Humanity Needs Dreamers: A Visit With Marie Curie - May 23rd

As one of the world’s most renowned scientists, two-time Nobel Prize winner Marie Skłodowska Curie is best known for pioneering the field of radioactivity — including early experiments to treat cancer with radium therapy — but few understand the obstacles she faced just to enter the laboratory.

What if Marie Curie could tell her story?

Explore the power of being interdisciplinary with a digital theater presentation of HUMANITY NEEDS DREAMERS: A VISIT WITH MARIE CURIE on SUNDAY, MAY 23, 2021, 6:30pm - 8:30pm EST.

Join us for an entertaining evening of virtual theater including an interactive Q & A with Marie Curie as portrayed by living history scholar Susan Marie Frontczak. Program features classical music, materials science and short digital story on the100th Anniversary of Marie Curie's visit to the U.S. in 1921. 

This digital theater performance works especially well with small groups and individuals who wish to virtually screen together with family, friends & colleagues. 

Recommended for adults, families and students ages 9 & up.

General admission $19.21 - includes all fees.

Only 1 virtual ticket needed per streaming location!

HUMANITY NEEDS DREAMERS: A VISIT WITH MARIE CURIE is produced by STEM on Stage, a digital humanities lab promoting the history of science through the performing arts in collaboration with Princeton Center for Complex Materials.

EVENT SCHEDULE: SUNDAY, MAY 23, 2021 

6:30PM (EST): MUSIC & SCIENCE: Opening musical performance featuring selections from Polish composer Frédéric Chopin and the story of Polish pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski's enduring friendship with Marie Skłodowska Curie. Performed & narrated by Natalie Vargas Nedvetsky (Juilliard '20), Founder & Artistic Director, Literary Music Series. (30 mins)

7:00PM (EST): WELCOME & DIGITAL THEATER PRESENTATION

On the 100th Anniversary of Marie Curie's Visit to the U.S.  (digital short)

• Jen Myronuk, Co-Founder & Producer, STEM on Stage, a digital humanities lab 
• Nikita Dutta, PhD, Mechanical Engineering, Princeton University 

7:10PM DIGITAL THEATER SCREENING & PROGRAM

HUMANITY NEEDS DREAMERS: A VISIT WITH MARIE CURIE  (40 mins)

7:50PM INTERACTIVE Q & A with Marie Curie, as portrayed by Susan Marie Frontczak (20 mins)

8:10PM SCIENCE TALK: From Atoms to Applications: The Power of Interdisciplinary Scientific Research presented by Nikita Dutta, PhD, Mechanical Engineer, Princeton University on the significance of Marie Curie's use of interdisciplinary research as applied to materials science today (10 mins)

8:20PM CLOSING PRESENTATION with Susan Marie Frontczak, Scholar & Performer, Storysmith© & Nikita Dutta, PhD, Princeton University.

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ABOUT HUMANITY NEEDS DREAMERS: A VISIT WITH MARIE CURIE 

"Everything a science film should be." - Lisa Randall, Harvard University

As a digital theater performance, HUMANITY NEEDS DREAMERS: A VISIT WITH MARIE CURIE (45 mins) invites audiences to meet Marie Curie as she recollects her quest to isolate two elements — polonium and radium. From her childhood in Poland to groundbreaking research in France, Marie Curie shares the struggles, failures and triumphs behind her scientific discoveries and remarkable collaboration with companion scientist & husband Pierre Curie.

Masterfully portrayed by living history scholar & playwright Storysmith® Susan Marie Frontczak, HUMANITY NEEDS DREAMERS is the cinematic version of her acclaimed one-woman show. This unique format breaks the digital fourth wall between live theater and film, scholar and performer, past and present.

HUMANITY NEEDS DREAMERS is produced by STEM on Stage a digital humanities lab in collaboration with the Princeton Center for Complex Materials STEM outreach programs.

TESTIMONIALS:

“A must see film of one of the truly great heroes of science.” - Roxanne Truhn, Director, Michigan Science Festival

“I came away with a newfound appreciation for Curie's significant accomplishments. I’d consider this required viewing for any student — of science, of history, of humanity itself.” - Maia Weinstock, Science Writer & Creator of LEGO Women of NASA

“Susan Marie Frontczak’s portrait captures Curie’s courage, curiosity, fragility, edge, and passion, and her storytelling transports the audience into the world of her laboratory and life. This film is a rare find.” - Holly Walter Kerby, Executive Director, Fusion Science Theater

ABOUT: Susan Marie Frontczak, Scholar, Performer & Playwright

Susan Marie Frontczak is a Colorado-based scholar, playwright & performer. Through storysmith.org(link is external), she has created and performed Living History portrayals of six historical women across 42 of the United States and abroad. She presents at theaters, conferences, schools, libraries, and festivals internationally — including performing Manya: The Living History of Marie Curie and A Visit with Marie Curie over 450 times to 60,000 people in 34 states and nine countries.

In dramatizing the life of Marie Skłodowska Curie, Susan Marie pays homage to their shared Polish heritage. Marie Curie’s perseverance in purifying a tenth of a gram of radium from a ton of pitchblende, in part, inspired Susan Marie to major in Engineering. She earned a B.S. in Engineering from Swarthmore College and a Masters in Software Engineering from the Wang Institute of Graduate Studies, and worked for fourteen years at Hewlett-Packard Company before pursuing full time writing and performing.

Susan Marie has always viewed both science and art as complimentary outlets for creativity. It is her aim to reveal the human behind the scientist, while placing Dr. Marie Curie’s life and accomplishments in a memorable historical context. storysmith.org

For more information:

Jen Myronuk, Producer & Director, STEM on Stage

Email: jen@stemonstage.org