MONTREAL — Are you responsible for what you create?
That's the question being asked in the Segal Center production of "Scientific Americans" by Canadian philosopher, professor and playwright John Mighton.
Set in the 1980s, Jim, a young physicist, is recruited by the Department of Defense to work at Los Alamos. The young mathematician has his choice to study whatever he deems fit. Jim ventures to New Mexico with Carol, his new fiancée, and soon discovers that his work is being applied to first-strike missile systems.
"The play can go in a lot of different directions, but at the core I think it's the struggle for this couple to survive in the myriad pressures that they face," Director Andrew Shaver said. "And one of the biggest pressures to address is to what extent is he responsible for the work that he's doing."
Jim is not only driven by the desire to make a name for himself, but to help his mother, who was the victim of domestic abuse, Shaver added.
"So Jim feels residual shame and guilt for that and wants to make it up to her," Shaver said.
But that pursuit of knowledge comes with a price. While Carol gave her approval to work for the Department of Defense, she wanted no part of weapons research.
"It's an implied complicity between Jim and Carol," Shaver said.
But as the show progresses, Shaver said, we begin to understand Jim a bit more.
"As well as the machine and the manipulation at hand," Shaver said. "And we soon understand that if you're going to be a physicist and a mathematician in the world of this play, chances are very high that you're going to be contributing to the development of weapons research."
Shaver said that sometimes we find ourselves in a situation where we just can't leave.
"But there is a clear moment where Jim decides to transgress and makes a big decision."
Shaver said the scenario is reminiscent of the 1940s and 1950s when scientists worked on the atomic bomb. He paraphrases a line from play: "You've got to believe that knowledge is beneficial and that there are a thousand applications for it."
"There's a lot of truth to that," Shaver said. "There's no point in stymieing creativity. But there's a gray area, and it's a huge gray area as to what extent you are responsible."
Shaver said it's an abstract challenge to bring a work like this to the stage.
"But that's the beauty of John Mighton. He's a brilliant mathematician as well as a brilliant playwright," Shaver said. "He really is the artist as scientist, scientist as artist. He embodies both of those things."
Shaver also said that there are many ways in which to interpret the play.
"You have to choose the one that speaks to you," he said. "And for me, the heart of it is the struggle between Jim and Carol. They are within a fascinating backdrop. They're young and extremely intelligent people, which makes the conflicts they have also extraordinarily satisfying for the mind."
On a final note, this marks the first co-production on the Segal main stage with Shaver's production company, SideMart Theatrical Grocery.
"We've been in residence at the Segal Studio for four years now," Shaver said. "So to be on the main stage is something of a special production for us. It speaks to the continuing collaboration and commitment between the two companies."
Steven Howell is the author of Montreal Essential Guide, a Sutro Media iPhone travel app available at iTunes.com.
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