How the World Began

Sharp, thoughtful and mysterious, <I>How the World Began</I> is a powerful story about an outsider in a close-knit, devastated community.<br/><br/>Susan, a science teacher from Manhattan, starts work in a small rural Kansas town that''s been ripped apart by a tornado. When one of her pupils - the damaged, articulate Micah - takes offence at an off-the-cuff remark about how life on Earth began, Susan is thrown into an ethical firestorm about science and faith that leads to her fearing for her safety.<br/><br/>Casting light on the tension between religion and secular liberalism, <I>How the World Began</I> explores the debate between creationism and evolution, and how this is taught in schools. With hints of American classics like <I>Inherit the Wind</I> and <I>The Catcher in the Rye</I>, the play traces the inexorable, fatalistic momentum from a single casual act into an all-encompassing dispute. A dispute which then threatens the very foundations of a community still reeling from a colossal disaster. In addition to its relevant and complex themes, the play is also about human psychology and what drives people to extreme ideological positions in times of duress.<br/><br/>With writing which is provocative, moving and intelligent, Catherine Trieschmann asks important questions alongside in-depth character studies. This shrewd and compassionate drama is astute, perceptive and controversial.