The Great Immensity: Conveying Science through the Performing Arts. An Assessment

The Great Immensity is a play with music created by the New York-based theater company, The Civilians. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), this production explores humans' relationship to the environment focusing on critical issues of conservation and climate change. It premiered at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre (KC Rep) from February 17 through March 18, 2012. This summative evaluation employs the Framework for Evaluating Impacts of Informal Science Education Projects (Friedman 2008) to assess the play and its ancillary programs' impact on adult and student audiences. The main data sources were an online survey of the play's general audience (with a 43% response rate) and a paper survey distributed to students. The adults' responses were compared to the smaller student sample where relevant. Examples of major findings follow: Many more students than adults came away feeling much more informed than before(30% and 6% respectively). The same percentage of each group felt about [as informed] as before(41%) about the environment.Respondents' descriptions of new science ideas they took away from the play cognitive impact were divided into three categories: causes of the ecological crises, effects on the planet and species, and solutions to the crisis. The relative strength of each response category was the same in each sample: effects strongest, solutions next, and causes last. In terms of affective impact, the majority of both audiences found the play enjoyable and engaging. Two in three members of both audiences agreed, The play and songs make the science exciting and understandable for non-scientists. The vast majority of both audiences agreed, The play and music can reach people who think they can't understand science. When audiences were asked to choose from a list of words describing how the play made them feel, the two top choices in both samples were informed and engaged (in that order). Three of six statements that explored attitude toward environmental issues revealed disparities between the adult and student audiences. Many more adults than students were deeply concerned about the impact of climate change on the natural world. Likewise, more adults than students were eager to learn more about what [they] personally can do for the health of our environment and found the connections between climate science and theater/the arts stimulating. After a Saturday matinee, a panel of three local scholar-activists took the stage to discuss their environmental research and activism, and their reaction to The Great Immensity. Observation indicated the audience's positive response; however, few attendees completed the online survey. Those who responded rated the program as intellectually stimulating, scoring it 6.22 out of a possible 7 points. A small sample assessed another ancillary program, The Great Immensity interactive website. In conclusion, findings from observations, surveys, and ancillary programs indicate that The Great Immensity effectively engaged two diverse audiences and increased their understanding of environmental issues.