Fly Me to the Moon ready for official takeoff / 20 July 2019

Double International Premiere for JPT's New Play

July 20th 2019 marks one of the most important anniversaries in the history of humanity: 50 years earlier two men placed their feet on the Moon, the first time our species crossed the boundaries of our atmosphere to reach another celestial object...

Today our world is very different from what it was then and going to the Moon seems like something from some other age when people with the right stuff achieved amazing feats. It was an age of contradictions but also of great ideals.

We try to capture all that and much more in our new play written by JPT's artistic director Andrea Brunello, Fly Me to the Moon, that will premiere both in Italy and in the United States on the very important anniversary July 20th.

Italian Premiere - Kilowatt Festival

America Premiere - WKU Hardin Planetarium

The Italian premiere (in Italian) will be an Arditodesìo - JPT production directed by Fabrizio Visconti. On stage Laura Anzani and Ettore Distasio. The American Premiere (in English, with a version translated by Brunello) will be a staged reading with actors from a Bowling Green theatre company.

We are very happy about this amazing event and very grateful that Hardin Planetarium offered to us this great opportunity of bringing our work out of European boundaries.

Actors Laura Anzani and Ettore Distasio - MoniQue Foto

Teatro della Meraviglia 2019 Festival is finally on its way!

The third edition of the Theatre&Science Festival in Trento (Italy)

Starting Feb. 18 through Feb. 23 the new edition of Teatro della Meraviglia (Theatre of Wonder) Festival will hit the stage at Sanbàpolis Theatre in Trento.
Performances, augmented lectures and many events will make this edition a memorable one! Once again the collaboration with Portland Theatre, the University of Trento and the Opera Universitaria has allowed us at JPT to produce a rather innovative and forward thinking festival devoted to the narration of Science through Theatre and the Arts.

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Tommaso Rosi - Hypervision - at TdM2019

Fly Me To The Moon - New 2019 Production

2019 will mark the 50th anniversary of the first Lunar landing.

On May 21st 1961 President Kennedy gave a speech in front of the US Congress: “…I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”

On September 12 1961 he elaborated his reasons in front of a crowd at Rice Stadium in Houston, Texas: “…But why, some say, the Moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? […] We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

On July 20th 1969 20:17 UTC (GMT), before the decade was out, the Lunar Module Eagle landed on the moon at Tranquillity Base.

“Houston. Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed.
“Roger, Tranquillity. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We’re breathing again. Thanks a lot”.

Six hours later astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin stepped on the moon. “A small step for [a] man, a giant leap for mankind”. Kennedy’s wish had been fulfilled.

We at Jet Propulsion Theatre could not hold back from trying to celebrate the event, our way. So here we go... introducing the brand new 2019 production dedicated to the most amazing technological achievement of all times.

Fly Me To The Moon will have its world premiere on July 20 2019 but it will showcase much earlier than that, on February 8, 9 and 10 at PACTA . dei Teatri in Milan (Italy).

The production will be available both in English and Italian. Here is the crew involved in the project...

Text Andrea Brunello

With Laura Anzani and Ettore Distasio

Directed by Fabrizio Visconti

Light design Fabrizio Visconti

Scenes Marco Muzzolon

Costumes Mirella Salvischiani

Scientific consulting Stefano Oss

Philosophical consulting Enrico Piergiacomi

Synopsis

Adam is an Apollo Mission Astronaut. A very good one. He has a dream: to reach the Moon. He is ready to sacrifice everything, wife, children, family, health, even his own life in order to get there.

Valentina is a woman, a mother of two children and the wife of Adam. She is strong, intelligent, determined and in many ways she has an “astronaut” soul, just as much as Adam. Fly Me To The Moon is the story of their relationship told in the shadow of the mighty Saturn V missile and the Apollo Project. It’s the story of an unbalanced love between her and him and the Moon, an all absorbing dream that, for its very utopian nature, continuously risks to become the the cause of their destruction.

But Fly Me To The Moon is also about human ingenuity and the science that had to be developed in order to bring humans far away from the Earth. It’s about the Moon, our celestial companion, and its amazing characteristics. The play is a tribute to the fascination that we humans have felt for our nightly companion since the beginning of time and to our desire to learn, to be curious, to never stop exploring.

50 years since the Lunar Landing!

JPT at Falling Walls Engage - Berlin

2018 has closed with a very prestigious event for Jet propulsion Theatre. We had the opportunity to present the project in front of a very varied and engaging audience at the Falling Walls Engage event in Berlin, on November 8 2018. Following that event, we participated to the Falling Walls Conference, on November 9 and 10.
These 3 days have been fully packed with events, meetings, workshops, networking events (the famed Braindates!).
All in all a very exciting event that can only bring good things to our budding project.

JPT was at the Conference in 2018!

Bringing Research into the Classroom - SPNE14 in Athens

JPT's work aims at bringing out the Human Side of Science, and it does so through a series of actions like theatre productions, workshops, conferences, communications. We believe that it is of fundamental importance to connect people with the world of science and most importantly with scientists and researchers.

That is why we welcomed very warmly the opportunity to co-organize and co-conduct the SPNE14 to be held in Athens on September 5th 2018: "Research into the classroom". Here's a link to the event.

SPNEs are Networking Event organized by the EU Project Scientix, coordinated by the European Schoolnet.

The event will be devoted to understanding not only how to bring research and schools / students together, but also what are the stereotypes that plague the image that (young) people have of scientists and researchers? Why do they arise? How to dispel them?
We look forward to the conversations, round tables and results.

We'd like to thank the European Schoolnet and Scientix for inviting us.

The organizers of SPNE14

PERFORM Project wraps up with a Conference

Over the past 12 months we have had the pleasure to interact with PERFORM (Participatory Engagement with Scientific and Technological Research through Performance) a project financed by the EU that "...aims to investigate the effects of the use of innovative science education methods based on performing arts in fostering young peoples’ motivations and engagement with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)...". Here's a link to their web site.

Right away realized that the ideas behind PERFORM are really what we are about with Project Jet Propulsion Theatre so it became natural trying to interact with them.

It all happened on June 14 and 15 2018 when we had the pleasure to participate to the closing conference in Paris, summing up the work that had been done till then. We even had the opportunity to do a poster session where we introduced JPT to the participants.

All in all we came away from the conference with the very positive feeling that the field of Science Communication through Theatre and Performance is alive and well. Lots can still be done but it has amazing potential for growth. We are looking forward continuing collaborations with the partners of PERFORM, creating networks and pushing forward the idea that Art&Science is really the way of the future.

Brunello at the PERFORM Poster Session

Summer Scriptwriting Base in Bulgaria - July 2018

For those interested in "Storytelling for the Digital Age" there is a very exciting opportunity to get your hands and feet wet... the Summer Script Writing Base organized by Arte Urbana Collectif of Sofia (Bulgaria) and directed by Dimitar Uzunov will be devoted to our very own Digital Village.

From July 18th through the 28th in Sofia and in Bozhentsi (Bulgaria) several communication and arts professionals will share their expertise participants students and young professionals from all around Europe and beyond: screenwriters, playwrights, storytellers, journalists, science communicators, bloggers, content creators for creative industries, and all other people who write.

JPT's Andrea Brunello will conduct a 4 day workshop ""How to create an exciting story taking inspiration from Science".

For those interested, enrolment is still open, 'till early may. (-> Info)

Summer Scriptwriting Base Logo!

Heading to Sofia Science Festival 2018

Jet Propulsion Theatre will be part of the 2018 edition of the Sofia Science Festival!

This will be a great opportunity for our project to showcase both its productions and also present a new work. As a matter of fact JPT will be involved in two events:

On May 11th @ 16.30 there will be a staging of Il Principio dell'Incertezza "Unplugged" in Italian with Bulgarian subtitles. This event is made possible by a grant of the Italian Institute of Culture of Sofia. (-> info)

On May 13th @ 11.00 we will present the Augmented Lecture / Performance The Long Way To the Stars. This show is a joint project carried out by JPT with Forum Democrit and Arte Urbana Collectif. JPT's Andrea Brunello will direct Sofia University's astrophysicist Vladimir Bozhilov and actor Dimitar Uzunov. The project is funded by the National Culture Fund of Bulgaria under the “Cultural Programme for the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2018”. (-> info)

The Sofia Science Festival Eye!

I Love Science Festival @ BOZAR - The Principle of Uncertainty

Well, after Rwanda we are now heading to Brussels, Belgium where we'll be part of the I Love Science Festival at BOZAR, the most important Cultural Center of the city.

The Principle of Uncertainty "Unplugged" will be staged on Saturday April 28th at 20.30 and Sunday April 29th at 14.00. It is a great opportunity for us to showcase our work at a very exciting event filled with great speakers and performances, workshops, Virtual Reality tours, Music, Installations, Performance Lectures... and much more.

We read in the description of the Festival...

During the ‘I Love Science’ festival BOZAR devotes three whole days to an investigation into the links between art and science, some very real, others purely hypothetical. Through a series of exhibitions, workshops, lectures, debates, experimental walks and musical performances the festival looks at the fames and failures of scientists, artists and theatre makers. Explore the notion of Time at a performance-reading, or delve into the virtual reality in the BOZAR LAB. Sign up for a talk on artificial intelligence or take an immersive trip through pop-up smells and sounds of the city. The BOZAR When Art Meets Science Festival is all about experience + experimentation + connection!

JPT lands in Rwanda - Next Einstein Forum 2018

This time we go to Africa! The occasion is the Next Einstein Forum 2018 to be held in Kigali in Rwanda on March 26, 27 and 28, 2018. The Next Einstein Forum (NEF) is an initiative of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in collaboration with Robert Bosch Stiftung. The NEF is a platform that aims to connect science, society and politics in Africa and the rest of the world, with the aim of exploiting science for human development on a global level.

The fundamental idea of ​​the project is that Africa can be an active member of the global scientific community to contribute to global progress. Central to the NEF's efforts are young Africans, the driving force behind the scientific renaissance of Africa.

After seeing the show in Brussels (Belgium), the organizers of the NEF have selected The Principle of Uncertainty as an example of theater that can also tell the wonders of science and its mechanisms and consequently offer an important stimulus to interpret life and contemporaneity.

The show will be staged on March 27 and 28, 2018 (more than 1300 delegates from all over the world are expected). Other performances of the play, in its "light" version, have been organized in several schools in rural Rwanda.

In order to present the show we have posted an article on the Blog page of the NEF2018 web site: HOW CAN THEATRE SPARK THE LOVE FOR SCIENCE? 

In it it is possible to find much of the philosophy that motivates the JPT Project.

NEF Global Gathering 2018

Le Principe de l’Incertitude premiers at the University of Namur

Le Principe d'Incertitude, the french version of The principle of Uncertainty, will be staged on March 23rd 2018 at the Printemps des Sciences, a science popularisation week organised by the science faculties of 5 universities in the Wallonia Brussels Federation (UCL, ULB, UNamur, UMons and UniLiège), united in the network known as sciences.be.

It is a very exciting news for us, because it is the very first time that a JPT play is staged in a language that is not English or Italian. The idea is to setup, in time, a JPT Belgium Hub. The translation of the text has been done by Pierre Echard, the actor Vincent Vanderbeeken will be on stage. The directing is by Andrea Brunello.

As is the custom with JPT performances, in order to highlight the scientific content of the play, this show will be followed by a debate with the audience, which will be moderated by Dr. Luc Henrard, professor in the Physics Department, and an assistant professor in the Quantum Mechanics course, Mathilde Remy.

This performance has been actively promoted by the University of Namur's Confluent des Savoirs, by the engaged professors who will animate the debate, by the Compagnia Arditodesìo via its Belgium mailing list and social networks, as well as by Pierre Echard, in charge of JPT's international development, and based in Brussels.

Among the key target audiences are the schools, theatres, cultural centres and other organisations which will be the future be the hosts of JPT productions in the Wallonia Brussels Federation.

The performance has been made possible in part by a generous grant by the King Baudouin Foundation.

Here is the info regarding the event!

Vincent Vanderbeeken

Teatro della Meraviglia - Theatre of Wonder Festival 2018

For the second year in a row the Arditodesìo Theatre Company | Jet Propulsion Theatre has collaborated in the the organization of the Teatro della Meraviglia Festival (#MeravigliaTeatroFestival). At the heart of the Festival is the idea that science and theatre can meet and in fact they should do so in trying to bring high quality theatre performances to the stage, where the themes are drawn from scientific issues.

The result was extremely exciting: 9 full days of shows, 1700 people attending, many high school and university students and lots of creative energy have characteized the events. More than 30 young volunteers have helped run the events as smoothly as possible. All in all this second edition of the Festival has been a success and we are already looking forward to the all brand new 2019 edition...

For info regarding the 2018 Festival click here.

The Principle of Uncertainty staged in Colorado

We are very pleased and proud to announce that our play The Principle of Uncertainty will soon be staged in the U.S.
Here are the details:

NEXT PRODUCTION: THE PRINCIPLE OF UNCERTAINTY BY ANDREA BRUNELLO
Zephyr Stage at Cavalcade in Fruita, Colorado is in rehearsal for its next production - The Principle of Uncertainty by Andrea Brunello! A professor of physics reveals, during a lecture on Schrödinger's cat, and the behavior of light, an awestruck wonder for the beauty of the universe and also a private, closely-held grief. The play is beautiful, tender, poignant, funny, profound, and brilliant, and it will take you to the very heart of the quantum mystery and leave you dazzled! The original play was written and performed within the Jet Propulsion Theatre Project, www.jetpropulsiontheatre.org. This one-woman show features Zephyr Stage's Executive Artistic Director Valerie Haugen Nuzzo. Nuzzo recently co-wrote and directed "Multitudes" about the American poet Walt Whitman. She’s performed in more than 50 productions, over 20 years, with Thunder River Theatre Company in Carbondale, including playing all the big Greek girls - Lysistrata, Medea and Antigone. Performance dates for the Principle of Uncertainty are Jan. 19-21, 26-27, 2018. Performances take place at Cavalcade in Fruita, Colorado. Show times are 7:30 p.m. except for the Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. Find Zephyr Stage at Cavalcade on Facebook or Twitter or online at www.zephyrstage.com.

Valerie Nuzzo's Principle of Uncertainty Poster

A big thank to Valerie Haugen Nuzzo for the determination and the love that she is showing towards our play!!!

Over 600 people attend JPT's performance series of Pale Blue Dot during KU Leuven Science Faculty's 200th Anniversary

This week we were honored and delighted to be part of the 200th anniversary of the Science Faculty of the KU Leuven in Belgium. Three performances were held in the cities of Kortrjik and Leuven for students, faculty and the general public. Full house this morning at the 30CC Minnepoort Theatre in Leuven, where some 300 students from over 12 Flemish high-schools attended our last show of Pale Blue Dot. Last moments before the show:

Noi, Robot debutta a Milano / We, Robots premiers in Milan

NOI, ROBOT SI PREPARA AL DEBUTTO

Dopo l'anteprima di Ottobre a Rovereto in occasione dei 10 anni del CIMeC - Centro Multidisciplinare Mente/Cervello, la nostra ultima produzione Noi, Robot si prepara a debuttare a PACTA dei Teatri Salone di Via Dini a Milano.
Lo spettacolo sarà in scena il 18, 19 e 20 Gennaio 2018.
Vai qui per info su questa nuova produzione targata Jet Propulsion Theatre!

WE, ROBOTS GETS READY FOR ITS WORLD PREMIERE
After its October 2017 pre-run in Rovereto (Italy) in occasion of the 10 years anniversary of CIMeC - Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, our latest production We, Robots gets ready for its premiere at PACTA dei Teatri Salone di Via Dini in Milan (Italy).
The play will be on stage on 18, 19 and 20 January 2018.
Follow this link for more info about this new production by Jet Propulsion Theatre!

MoniQue foto

Le Principe de l’Incertitude

The Principle of Uncertainty with a french accent? Much more than that!

Thanks to a grant from the King Baudouin Foundation we have been able to produce an “unplugged” version of our very succesful play “The Principle of Uncertainty”. On stage is the belgian actor Vincent Vanderbeeken and the translation from English to French has been done by Pierre Echard. Directing is done by Andrea Brunello.

Rehearsals started in mid October 2017 and they will continue on and off till the premiere which is expected to be in March 2018. The work is proceeding very well, Vincent is an exciting actor and the Principle of Uncertainty "a la francaise” is quite exciting...

The Principle of Uncertainty at Draper Hall - London

JPT’s first and most represented play will be having its London’s premiere at Draper Hall (Entrance in Hampton Street, corner of Newington Butts) starting March 16th 2017 through April 2nd. This version will be an adaptation by Stefania Bochicchio / Infallible Productions Ltd to accomodate the fact that the main character will be played by actress Abigail McLoughlin.

Visit Draper Hall web site.

JPT’s Augmented Lectures awarded at Reimagine Education 2016

We are very proud to announce that our project Augmented Lectures: When Scientists Meer Artists has been shortlisted and subsequently awarded the Bronze Award for the Cultivating Curiosity Award at the 2016 Reimagine Education Conference which has taken place on 5-6 December in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

"With attendees from the world’s top universities and most promising ed tech startups, four tracks tailored to ensure that all delegates have the opportunity to see their interests represented, and keynote speeches provided by educational luminaries, it has been an essential event for anybody invested in the future of education."

We are quite happy of this result because it shows that our “low tech” approach to science communication and education is remarkably interesting and spot-on. We’d like to thank the University of Trento for having sponsored us and for believing so strongly in our project.

Here’s the Judges’ motivation for the prize:

The Augmented Lecture initiative to engage science in the arts has the potential to expand curiosity and interest in the sciences. This initiative will help far more people to engage creatively with the sciences with its new and more accessible modes of discourse.

Please check out the Reimagine Education 2016 Honours List here —> Link

Quantum Physics and the probability or uncertainty of Trump’s Election

To understand the universe, classical physics had to incorporate quantum mechanics, which describes a micro-world of uncertainty and ambiguity that is harder to measure but defines our true reality. Likewise, as recent geopolitical shocks are have proven, outdated methods are no longer capable or sufficient to explain global society’s complex and interconnected systems. (Read full article here: Quartz).

Works like Jet Propulsion Theatre's The Principle of Uncertainty take a whole new dimension in this light!

Another urgent wake-up call… Before the Flood

Yet another strong wake-up call on the urgency of dealing with Climate Change now, with actions and not just good intentions… For those of you who have seen Jet Propulsion Theatre’s play Pale Blue Dot, this excellent documentary will confirm many of the important messages brought forward in this play. This documentary can be viewed on Youtube for free only until 5 November!

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