I just realized that my first ever article for an airline magazine has just gone online. It was in Hemispheres for November--United's magazine--and it's just a scene from my trip to Austria in September. The piece--entitled "Bard Brains," and about scientists doing Shakespeare--is pretty short, but I hope memorable. I've also found a photograph from this site that actually captures a part of the courtyard I'm describing:
Vienna--One chilly September evening, 22 costumed men and women from all over the world mill around a tent on the campus of the Vienna Biocenter. They belong to the center’s newly formed Amateur Dramatic Club, and they’re about to perform an experimental version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Experimental in more ways than one: The performers are scientists, not actors...
To read more about this truly unique and creative performance, click here. At the close of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Puck addresses the audience: "Give me your hands, if we be friends," he says. In that spirit, I think after reading the piece you'll agree that these scientist actors deserve another round of applause.
