Cincy’s Know Theatre tours the nation with Calculus and makes math fun for over 10,000 students

The Cincinnati-based Know Theatre has swept the nation with a play called Calculus: The Musical! that has managed to make math fun for more than 10,000 students.So well has this tour gone that Know Theatre is already booking performances for their 2009 – 2010 tour.”In just one season, Calculus: The Musical! has become a flagship of Know Theatre,” says managing director Eric Vosmeier.  The special ingredient making this play so unique is its recipe for making math and science entertaining.”Math and science based programming is a rarity to start with,” Vosmeier says.  “But it’s not often that you hear the kinds of amazing stories we get to hear nearly every time we perform this show. This show helps teachers to teach and students to learn all while making them laugh. It’s amazing.” This innovative educational play was first put on by Dan Davidson and Sarah Stephens.  After finishing their stretch of the tour this February, Babs Ipaye and Breona Conrad took the reins for the remaining performances.  Ipaye and Conrad will finish their stretch in May.By the time the tour ends next month, the tour will have visited almost 60 cities and 19 states, from Dallas, Texas to Bedford, Massachusetts.Calculus: The Musical! is the creative child of Sadie Bowman, Know Theatre’s Education Coordinator, and high school math teacher Marc Gutman.  Under the company name, Matheatre, Bowman and Gutman wrote and performed the play at Fringe Festivals, schools and conferences around the country between 2006 and 2008.  Through this extensive touring, the play has done a great deal to promote diversity.Surveys show that, of the 10,000 students who have seen Calculus: The Musical!, nearly 15 percent were Asian, 10 percent African-American , 10 percent Hispanic, 60 percent Caucasian and the remaining 5 percent other races or ethnicities.With such a successful showing so far, Know Theatre has planned multiple national tours over the next several years.  “It is a unique and moving experience to see Calculus: The Musical! evolve to this next phase, especially after working on the show for several years,” Bowman says.  “I’m pleased to know that the tour is going strong and that so many students are benefiting from the culmination of educational based and theatrical programming.”Educational sponsors for Calculus: The Musical! include the Louis and Melba Schott Foundation, Andrew Jergens Foundation, Toyota Foundation, Duke Energy Foundation, Summerfair Foundation and the Ohio Arts Council. Writer:  Jonathan DeHartSource:  Megan Venzin