The Catastrophist

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Honestly the best science Ive ever done and - frankly the best science in the history of humankind - has started with the same thought experiment: find the ways in which humanity thinks it is special and assume that were not. How do you plan for a catastrophe Virologist Nathan Wolfe, named one of TIMEs 100 Most Influential People in the World for his work tracking viral pandemic outbreaks, proposed pandemic insurance years before the novel coronavirus outbreak. No one bought it. Now, in a post-COVID world, we hear his story. A time-jumping tale based on the life and work of Nathan Wolfe (who also happens to be the playwrights husband). Though not a play about COVID19, it is a true story of a pandemic expert. A deep dive into the profundities of scientific exploration and modern Judaism, the lengths one goes for love and family, the bracing truths of fatherhood and discovery, and the harrowing realities of facing your own mortality, The Catastrophist is also a story of a main character battling the story hes in... and who is writing it.

Reviews

A work of undeniable immediacy. * Washington Post *

Author Bio

Lauren Gunderson has been one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015 topping the list twice including 2019/20. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and John Gassner Award for Playwriting, and a recipient of the Mellon Foundations Residency with Marin Theatre Company. She studied Southern Literature and Drama at Emory University, and Dramatic Writing at NYUs Tisch School where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship.