Volume 85, Issue 21 Web Edition
SERVING BREVARD COLLEGE SINCE 1935
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February 19, 2020
'Life of Galileo' is a success
BC Theatre captures 17th century astronomy
By Carmen Boone
Copy Editor
The Brevard College theatre program
put on another great show last week and
throughout the weekend. “Life of Galileo”
was done incredibly well Thursday, Feb.
13 through Saturday Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. and
Sunday, Feb. 16 at 2:30 p.m.
“Life of Galileo,” originally written by
Bertolt Brecht, was adapted by David
Flare and directed here by visiting director
Catherine Barricklow. It starred many talented
BC students as well.
Anthony Zuniga played the leading role of
Galileo. Sydney Windham played Andrea,
Galileo’s pupil, and an astronomer. Claudia
Dahlman played four roles: Signora Sarti,
Second Monk, Cardinal Bellarmin and Crier.
Playing Ludovico, Old Cardinal and Man
was Kristian Michels. K’nique Eichelberger
played five roles. He played The Chancellor,
Chamberlain, The Cardinal Inquisitor, Vanni
and a frontier guard.
The role of Virginia, Galileo’s daughter,
was played by Sallie Marie Watson. Gabriel
Bernhard played Sagredo, Mathematician and
Barberini. Sarah Hajkowski played five roles.
She was Federzoni, Clavius the astronomer. First
Clerk, Senator, an official and Peasant.
Lisa Arrona also played several roles as well.
She was Cosimo, First Monk, Second Clerk,
Senator and Monk. Emma Harris played four
roles including Philosopher, The Little Monk,
The Rector and Senator. Countless others were
working as the production team behind the
scenes to make the show as great as it was.
The play has two acts and is divided into
13 scenes. It takes place in Padau in 1609, in
Galileo’s classroom at a university. After that,
the scenes take us to Venice, Florence, Rome, the
countryside and the Italian Frontier. The years
also span all the way to 1637.
At the beginning, in 1609, Galileo Galilei
created his own telescope to study the sun.
moon, stars and planets. He discovered
something that had not yet been seen before.
What he saw challenged the preconceived
ideas about the divine order of the universe
and what was really at the center of it: Earth.
Galileo’s books were written in the language
of “common people” as opposed to more
scholarly Latin. His work set off a “thirst for
truth” and his notes and observations proved
that the sun was in fact at the center of the
universe, and the planets orbit it.
A number of great inventions were designed
by Galileo such as irrigation water pumps,
a proportional compass and the pendulum
clock. He believed reason and truth could
lead him to the answers of many of the biggest
questions. “My trust is in men because they
employ reason in their everyday lives,”
Galileo said. “I believe in reason.”
Galileo always searched for new information
and longed to answer questions others could
not. His research and discoveries proved him
to be one of the more influential scientists to
give us bearing on how our relationships work
in turn with the natural world and, on a larger
scale, within the universe. “There is no virtue
in ignorance,” Galileo said. All the characters
interweaved perfectly to tell the story of how
what we know about the universe today was
discovered, and the challenges that many
faced to prove it.
The ideas Galileo presented certainly
challenged ideas that many were not willing to
change. “The play centers on Galileo Galilei,
the revolutionary Italian mathematician and
physicist whose discoveries approximately
400 years ago changed the world. Propelled
by the irresistible drive of Galileo’s curiosity,
the story illuminates the power of inquiry,
and the revolutionary nature of truth when it
challenges power,” director Barricklow said.
“It exposes the mechanics of the religious
and political power structure, which are the
methods of suppressing dangerous ideas.”
Gabriel Bernhard (left) plays three roles, while Anthony Zuniga (right) is Galileo in BC Theatre’s
production of “Life of Galileo.”