Congratulations to writer/composer team Sara Wordsworth and Russ Kaplan! Chosen from a pool of almost 100 applicants, the team will write a musical for Making Books Sing about Albert Einstein’s influence on a fictional girl growing up in the 1950s who’s having trouble with math.
Russ and Sara have already made a name for themselves with 2010’s critically acclaimed Off-Broadway musical In Transit (Primary Stages), and we’re thrilled to be working with them. Our yet-to-be-titled Einstein & math musical is scheduled to go up in Spring 2014.
I’ve been reading a lot about math anxiety, a condition described as “feelings of tension and anxiety that interfere with the manipulation of numbers in a wide variety of ordinary life and academic situations. Math anxiety can cause one to forget and lose one’s self-confidence.”
Einstein’s early relationship with school probably would have caused most people to forget or lose their self-confidence. As a child, he was often thought to be slow or a lazy day dreamer, when really he just went about learning in ways that were different from other children. Fortunately for all of us, he didn’t let the pre-conceived notions of others stop him from pursuing the things he loved. There’s no evidence that Einstein suffered from math anxiety per se, though he did famously say to a young student, “Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics; I can assure you that mine are still greater.”
Math anxiety is particularly prevalent in girls, who even today are subtly (and sometimes not-so-subtly) steered away from pursuing careers in math and science. We’re very excited to develop a show that addresses issues of self-confidence and overcoming stereotypes, and that encourages young audience members, both boys and girls, to believe in themselves!
