On God and evolution
Theater is not typically associated with naturalist Charles Darwin, or science at all, for that matter. But on a small stage at the Harvard Museum of Natural History’s (HMNH) Geological Lecture Hall, Darwin’s relationship with famed Harvard botanist Asa Gray came to life in a one-act play kicking off HMNH’s Asa Gray Bicentennial Celebration. Janet Browne, Aramont Professor of the History of Science and chair of the Department of the History of Science, was instrumental in putting together the bicentennial, and in bringing the Cambridge, England-based Menagerie Theatre Company to perform “Re: Design,” a dramatization of the correspondence between Darwin and Gray that was written by Craig Baxter. Browne, who introduced the production, called on the audience to think “back into the 19th century,” which was not difficult, given that many of the stage props were historically accurate artifacts taken from the museum’s holdings. The stage was outfitted with a desk where Darwin...