Performance: Whalesong
The UMass Amherst Chapter of Sigma Xi, the research society, presents a benefit performance written and starring Dr. Roger Payne, one of the world's leading experts on whales, host of the IMAX movie Whales and the co-discoverer of whale songs, and acclaimed New Zealand actress, Lisa Harrow, known for her appearances with the Royal Shakespeare Company in England and her New York stage debut as Vivian Bearing in WIT.
Is the human species truly the center of the earth, around which all other creatures revolve? Or will this narrow and self-centered viewpoint lead us to destruction?
Those are the questions addressed by the theater piece Whalesong, a stunning mix of poetry and science that vividly illustrates that man is not the center of the animal kingdom, but just an integral part of the complex web of life on earth, the survival of which depends upon the carefully calibrated balance of its inhabitants.
Whalesong offers a stunning expos? of humanity’s indifference to the natural environment, punctuated by the poetry of among others, William Shakespeare, Robert Frost, Wendell Berry, Gary Snyder, and Percy Bysshe Shelley, as well as the wisdom of cosmologist Carl Sagan and the Old Testament.
The result is a greater understanding of man’s role in the natural world. Whalesong provides the tools we need to view the environment in a new way and to take positive action.
Performed here at UMass Amherst as Whalesong, the theater piece is being renamed Sea Change: Reversing the Tide for future performances.
The show has been performed at University of Cornell, Ithaca, NY; Woodstock Town Hall, Vermont; Chautauqua Institute, NY; City College, NY; University of Southern California, Bioneers by the Bay Conference; MacArthur Fellows conference; Green Festival, Washington, DC; Charlemont Academy, MA; University of Southern Maine; NYU; Montshire Museum of Science, Vermont; and Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, in New Zealand.
Also featured are selections from the GAIA ORATORIO by Nathan Currier. This event benefits Sigma Xi and donations are encouraged.
