INTERVIEW: Timely new play ‘Love + Science’ opens in NYC
Photo: Love + Science stars, from left, Matt Walker and Jonathan Burke. Photo courtesy of Emilio Madrid / Provided by Everyman Agency with permission.
David J. Glass has two titles attached to his name that speak to his unique career trajectory over the past couple decades: He is both a playwright and a scientist. For his new play, Love + Science, Glass has put both of his careers together to craft a story of two gay medical students who fall in and out of a relationship at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s. Performances of Love + Science, presented by In Vitro Productions, continue through July 6 at New York City Center Stage II.
Allen MacLeod directs an ensemble of seven actors, including Jonathan Burke (The Inheritance and Choir Boy) and Matt Walker (The Play That Goes Wrong), who play the two medical students at the center of the narrative, according to press notes. The journey that these two characters undergo in the drama is profound, testing their “values as scientists and doctors and their responsibilities as gay men.”
Glass’ own biography includes playwrighting and theater development in the 1980s, before he took a break from the arts and focused on science. Today, he is the vice president of research at a local biotech company, a senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School and an adjunct professor at Columbia University, according to his official biography.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Glass about the new play. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What inspired you to put pen to paper and create Love + Science?
When the SARS-Cov2 virus appeared, and Covid19 started to spread, it reminded me of the confusion and uncertainty surrounding the beginning of the HIV outbreak, back in the early 1980s.
Do you have memories of what New York City and the medical system were like during the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s? Did you have to conduct more research?
Yes, I was a young medical student at the time and was therefore helping to take care of the first wave of AIDS patients. When we first heard of the outbreak, the condition was labelled “GRID,” for Gay-related immune deficiency. We were told that it was due to the patient’s status as gay men and that their sexual activity was what was causing their disease.
What originally prompted you to focus on science as a career?
When I was quite young, a friend’s relative had cancer, which was my first time hearing of the disease; I started to going to the library to learn about the disease and learned it was often not curable, or even treatable, which made me want to try to help research it. I wrote a letter to the American Cancer Society at age 12, saying I’d like to do research. Someone there thought the letter was cute, probably, so they got in touch with the leaders at Sloan Kettering, who invited me to come down to the hospital to talk to scientists. Then, when I went to Bronx Science, I took the Research Biology course, and at age 16 did my first research internship — again, at Sloan Kettering.
How do the paths of your two main characters diverge in the play?
The two main characters diverge by pursuing medicine in the case of Jeff and research in the case of Matt. The play illustrates that these are two different pursuits, which sometimes conflict in surprising ways.
What has it been like working with director Allen MacLeod?
Fantastic; Allen is a very talented young director.
Are you generally a hopeful person, even when the world is thrown into difficult struggles?
Yes, I think you do have to have some optimism to pursue a research career; some projects can take 20-30 years to reach fruition, so you can’t “keep at it” without some faith that the work will ultimately be successful.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Love + Science by David J. Glass and directed by Allen MacLeod continues through July 6 at New York City Center Stage II. Click here fore more information and tickets.
