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BACK OFF. MAN—I'M A SCIENTIST
Fans of rock dinosaur trivia will no doubt
be aware that, prior to joining Queen, gui
tarist Brian May was a doctoral candidate
in astrophysics at Imperial College, London.
Most fans will be aware of this, but not the
bartender with whom I spent two hours of my
life I'll never get back arguing over whether
May studied astronomy or astrology. Try as
I might to make the point that outside of
the ads in the back pages of High Times no
university in the world offers postgraduate
degrees in Zodiac Studies, this particular bar-
jock would not be moved. I came away from
that exchange depressingly sober and berating
myself for ignoring two fundamental maxims:
1) never argue with the man pouring your
drinks, and 2) sometimes even the most seem
ingly obvious points of logic will merely slap
like wavelets against
the walls of stubborn
belief.
One of the effects
of our species learning
to utilize tools and
outthinking the other
animals to the top of
the food chain is that
once we got there
we found ourselves
with the capacity and
luxury to believe in
things unseen, to have
faith in powers greater
than ourselves—gods,
God, the Devil, angels,
demons, ghosts, aliens,
monsters, gravity,
magic, philosophy and
psychology, just to
name a few. And while
we divide ourselves
into camps based upon
which almighty powers
trip our triggers best and frequently go to war
over them, the fact is that given an infinite
universe—or, according to quantum theory, an
infinite number of universes—there is room
at the table for all, Jesus and Buddha, L. Ron
Hubbard and the Loch Ness Monster, ancient
astronauts and Dr. Phil. Unfortunately, for
every believer out there, there is a skeptic who
stamps his foot and demands proof, and as we
all know, believing in something is a helluva
lot easier than proving it.
From 1930 to 1980, on the bucolic campus
of Duke University, there was an enclave of
scientists dedicated to the daunting task of
securing empirical evidence of the unprov-
able, a remarkable story that is the subject
of NPR correspondent Stacy Horn's new book
Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts,
Poltergeists, Telepathy, and Other Unseen
Phenomena, from the Duke Parapsychology
Laboratory (HarperCollins, 2009). Though the
college hoops fan in me hesitates to give Duke
props for anything, the Parapsychology Lab
was.a bold and laudable attempt to expand
the frontiers of scientific inquiry.
Among the many fads and fancies of the
Jazz Age was an international mania for
Spiritualism, the belief in life after death, and
mediums and clairvoyants were doing a brisk
business in seances and table-tapping (two
of Houdini s biographers referred to this cot
tage industry as the Psychic Mafia). Many of
these seers were exposed as charlatans and
con artists by a vigorous handful of skep
tics and debunkers, and a debate raged over
whether such phenomena existed or were even
possible. Enter a pair of psychologists, J.P.
and Louisa Rhine, who were certain that the
mind had potential abilities far beyond what
we know and were determined to prove it,
but only through the scientific method and
the accumulation of hard data. The Rhines
designed a series of tests intended to identify
and catalogue ESP, telepathy and psycho
kinesis and express them statistically, with
the dual aims of finding ways to apply their
findings practically and gaining acceptance of
parapsychology as a legitimate field of study.
Just like any new science, however, from
alchemy to quantum physics, parapsychological
research had to endure an army of nay-sayers
who questioned the Rhines' credibility, their
methods (including the use of the now-famous
Zener cards, with their wavy lines, circles and
stars—Zener himself
asked that people stop
calling them that), and
their lack of conclusive
results. Still the Rhines
pressed on, testing
hundreds of subjects
on their ability to
read, communicate
and influence objects
remotely and gather
ing impressive data.
The lab's work was
significant enough to
draw the attention of
luminaries like Albert
Einstein, Carl Jung,
Aldous Huxley and
later, Timothy leary
and Richard Alpert,
who attempted to
apply their work with
psilocybin and LSD
to the Rhines' ESP
research, with mixed
results. Also very interested were the U.S.
military, who saw the potential of psychic
spies and soldiers and wanted to counter an
identical program of the Soviets'.
One area the Rhines did not want to broach
was ghosts, for the simple reason that haunt-
ings and poltergeist phenomena are impos
sible to test in the laboratory. As many of the
lab's backers had donated money specifically
to fund life-after-death research, however,
the Rhines had no choice but to comb the
mountain of letters and requests they received
daily for potential ghosts, theorizing that pol
tergeists were actually manifestations of psy
chokinesis. Thus while celebrated figures like
Hans Holzer and Peter Hurkos wowed crowds
with psychic revelations, the Duke team were
the original Ghost Hunters, making the first
attempts to crack ghost cases using the meth
ods and gear of science.
Horn's book is a interesting look at an
early example of edge science, and while she
is often a bit more credulous than she should
be, she also makes a solid case for the wealth
of unexplained phenomena out there and for
the continually emerging theories that may
yet bear out what the Rhines and their col
leagues worked so hard to nail down. As we
continue to be fascinated by the adventures of
Ghost Hunters, Whisperers and Busters in mov
ies and TV, it's clear that we want very badly
to believe that there's more out there than we
can see, and we want very badly for someone
to to prove it.
John G. Nettles
UNBELIEVABLE
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Sound and Fury Signifying Something:
Mounting one of Shakespeare's tragedies or
histories is always a formidable undertaking.
Theatrical companies tend to turn to his com
edies with far more frequency. It makes sense.
If you're going to go through the rigors of
attempting to master Shakespeare's language,
it's nice to have physical comedy and rela
tively easy-to-land jokes as a release. With the
tragedies, on the other hand, the linguistic
intricacy is punctuated by death and lots of
weighty emotional conflicts rather than bawdy
puns and pratfalls. Plus, it's easier to keep
the audience engaged with the more compact,
briskly paced comedies. Rapt attention from
the audience, whether full of Shakespeare
neophytes or connoisseurs, is always tough
to maintain. How do you make Shakespeare
accessible to the newbie and keep it fresh for
those encountering a play for the umpteenth
time? Rose of Athens Theatre (with direc- .
tor Joelle Re Arp-Dunham at the helm) is
tackling these formidable challenges this week
with a limited-run engagement of Macbeth.
Of Shakespeare's tragedies, Macbeth is
by far the fastest moving; the plot is tightly
compressed and jam-
packed with murders,
beheadings and grip
ping hand-wringing.
As Macbeth and Lady
Macbeth, characters
ensnared by a com
plex mix of ambition
and guilt, Ben Reed
and Kathleen Hogan
portray the central
players (or puppets?)
driving the action.
The task of delivering
the witches' word-rich
riddles, equivocations
and head-scratching
paradoxes falls to
Becca Woolbright,
Carole Kaboya,
Danielle Bailey
Miller and youth
apprentices Aloma
Dunham and Jenna
Lancaster. Rounding out the cast are for
mer ACC Commissioner Elton Dodson, Rose
of Athens core member Lisa Mende, Keith
Delaplane, Mitch Rothstein and Jeremy
Miller. Rose of Athens fleshes out its take on
the tragedy via production design provided by
Jennie Alvemaz (costumes), Rich Dunham
(lighting) and Dillon Nelson (sets). Live
music composed and performed by drummer
Patrick Ferguson (Five Eight and Music Hates
You, among others) will set the foreboding
mood during the trio of public performances
(Mar. 27, 8 p.m. & Mar. 28, 2 & 8 p.m.) at the
Morton Theatre. Call the box office (706-613-
3771) to secure tickets, priced at just $15 for
adults and $10 for ages 25 and under.
A Claustrophobic Confinement: University
Theatre tackles similarly heavy themes this
week in a production of Federico Garcia Lorca's
The House of Bernarda Alba directed by
Kristin Kundert-Gibbs. The play, written at
the outset of the Spanish Civil War and com
pleted just weeks before Lorca's execution by
one of Franco's firing squads, features one of
the most ruthlessly authoritative characters
ever to grace the stage. Following the death
of her husband, Bernarda Alba sequesters her
five daughters in the house. She prohibits
The University Theatre presents The House of
Bernarda Alba at the UGA Chapel Mar. 25-29.
them from forming relationships with anyone
and restricts them from doing pretty much
anything else. MFA performance candidate
Shana Youngblood plays the matriarchal
tyrant, a personification of Franco fas
cism, as her thesis. The all-female cast also
includes Elea Soler, Stephanie Davis, Kelly
Nielson, Kristen Gillies and Robyn Reynolds
as the five daughters. Original music from .
local singer/songwriter Marisa Solky adds
to the play's emotional texture. The House
of Bernarda Alba opens Mar. 25 at 8 p.m. at
the UGA Chapel and continues with evening
performances the rest of the week before
concluding with a 2:30 matinee on Sunday.
Admission is $7 for UGA students and $10 for
everyone else. Tickets are available at the box
office (706-542-2838).
Fun with Nuns: Athens Creative Theatre light
ens the mood with a production of the musical
Nunsense, a touchstone of the silly-nun genre.
Its lineage can be traced to the nuns with
wacky vocabularies who sing of flibbertigib
bets in The Sound of Music, and th^ musical
can name the Sister Act franchise among its
descendants. Many
have attempted to
mine the habit for yuks
(see also: "The Singing
Nun," The Flying Nun,
all five (!) Nunsense
sequels). Apparently
there's a sizable audi
ence out there for nuns
behaving kookily. It's
certainly the formula
on which Nunsense
relies. The musical fol
lows a band of sisters
who puts on a variety
show to raise funds
for the convent. June
Mazur, Sara Norris,
Rhonda Tye, Suzanne
Richardson-White and
Leia Berry star. The
show plays at Memorial
Park's Quinn Hall
Theatre Mar. 26-28,
7:30 p.m. & Mar. 29, 3 p.m. Tickets are $15
for adults and $12 for seniors, students and
children. Call 706-613-3628 for reservations.
Fables and Fairy Tales: The family-friendly
shows playing this week also avoid super
intense drama. Phillip Baumgamer directs
A Bag Full of Fables, a stage adaptation
of Aesop's greatest hits, for Athens Little
Playhouse. Five of Aesop's wisdom-dispensing
fables come to life in the play: "The Fox and
the Crow," "The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing,"
"The Fox and the Grapes," "The Tortoise and
the Hare" and "The Wind and the Sun." ALP
intends to keep the design sparse in order
to spotlight the stories and young act:rs.
A Bag Full of Fables plays at the Seney-
Stovall Chapel Mar. 27-29. Show times are
9 a.m & 7:30 p.m on Friday, 2 p.m. & 7:30
p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Call
706-208-1036 to reserve tickets ($10 for
adults; $8 for kids, students and seniors). The
local youth talent will also be on display in
Clarke Central High School's spring musical,
Cinderella, Mar. 26-28, 7:30 p.m. & Mar. 29,
2:30 p.m. $7 tickets for adults and $5 tickets
for students are available at the door.
Jennifer Bryant
MARCH 25,2009 • FLAGP0LE.COM 7