Theatrical Stargazing: Art and Science in Brecht's 'Galileo'

Abraham Stoll specializes in the Renaissance and early modern period. As a dramaturg and coach he works on Shakespeare, as well as modern and contemporary productions. Recent books include: Conscience in Early Modern English Literature (Cambridge 2017) and Milton and Monotheism (Duquesne, 2009). He is currently co-writing a study of Aphra Behn and staging practices in the Restoration theatre, and is editing John Milton’s Paradise Lost (Broadview, forthcoming). Formerly Head of Text and Context at the The Old Globe/ University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Acting Program, his recent productions as dramaturg include: Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of our Teeth, Henry 4 Part 1, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Freidrich Dürrenmatt’s The Visit, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet. He received his PhD from Princeton University.

Marco Chiaberge is an ESA/AURA Astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute and Research Scientist at the Johns Hopkins William H. Miller Department of Physics and Astronomy. He graduated from SISSA/ISAS in Trieste, Italy with a thesis on the Hubble Space Telescope view of radio galaxies, then joined STScI in 2005 where he leads the calibration of the Advanced Camera for Surveys on-board the Hubble Space Telescope. He previously was a postdoc at STScI and held a tenured research position at the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics from 2002 to 2015. His research interests focus on a range of topics including active galaxies, supermassive black holes, radiative processes, relativistic jets, galaxy mergers, gravitational waves and time-domain astrophysics. He utilizes both ground based and space telescopes for his studies. He also leads a multidisciplinary international collaboration studying exercise countermeasures to joint cartilage degradation during long duration human space flight.

Lecturer for over two decades in JHU Theatre Arts & Studies Program, where he has directed many productions on the John Astin Stage of the Merrick Barn, most recently Galileo, Doll’s House Part 2 and The Cherry Orchard.  Recent productions elsewehere: US premiere of John Cleese’s farce Bang Bang! (w/Sean Astin & Scott Shepherd); east coast premiere Jeff Daniels’ Flint. Adapted/directed world premiere Raymond Chandler’s Trouble is My Business (Portland Stage). Co-wrote/directed music-theatre piece Shostakovich and the Black Monk, with Grammy-winning Emerson String Quartet (w/David Strathairn, Sean Astin, Jay O. Sanders, Richard Thomas & Len Cariou) in concert halls around the world.  During Covid lockdown, video-theatre productions of Lia Romeo's Sitting and Talking (w/Wendie Malick & Dan Lauria), Ken Weitzman's Fire in the Garden (w/Sean Astin), Nicky Glossman's Portrait of a Woman in Repose (w/Paula Prentiss & Tony Shalhoub). Most recent: world premieres of A Tailor Near Me by Michael Tucker (w/Richard Kind & James Pickens Jr), New Jersey Repertory Co, and the time-traveling adventure Safe Home, co-written with Tom Hanks.  Upcoming: world premiere of Nicky Glossman’s The Road to Jerusalem at Shadowland Stages (NY) in Oct 2024, and the workshop at Portland Stage of his latest collaboration with Hanks, See You Tomorrow. James Glossman attended Northwestern University, American Conservatory Theatre Advanced Training Program, British American Drama Academy (BADA) - Balliol College, Oxford, and Yale School of Drama and is a member of the Dramatists Guild (DG), Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), and Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDG).