A Brief History

Things we have done so far:

2010 The Galileo Dialogues, an Evening of Science and Society.

2011 Psychlotron Smashing ideas just to see what happens.

2012, “Ladies and Gentlemen, This is Your Crisis,” an adaptation of Kate Wilhelm’s 1976 short story.

2013 Thought Experiments on the Question of Being Human.

2016 Centrifuge – Science News Meets Science Fiction.

2019 Faraday Cage Match, an Evening of Competitive Science Improv

2021 InVerse Functions, a theatrical evening of science poetry

2021 Matters of Gravity – the science game show

We started with a party.

In January 2010, we first partnered with the Seattle University Physics Department to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the night Galileo first saw the moons of Jupiter through his telescope – with food, wine, Galilean telescopes, a reading of Tom Stoppard’s “Galileo” screenplay – and good conversation about Science and Society. After celebrating the Galileo Dialogues for a decade with plays by Mary Jo Salter, Dava Sobel and others, we finished off with Part Two of Natalie Copeland’s “Time and Time Again.”

In 2011, we produced an adaptation of Kate Wilhelm’s 1976 short story “Ladies and Gentlemen, This is Your Crisis,” a prescient exploration of the malign influence technology can have on our lives.

We began Psychlotron at the Fireside Room in the Sorrento Hotel in 2011. Two people from unrelated backgrounds talk about whatever fascinates them–then the audience smashes the ideas together, just to see what happens.

Our signature piece, Thought Experiments on the Question of Being Human, began as part of the Seattle Science Festival in 2013, with scientists and playwrights exploring the human consequences of discoveries in science and technology annually through 2019.

In 2016, we spun up Centrifuge (Science News Meets Science Fiction). Science writers, theater artists and a whole lot of random leads to five short science plays in five days – each with its own short science talk. As more than one audience member has said, “That’s how I like to learn about science.”

For our first Faraday Cage Match, a Competitive Evening of Science Improv, we partnered with Pacific Science Center in 2019. Scientist contestants join our team for improvs based on their science. Then we quiz the audience.

Matters of Gravity – the Science Game Show – returns this fall for its fourth episode.

We celebrate National Poetry Month again with our sixth annual InVerse Functions, a theatrical evening of science poetry.

We have more ideas simmering, and we invite you to join us as we continue to build Infinity Box, to think about what it means to be human, and build that future one story at a time.