The race is on
‘The Sequence’ makes science fun in portraying the struggles involved with mapping the human genome
By Jana J. Monji 11/20/2008
For those of us who didn’t follow the race to sequence the human genome, the very topic of Paul Mullin’s new play, “The Sequence,” making its world premiere at Boston Court, might seem both intellectually daunting and deadly dull.
While scientists and medical researchers may quibble at its accuracy, as my companion — a Caltech graduate — did, Mullin’s work is an entertaining take on a historic scientific event.
Sequencing the human genome promised to help medical and biotechnological research, with immediate practical use in genetic testing for predisposition for health disorders such as breast cancer.
Covering the period from 1993 through 2001, Mullin’s script narrows down the race to two men: Craig Venter (Hugo Armstrong), the first president of biotech company Celera, and Francis Collins (William Salyers), head of the Human Genome Project.
Armstrong’s Venter is a man with a booming voice and an ego that, even amongst medical men, is big. Yet he feels no need to dress for success. Costume designer Dianne K. Graebner has him dressed in an old blue shirt and neutral colored trousers — a sharp contrast to Salyers’ Collins, who is clad in a beige suit
with striped tie.
Through Celera, Venter meant to patent some of the gene sequences and used a fast but questionable shotgun approach to the sequencing. Entering a race begun by the government-subsidized Human Genome Project, Celera, as a private company, wasn’t required to share data but Collins, as part of a government agency — the National Institutes of Health — was.
Collins seems mousy behind his oversized glasses. Both men seem off the fashion mainstream compared to the attractive, ambitious young reporter, Kellie (Karri Krause) who pursues the story in hopes of getting a Pulitzer.
As the only totally fictional character, the reporter is used to both link the two men and supply narrative, but also to bring in a parallel and more immediate race against time. Kellie’s mother died of breast cancer and she herself should be tested.
This character is also used to further villainize “Darth Venter” when he, as a married man, makes a pass at her. While Venter did marry one of his students, this fictional pass at a fictional character muddies the waters when one is asked to choose sides.
Mullin’s script explains the human genome sequencing with high showmanship and director John Langs gives us crisp mood changes — switching from realistic interactions to circus-like hawking in the blink of the eye — and quick pacing in this no-intermission endeavor that still allows the audience time to digest the dumbed-
down science.
Yet, the Human Genome Project wasn’t Collins’ baby. Venter founded and was president of Celera, but James D. Watson originally headed the National Center for Human Genome Research at NIH and was succeeded by Collins. The actual research for HGP was performed at universities and research centers in the US, Canada and Britain, as well as amongst a consortium of geneticists in China, France, Germany and Japan. Venter was going against not one man or just another American organization, but a larger, more international enterprise.
Not everyone in the know swam to Collins’ side. James Shreeves in his book “The Genome Project” is strongly pro-Venter, while John Sulston in “The Common Thread: A Story of Science, Politics, Ethics and the Humane Genome” takes the more public view. Mullin’s script obviously sides with Collins, but either way, this production takes science and makes it fun.
The Sequence” continues until Sunday at the Theatre @ Boston Court, 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena. Call (626) 683-6883 or visit www.BostonCourt.org.
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