Race and science collide in Cassandra Medley's trenchant drama. Claire is a melanin scientist. She believes people of color are genetically superior — physically, mentally, in every way. Her daughter Kalima, a molecular geneticist at Johns Hopkins, knows otherwise, but to discredit her mother would destroy the relationship that each woman values the most. Forced to choose between science and family, between her future and her family, Kalima must decide where her loyalties lie.
"The dramatically compelling argument spins off sparks about stem cell research, race and the Human Genome Project. But the gripping heart of Cassandra Medley's RELATIVITY is a showdown between relatives in a battle of the umbilical cord … RELATIVITY is a full-fledged drama bristling with challenging ideas and emotional complexity. It's a brave play. Not only has Medley set her drama, as one character puts it, 'on the cut of the cutting edge' of research, but she's also grappling with the very touchy subject of reverse racism … The mother-daughter bond is so tight, and so beautifully detailed in the writing … In Medley's RELATIVITY, passionate mass and intellectual energy equals pretty compelling drama." —Robert Hurwitt, San Francisco Chronicle
"RELATIVITY … offers dandy fringe benefits to go along with the heady science: … two especially dazzling scenes … the play is so entertaining …" —Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times
At the center of Cassandra Medley's play is the controversial idea that higher concentrations of melanin in the genetic makeup of people of color make them mentally, physically, and spiritually superior. Based on the scientific studies of her ironically now-deceased father, Kalima, a fledging molecular scientist looking to come to her own has a difficult time owning his flawed research. Her mother Claire, who carry's her deceased husband's scientific torch has a hard time reckoning with her daughter's enlightenment.
Includes an interview with Dr. Stanley Nelson, Professor of Human Genetics and Psychiatry at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine.
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Judyann Elder, Deidrie Henry, James Pickens Jr., Jason Ritter, Terrell Tilford and Lorraine Toussaint.
Relativity is part of L.A. Theatre Works' Relativity Series featuring science themed plays. Major funding for the Relativity Series is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to enhance public understanding of science and technology in the modern world.
