‘Oxygen’ mixes elements of art, science

The object of this afternoon will be to bring science to the stage in the UW–Madison production of “Oxygen.”

Brian Proball, University Theatre scene designer and a master of fine arts candidate, will be in charge of the day’s endeavor. His confederate is Carl Djerassi, one of the playwrights.

Together, they will formulate a master plan as to how best to represent the work on stage.

Djerassi made his name as a chemist and inventor of the oral contraceptive. However, he has devoted the last 15 years to literature. With Nobel laureate Roald Hoffmann, Djerassi has written this second installment of an intended trilogy exemplifying his “science-in-fiction” genre. Since it was published a spare two years ago, “Oxygen” has been produced around the world, and Djerassi is in Madison for a few days to lend his insight to “Oxygen” rehearsals here.

The drama takes place in the 18th and 21st centuries. The historical leg of this journey follows the original scientists — Joseph Priestley, Antoine Lavoisier and Karl Wilhelm Scheele — to Stockholm. Their goal is to determine which of them actually discovered oxygen. The same deliberation lingers for more than 200 years, as a present-day Nobel panel also convenes to award a “retro” prize to one of the scientists.

Right now, however, the attention of all of the University Theatre crew is fixed not upon dramatic action, but instead upon experiments and a paint-spattered table loaded with scientific paraphernalia of a bygone era.

“Oxygen” features three experiments, each the product of one of the researchers. One exercise shows that fire burns more intensely in the presence of oxygen. Another establishes that mice cannot live without it. This one delights Djerassi — he gleefully describes how it was done in an earlier production.

“In London, they used mechanical mice, and it was really quite funny,” he says. “The mice appealed greatly to young people. But it’s important not to overdo the humor — they might think it was corny.”

Appealing to the young is a key aspect of this production, sponsored in part as it is by the UW–Madison Wisconsin Initiative for Science Literacy. Its director, chemistry professor Bassam Shakhashiri, reviewed the scientific protocols of each experiment.

“I’m really happy to see that they are all scientifically accurate,” he says. Credit that to prop master Brandon Ribordy, a first-year Master of Fine Arts student in set design. It has been his job to create the physical look of the experiments and to make sure they all work.

The third experiment requires a particularly elaborate process involving the weight of a scientist’s wife. Ribordy uses water that changes color to enhance the complicated-sounding process for the stage.

“The color change has nothing to do with any science,” he confesses to Shakhashiri and Djerassi. “But it really looks interesting.”

Djerassi and Hoffmann tell the “Oxygen” story largely through the scientists’ wives and their roles as colleagues, collaborators, muses and experimental subjects. “Oxygen” director Norma Saldivar likes that approach.

“I’m impressed with the attention the wives receive in the scientific process,” she says. Just as the actual scientific discovery oscillates between wives and husbands, the dramatic action moves fluidly between the 18th century and the present. Djerassi favors the use of slides to enhance the century shifts. However, it doesn’t sound like the University Theatre production will be using any projections. “Well, will you have steam, then?” he inquires, referring to a sauna scene.

At the mention of saunas, the talk swerves into costuming: “We’ve discovered, through research we did on 18th century paintings (at the Elvehjem Museum of Art) that Turkish wraps were very popular then. We thought we’d use those — you’ll see them when we go to the costume shop,” says Saldivar.

While Saldivar and Djerassi discuss the costumes, Proball deftly clears extraneous debris from a podium to make way for a cardboard model of the set. The actors will range over several levels, with a laboratory table front and center.

“We’ll have invisible doors so that actors from one period will be able to vanish out of the action,” he explains. “That will increase the fluid movement between the two different centuries.”

Djerassi studies the model for quite awhile. “This is a very, very ambitious set,” he says at last. Proball is clearly pleased.

Such a rare opportunity for students to collaborate with a renowned playwright becomes a study not only in theater theory and practice, but also in communication, in the lucid organization and articulation of ideas, in the description of intent, and in the logic and conviction of a persuasive argument. Even the most casual observer can sense an expansion of perspective and the unfolding of new intellectual dimensions as the discussion goes on.

Proball sums up his experience: “With every production I carry something away as part of myself, and I’m changed. What’s taken place on and behind the stage becomes part of me.

“In this case, I’ll never look at science the same way again.”