for artists, journalists, policy makers and scientists in advocating for “robust institutional change,” and the varied means by which “vulnerable groups” can be harmed and also helped by science. “Who is allowed to be considered a scientist?” Armstrong asks rhetorically. “So frequently our image of the scientist is a balding old white guy in a lab coat. Nothing against balding old white guys in lab coats — they’re some of my favorite people — but that’s not the only type of person who gets to be a scientist. Mary Anning didn’t fit into images of who a scientist was [in the 1800s], and still doesn’t fit into images of what a scientist is today. Yet she was so influential. … Who are you if you are both the woman who has provided half of the fossils in the British Museum and you’re also the woman who is a small business owner, has this fossil shop down the street, and just hangs out with other working-class folks?” Anning died in 1847, after discovering fossils along England’s Jurassic coast that helped change prevailing beliefs about prehistoric life. At the time people were slowly coming to grips with anthropological and scientific discoveries, and Christian churches were a powerful presence in civic life. Today, on the other side of the Industrial Revolution and deep in the throes of the Information Age, religion and science are stereotyped as opposing forces. “Bones of the Sea” is logically set in the 19th century — as are several other Armstrong plays, because, he says, “so much of what we are as a society today and who we are today was set up then. “The way in which we talk about things like science and faith frequently grows out of things that happened in the 19th century. So if you really want to understand where we are now, you often have to see where we’ve come from.” ■ Mach 33: The Caltech-Pasadena Playhouse Festival of New Science-Driven Plays presents “Bones of the Sea” at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 9; “Sizzle, Sizzle, Fly” at 7 p.m. Friday, May 10; and “The Surest Poison” at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 11, at the Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena; $15 ($10 for Playhouse members and students). Tickets/info: (626) 356-7529. armstrongplays.com, susanbernfi eld. com, kristinidaszak.com, Pasadenaplayhouse.org 10 PASADENA WEEKLY | <strong>05.09.19</strong>
• LIFE • “KEEP YOUR FACE ALWAYS TOWARD THE SUNSHINE - AND SHADOWS WILL FALL BEHIND YOU."- WALT WHITMAN WHEN HEAT GROWS COLD ENJOY THE TIME YOU HAVE REMAINING WITH A MUCH YOUNGER LOVER BULLETIN BOARD NEWS AND NOTES FROM OUR COMMUNITY P. 13 P. 13 RESTAURANT REVIEW Tonkotsu Ramen dining &nitelife directory Pasadena Weekly’s Dining Directory is a paid advertisement and is provided as a service to our readers. To advertise in the Dining Directory, call (626) 584-1500. Average price per entree $ up to $10 $$ $11–15 $$$ $16-25 $$$$ $25+ BONNIE B’S SMOKIN BBQ 1280 N. Lake Ave., Pasadena, (626) 794-0132 bonniebssmokin.com $$ From Tulsa Oklahoma to Southern Cal. with a touch of New Orleans soul comes Bonnie B’s Bar B Que Heaven. Our 45-year-old traditional recipes are made with love. Try our new sweet pea’s double Fried burger made with our own sauces, soul bowl and homemade peach cobbler. Voted best BBQ & Soul food in Pasadena for our ribs, collard greens and Slim's Mac & Cheese. We are thankful and appreciate Pasadena. HiroNori 163 S. Lake Ave., Pasadena (626) 460-8594 hironoricraftramen.com Major Cards/ No Alcohol Granville 270 S. Lake Ave., Pasadena (626) 360-7633 807 Americana Way, Glendale (818) 550-0472 granvillecafe.com Major Cards/ Alcohol Served CAMERON’S SEAFOOD 1978 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena (626) 793-3474 Camerons4fish.com $$ Since 1984, Cameron’s Seafood has been serving its freshest seafood, and has become a landmark in Pasadena. Cameron’s brings the ocean home with their fresh catch being cooked over mesquite wood grills that burn all day long.Enjoy the very best Seafood, Steaks, Salad & Pasta! Voted Best Seafood in Pasadena Weekly for 27 years! Now you can order on-line: camerons4fish.com. Handled With Care GRANVILLE OFFERS A ROMANTIC TOUCH WHILE HIRONORI BRINGS A NEW APPROACH TO RAMEN BY MICHAEL SPRAGUE / PHOTOS BY DANNY LIAO April saw the opening of two must-try new restaurants — Granville and HiroNori Craft Ramen. Both sit between Colorado and Del Mar boulevards on South Lake Avenue and could make for one great day if you spread your visits out because at both places you are going to find a multitude of options. Granville is one of those uber-hip spots where the wait staff wears gingham dress shirts and the entire place is decorated straight out of a Pottery Barn catalog. You have seen places like Granville before — in any movie or TV show in which two beautiful actresses banter over dinner in a dark, amber lit bar with half-empty martini glasses. That is what Granville feels like. The bar area where I ate was all dark wood tables, leather seats and lit by a natural glow. If I were a single man, Granville CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 <strong>05.09.19</strong> | PASADENA WEEKLY 11
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