The Relativity Series: Circumstances Affecting the Heat of the Sun's Rays (Part 1)
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You really don't mean to say that you couldn't love me if my name wasn't Ernest? But your name is Ernest. Yes, I know it is. You can stream the entire L.A. TheatreWorks catalog of plays. Find out more at streaming.latw.org.

L.A. TheatreWorks presents Circumstances Affecting the Heat of the Sun's Rays by Amanda Quaid, directed by Annalise Erickson, starring Jeffrey Aaron, Tara Lynn Barr, Scott Brick, Jake Green, Monica McSwain, and Emily Swallow.

This play is part of L.A. TheatreWorks' Relativity Series of science-themed plays. Lead funding for the Relativity Series is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, bridging science and the arts in the modern world. You may not know her name, but Eunice Newton Foote made groundbreaking discoveries about the greenhouse effect in the 1850s.

Her experiments showed that different gases, including carbon dioxide, absorb and trap heat, an early milestone in the history of climate science. And even though her findings were published in a leading scientific journal, a rarity in the days of a male-dominated field, her work remained virtually unknown until recently.

Now, thanks to playwright Amanda Quaid, we have a dramatized portrait of the scientist's life at the time she published her pioneering study, which lends its name to the title of the play. And now, Circumstances Affecting the Heat of the Sun's Rays by Amanda Quaid, produced by L.A. TheatreWorks.

Seneca Falls, 1856. Atmospheric carbon dioxide is 285.6 parts per million parts of air. Oh, just...

Let's see. Hmm. Hmm. Stop! Mine! You took it from me! You need to knock.

You, both of you, you can't come rushing into my workspace like this. Do you see this chemical? It burns. Sorry, Mother. This sets me back an hour. You both, you fling the drawer open every time you need something. I can't work with these distractions. Believe you, it's nothing. That's not true. It's obviously something... We're having a fight. About? Augusta wants to wear my hat to school. She seems to think it's hers. It isn't hers. It's mine, isn't it? Aunt Begay.

Aunt Bea gave it to both of us to share. This is what you've come for. It's my best hat. I suppose you never thought of going to your father. He's in his study. Right. It is my hat. You know your father is an actual judge, right? Who sorts out squabbles for a living, but you don't go to him, you come to me. He's working. Right. It's not her hat. Let me see the hat.

Mother! Now it's nobody's hat. Why would you do that, Mother? It's what I'll do to any fashion accessory that compels my daughters to this nonsense. You're wasting your time and mine, and that's as close as we get to a sin in this house. Is that clear? Yes, Mother. Yes, Mother. Now go. See? I told you she was busy. It was my best hat. See?

Where do you want these journals? On the table, darlings. What years are in there? It's every American journal of science and arts from 1820 to 1835. Good. I need inspiration. Are you on a break? Not exactly. We can talk later. Thanks. It's just... Yes? Judge Cravens wrote me.

He started working part-time at the patent office. He says it's booming over there with all the factories opening. Everybody's patenting ideas, hoping they go to wide production. So? I'm tempted. To? Follow Cravens that way. Why would you work at the patent office? It's fascinating. Law isn't? Not in the same way. You patent something. You've put your foot in the future. You've made your mark.

What is it with men and marking everything all the time? It's not enough to do something. You have to get all the credit. Not just men. You have it too. How many wives and mothers do you know who lock themselves away from their families day in, day out? A lock on the door, be still my heart. You have ambition. I want to find things out. You want to push things forward as much as I do.

You want to make your mark. You can't deny it. It's a cent you give off. And that's why you married me. Exactly why. Cravens wants me to have lunch next month with Charles Mason. He's the chief commissioner of the National Patent Office. He'll be up from Washington, and Cravens can arrange it. Do I have your blessing to go? If it means getting this curiosity out of your system, by all means. I don't suppose you'll go with me? Correct. Now, leave me alone.

Please. And thank you. Let's see what we've got in here. ♪♪♪

What's in these journals? Published experiments. Scientific breakthroughs. How does one get in? I bet having something else between your legs might help. Mary! You're not wrong, actually. There are no women in these journals. See? To get in, you'd have to discover something no one knew was there. Or prove something no one knew was possible. Like this one. 1824. How to preserve the color of the purple cabbage.

He asked a question, found an answer, and there's his name forever. G.T. Bowen. Must stand for Gulliver Thaddeus. Gaylord Tchaikovsky. Griswold Thump. Granger Tabachnik. Graziano... No. You lose. Oh, here's a good one. On the disappearance of the breasts caused by iodine. I guess you've had your iodine today, Mary?

Har, har, har. On the dreadful effects of an excessive use of sulfur. Hmm. See, you can prove the obvious and still be published, as long as it's the first of its kind. Or this. On the hardness of lead. Oh, let me guess. Method, hit head with lead. Result, very hard. By Mr. Ernest Viggers. On the setting of plaster. On the setting of plaster.

On the songs of birds innate or acquired. On facts and considerations concerning two-headed snakes. On the effect of temperature on human feeling. On the combination of mercury with metallic wires. On the chemical action of light. On a new ether. Pure milk. Pure milk? On the early discovery of America by the Scandinavians. Ooh, yeah.

It is now known that the inhabitants of Northern Europe visited, long before Columbus's time, the countries on the coast of North America. But Columbus discovered America. The accounts of the voyage of the old Scandinavians to America have gained a new confirmation by a runic stone, which was found on the western coast of Greenland. Translated, it says, Erling Sigvilsson and Bjorn Hordason and...

Endreid Adson erected these heaps of stone and cleared the place in the year 1135.

Along with the stone were found several artifacts, including a spindle. A spindle? A spindle means there must have been a woman there. So a woman discovered America. I wouldn't go that far. Well, it wasn't Columbus, and a woman was there. This proves it. Erling Sigvilsson, Bjorn Hordason, Endred Adson. You don't study them in your history books. Probably because we can't pronounce their names correctly.

Are these scientists all famous, then? I don't think any sensible person goes into science to be famous. Mary wants to be famous. Well, why not? For doing what? I don't know, but I don't want to fade away when I die.

I want to make something lasting in the world. Lasting or not, you're still gone when you go. You can't know your own legacy. And anyway, nobody knows who Uriah P. Chevalier is or was. But when you're alive, you know that you'll endure through your work or your memoirs. And that makes life more bearable somehow. Here's a lady, Mrs. Cutbush. Who's she? What did she do? Oh, I don't know.

She's only publishing on behalf of her late husband. An experiment having to do with pyrotechny. Let me see. Mrs. Cutbush sounds like quite a woman. You're quite a woman, Mrs. Cutbush. Out of my way. I'm Etheline Cutbush and I know where I'm going. Please don't butt push, Mrs. Cutbush. This is a good method. Shall we recreate this experiment? Gus, go to the kitchen, get me matches and a glass jar. Yes, Mother. I'll come too. I'm starving.

William Tully, M.D. Professor Marcel de Ceres. W.W. Mather of West Point. Professor Abbott Griscom. Thanks for knocking. Sorry. What have you come for?

Thermometers. I was on a walk this morning and had a thought. Why does the sun feel hotter in the summer than it does in the winter? Because it's colder? Exactly. Are you feeling all right? But I mean, why should the rays themselves feel cooler in winter than in summer? You see? I see.

I'd like to do an experiment. Elisha, you're a full-time judge. Now you may have a part-time job at the patent office to add to your resume. Must you add science to the list? Maybe I'll end up in one of those books. Are the sun's rays hotter in summer? It's a simple question. Here are two thermometers. Take them and run. Thank you. Listen, I want...

I want the girls to take school more seriously. Yes. I saw them scurrying out of here, looking like they hadn't been scolded for a change. Giving lessons to them. Trying to spark something new.

They take their opportunities for granted. Me? I had to claw my way into a science lab. Girls still do. And still the education is subpar. It's all flowers and Latin names to them. Mary couldn't tell a physics lab from a fainting room, and she doesn't seem to care. I asked her the other day if she'd prefer to spend her time at finishing school learning needlepoint and watercolor. She said she liked the idea. She's trying to provoke you. Why?

To get your attention. We'll push them harder. I'll not stand by and watch them waste themselves. They have good minds. No more lazy Sunday afternoons. From now on, they study, they learn, and they like it.

As requested, here is one freshly dead mouse, Mother. Oh, good, Gus. Let me see. I think it's dead. From the kitchen? The pantry. I vomited. Did Lucy see you? Yes. Did you tell her what it was for? I said Mother needs it. That's perfectly fine. A bit weird, but that's fine. Oh, it's gorgeous. Well done. Hand me that little knife.

Oh, Mother, I really do believe you when you say all animals have hearts. I take your word for it. I really do. I want you to start seeing things with your own eyes. You're 13. You're not a child anymore. They won't let girls do this in school. Imagine that. So we do it at home. Behold. Would you look at that? There's a little heart. It's not quite dead, actually. See? The heart's still beating. Yes. That's good. You can see the way it pumps blood.

And the stomach there, see? Kidneys there. Oh, just like yours and mine. Little lungs. All that in such a tiny body. Get the magnifying lens. Look up close. It smells! Yes? Sour. And? Musky. And sweet. Now close your eyes. Touch your heart. Can you see it better now? What color is it? Pink. Red.

And your lungs? Gray. How about your kidneys? Brown and red. How much you can learn from a field mouse, eh? Leave classroom dissection to the boys. Formaldehyde stinks anyhow. So the mouse's insides are just a tiny version of mine? There are differences, but you can look at that and get a pretty good sense of what's going on inside of you.

In some ways, it can be more useful than looking at a drawing of a human being. Did you ever do a human being? Dissect a cadaver? No. We should put that on the list, though. Go to the graveyard. I'm joking, Gus. Oh. Oh, but we could do bigger animals. Frogs? Rabbits? Shall we try tomorrow for a rabbit? Oh, no thank you, Mother. Because? I like rabbits. Oh. Oh.

I see. You like them. I suppose they're... What's that word I've heard you girls using? Cute? Yes. Cute. Which used to mean acute, keen, sharp. As in, his mind is as cute as a knife. Now it means... What exactly? I don't know. Cute just means cute. Why do I suddenly feel like a great disappointment?

We were having a good time with the mouse. I'd like to go back to that. I wasn't having a good time. I was trying to teach you something important. Yes, Mother. I don't push you if I don't think you're interested. I am interested. And capable. I am. At least, I think I am. I saw you painting out there earlier. Watercolor, was it? Yes. I was painting the violets blooming in the garden.

We don't have many flowers back there, but they always come this time of year. Why watercolor? Art class. School. I like it. It's gentle. Well, back to it then. I have some work to complete before lunch. Did you say something, Mama? No. Oh, I thought I heard you say something. Not me. Here are the violets. Mother? Hmm? I thought you'd like to see the violets. Hmm. No, that's fine, Gus.

I'll see you at lunch. This came for you. What's it say? It's your letter. Here. It's from my father. God, his handwriting's awful. He must be sober. What's he say? My mother died. Oh, Eunice. Last...

Thursday afternoon. The doctor thinks it was something in her heart. It was sudden. That makes sense. Sudden death seems to run in my family. I'll make arrangements to go to the funeral. It's too far to travel. Don't be silly. She wouldn't loan us two. She'd say it was a waste. We have the money. Hang on to it. That's what she'd say. You never know. Anyway, she wasn't afraid of death or particularly moved by it. She called it a loss, but not the greatest.

What was the greatest? Squandered potential. Squandered potential. I think we should go. If you'll excuse me, I am going for a walk. Want company? No, thank you. What's this? Oh, Gus! You startled me. Sorry. Please, don't be in here if I'm not. Sorry. I heard about Grandma. Are you all right? Yes. I went for a walk, that's all.

Get out in nature, clear my head. Papa said we may not go to the funeral. It's too far. You come from a long line of pragmatists, Augusta. If you live six days journey when I go, I won't expect you to come either. What are you here for? I wanted to borrow your magnifying lens. Of course you may. There it is. For science class. Art class. Oh. We're supposed to look at an object up close and draw what we see. I thought I'd go closer than close. Take it. Thanks. Where did you walk?

To the top of the hill. Then down to the lake. I ran out of breath on my way up. Why is it always cooler up high? Then very hot and muggy by the lake. Have you ever noticed that? There's more wind up there? No. The only difference would be there's less oxygen. I don't fancy myself an athlete, but I'm not in such bad shape to lose my breath on a walk. There's less oxygen the higher you go, isn't there? And does that change the temperature? Huh. I suppose we could...

Take two glass jars, a rubber tube, and pump one full of air, compress it, and the other suck the air out. Make it thin, like the top of a mountain. Then place them both in the sun and see if one gets hotter. Did you need something else? No, but actually, I think you'd maybe possibly want to put them in the shade first, as a control. Okay.

See if the temperatures are the same in the shade as the sun. Oh. But I don't really know. No, you're right. Just thinking through what you said. Do you want to help me? Our story continues next time. I'm Susan Loewenberg, producing director of L.A. TheatreWorks.