What Happens When Light Bends And The Importance Of Solar Eclipse: Kay Matschullat's Vision Mission For MAXlive

At its core, Media Art Exploration (MAXlive) believes in bringing together storytellers, performers, scientists, and creative technologists, to collaborate and produce immersive live performances that explore the impact of science and technology. Break new ground in the hopes of illuminating the promise and peril of the light-speed advances affecting us every day.

Kay Matschullat, founding artistic director, is an accomplished performing and media arts producer and educator. With a lifelong fascination with how collaboration can engage the public, she dedicates her work to deconstructing barriers and presenting out-of-the-box perceptions. Kay has decades of experience and has taught art in renowned organizations such as New York University and California Institute of the Arts.

"Directing theater and teaching around the country has been incredibly gratifying," shared Kay. "However, I wanted to take my vision to a higher level and start initiating projects. At MAXlive, we come up with innovative ideas, and sometimes artists share their creative projects, and we help take them to fruition."

As part of the Path of Totality initiative created by the Simons Foundation, MAXlive will play a role in the art performances curated to unite people from all walks of life along the path of an eclipse. Path of Totality was created to provide an opportunity for off-the-grid towns and cities that accommodate over 30 million Americans to experience the celestial event on April 8 together, reveling in connectedness and joy.

One of the final destinations of the eclipse is Vermont, where MAXlive will bring audiences in the Northeast Kingdom closer to the cosmos and each other with an immersive theatrical performance—When Light Bends. Performances will take place on March 22-24 at the Highland Center for the Arts in Greensboro. The play is supported by the Simons Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Vermont Arts Council.

Did you know that gravity bends light? In When Light Bends, sleight of hand, optical illusion, music, and mystery will show you how. Letting science and art intertwine, When Light Bends presents a story of two lovers searching for a closer connection to each other, who find themselves paired with the tale of Albert Einstein's struggle to complete the General Theory of Relativity. In When Light Bends, an eclipse represents a portal to new beginnings and discoveries. "The play has music, magic, illustration of the laws of physics, and two captivating parallel storylines," added Kay. "When Light Bends is a story of gaining knowledge, uncovering hidden truths, taking risks, and finding new paths. The naturally occurring optical illusions on Earth reveal the Universe is more than meets the eye and these mysteries can be best explored through artistic inquiry."

When Light Bends is based on a concept by Kay Matschullat, and written by two storytellers, Gracie Leavitt, and John Lopez who collaboratively created the script. "Having two writers really helped create parallel narratives that have so much in common, but are also incredibly different," explained Kay. The stage director, Elena Aaroz, has experience in theater and multimedia performances internationally, and Justin Townsend, the lighting and set designer, won a Tony Award for his work in the Broadway musical, Moulin Rouge.

An eclipse and other stellar phenomena have been a fundamental part of the human experience, and MAXlive makes these mysteries and miracles more approachable. What Light Bends explores the 1919 scientific collaboration between Einstein and Artur Eddington. Eddington proved the central notion of Einstein's theory that space and time are not absolutes but a continuum. Kay's mission for the play is to illustrate these big ideas with the magic of illusion, the playfulness of space and time in theater, and the power of storytelling. The General Theory of Relativity seems like a far-away concept, but many people don't realize it's an innate part of everyone's life.

Kay Matschullat with Gracie Leavitt and astrophysicist advisor Jared Goldberg of the Flatiron Institute, At the Creative Brainstorming between artists and scientists for When Light Bends.

The collaborative nature of MAXlive garnered the attention of many institutions, and on March 27, When Light Bends will play at the Museum of Science, Boston, which is one of MAXlive's partners. Additionally, MAXlive has presented at the San Francisco Exploratorium and New York's Carnegie Hall.

As a non-profit, MAXlive relies on government and institutional support, private donations, and partnerships. While most organizational grants go towards supporting individual projects, private donations allow Kay and her diverse, vibrant team to continue spreading science awareness artistically. These funds go towards operational processes and rewarding performers, actors, composers, writers, scientists, and collaborators.

"One reason why we do what we do is to bring live arts to broader audiences and spark dialogue around the impact of science and technology on our lives," said Kay. "The intersection we foster at MAXlive attracts fascinating people. I love giving artists a way to enhance the perception of science through artistic expression and to deepen their artistic voice through intertwining science and technology. I saw audiences and resources diminish in my lifetime, and my vision mission with MAXlive is to revitalize the dialogue between performing artists and their audience."