Performing arts presents 'Isaac's Eye'

By Kaitlyn Delaney
Photo Editor

Starting Friday, Oct. 6, LCC Performing Arts is presenting “Isaac’s Eye” in the Gannon Building’s Black Box Theatre.

“Isaac’s Eye,” written by Lucas Hnath, will run Oct. 6, 7, 13 and 14 at 8 p.m., with a show on Sunday, Oct. 8 at 2 p.m. The production is directed by LCC Theatre Professor Andrew Callis.

Tickets for the show range from $5 for students with a valid ID, to $15 for general admission.

An intriguing mix of fact and fiction, “Isaac’s Eye” is a take on the path that made Isaac Newton the person we know today. The play shows Newton as he attempts to prove his theory of light to fellow scientist Robert Hooke, and how it affected his relationships with the people closest to him.

There are many things about this play that director Andrew Callis said he finds interesting.

“I think it’s more than the scientific battle that’s fascinating, and people who saw ‘Oppenheimer’ might understand it,” Callis said. “The personal life of scientists, the jealousy, the deep water they can get into with the authorities funding their work. But what I find fascinating about this is that, it’s not just a scientific squabble, Isaac is trying to get into God’s mind, as he puts it.”

The story is a contemporary satire that separates the facts from the fictitious in a very creative way.

“And then it’s such a strange way of presenting things, to write things on the board that are true,” Callis said. “It’s kind of fun, kind of theatrical. I really like the narrator talking about the characters as they’re doing the scenes.”

From left, Camilla Trudell as Narrator/Dying Man, Jonathan Riley as Robert Hooke, Will Milstein as Catherine Storer and Chet Brayton as Isaac Newton perform a scene during a rehearsal for LCC’s production of “Isaac’s Eye."  Photo by Kaitlyn Delaney

The play, though about the scientist, is not just about science, but about the relationships between people. Jonathan Riley, who plays Robert Hooke, said he enjoys a few aspects of the play.

“My favorite part of this play is when I (Hooke) am talking to Catherine,” Riley said. “We are having a really deep connection, and it gets a little deeper, a little intimate. It gets interesting. Other than that, (I enjoyed) learning about Isaac Newton, and some of the actual facts he did was pretty interesting as well.”

To buy tickets for “Isaac’s Eye,” click here or in person. To learn more about upcoming LCC Performing Arts events, click here.