Civic Theatre of Allentown to Show GORILLAS IN THE MIST as Part of National Evening of Science on Screen, 3/16

Allentown, PA -- Civic Theatre of Allentown announced today it will take part in the second annual National Evening of Science on Screen on Monday, March 16. Twenty-two independent theaters in cities across the country will participate in this event, which will feature a short introductory video, followed by a unique film and speaker presentation at each venue as part of its Science on Screen program. Civic Theatre of Allentown will screen "Gorillas in the Mist" with an introduction by Dr. John Cigliano of Cedar Crest College. The presentation is scheduled to begin at 7:15 pm at Civic's historic 19th Street Theatre.

With Science on Screen, theaters pair a variety of films with science and technology experts. Each film serves as a jumping-off point for the expert speaker to explore a related scientific or technological topic in a way that engages general audiences -- from time perception in Inception to the theoretical neurobiology of the zombies in The Night of the Living Dead. This program began in 2005 at Coolidge Corner Theatre in Boston, MA and has since expanded to other independent cinemas through a national grant initiative funded by the prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and administered by the Coolidge. Civic Theatre is among only 23 cinemas to receive a Science on Screen grant in 2014. It is the only cinema in Pennsylvania to offer a Science on Screen Series this year.

"We're delighted to join with the Coolidge in celebrating a National Science on Screen evening in 22 cities across America," said Doron Weber, Vice President, Programs, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. "This has been a banner year for science movies such as The Imitation Game and Particle Fever (both of which were supported by Sloan) as well as The Theory of Everything and Interstellar. Science on Screen shows that just about any popular film can be a gateway to an exhilarating discussion about science and technology and their formative role in shaping the world we live in, be it epic, comic, satiric, horrific, biographic, dramatic or thrillerific! "

The National Evening of Science on Screen aims to highlight the rich and varied connections between science and film. Movie-and-speaker pairings will address such diverse concepts as virtual reality, underwater exploration, climate change, and the physiology of taste. Each participating theater will present a different program, with audiences nationwide experiencing the excitement of discovery as they enjoy some scientific enlightenment along with their popcorn.

Civic Theatre of Allentown is presenting the film "Gorillas in the Mist." Dr. John Cigliano, Director of Environmental Conservation and Professor of Biology at Cedar Crest College is the featured presented at the Civic Theatre event. Dr. Cigliano will speak on how human activities, both good and bad, affect the conservation of gorillas and chimpanzees .

"Gorillas in the Mist" is the Oscar nominated film that is based on the autobiographical 1983 book by naturalist Dian Fossey. Before the book could be brought before the cameras, Fossey had been mysteriously killed; her death provides a logical, if somewhat ghoulish climax to the film. A Kentucky girl, Fossey is inspired by famed anthropologist Louis Leakey to devote her life to the study of primates. Traveling into deepest Africa, Fossey becomes fascinated with the lives and habits of the rare mountain gorillas of the Ugandan wilderness. Studying them at close quarters, Fossey develops a means of communicating with the gorillas, and in so doing becomes obsessed with the beasts' well-being. Appalled by the poaching of the gorillas for their skins, Fossey complains to the Ugandan government, which dismisses her by explaining that poaching is the only means by which some of the Ugandan natives can themselves survive. She refuses to accept this, and becomes a militant animal-rights activist, burning down the poachers' villages and even staging a mock execution of one of the offenders.

The 22 cinemas participating in the national evening of Science on Screen are as follows: Amherst Cinema, Amherst, MA; Athena Cinema, Athens, OH; Belcourt Theatre, Nashville, TN; California Film Institute/San Rafael Film Center, San Rafael, CA; Capri Theatre, Montgomery, AL; Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM; Cinema Arts Centre, Huntington, NY; Civic Theatre of Allentown, Allentown, PA; Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline, MA; Dairy Centre for the Arts, Boulder, CO; The Grand Cinema, Tacoma, WA; Indiana University Cinema, Bloomington, IN; The Little Theatre, Rochester, NY; The Loft Cinema, Tucson, AZ; Maine Film Center, Waterville, ME; Media Arts Center San Diego, San Diego, CA; Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, MI; Moxie Cinema, Springfield, MO; Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT; Robinson Film Center, Shreveport, LA; Roxie Theater, San Francisco, CA; and The State Theatre of Modesto, Modesto, CA.

About the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation - The New-York based Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, founded in 1934, makes grants in science, technology, and economic performance. Sloan's program in public understanding of science and technology, directed by Doron Weber, supports books, radio, film, television, theater and new media to reach a wide, non-specialized audience.

Sloan's Film Program encourages filmmakers to create more realistic and accurate stories about science and technology and to challenge existing stereotypes about scientists and engineers in the popular imagination. Over the past 15 years, Sloan has partnered with some of the top film schools in the country - including AFI, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, NYU, UCLA, and USC - and established annual awards in screenwriting and film production, along with an annual best-of-the best Student Grand Jury Prize administered by the Tribeca Film Institute. The Foundation also supports screenplay development programs at Sundance, Tribeca, Hamptons International Film Festival and Film Independent's Producer's Lab and has developed such film projects as Morten Tyldum's The Imitation Game, Rob Meyer's A Birder's Guide to Everything, Musa Syeed's Valley of Saints, and Andrew Bujalski's Computer Chess.

The Foundation also has an active theater program and commissions over a dozen science plays each year from the Ensemble Studio Theater and Manhattan Theatre Club as well as supporting select productions across the country. Recent grants have supported Nell Benjamin's The Explorer's Club, Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People, Sharr White's The Other Place, Lucas Hnath's Isaac's Eye, and Anna Ziegler's Photograph 51. For more information about the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, visit sloan.org.

Civic Theatre of Allentown is a 501c3 non-profit organization that professionally produces live community theatre, is the Lehigh Valley's longest running year-round art house cinema, and the home of the Lehigh Valley's oldest continually operated children's theatre school. More information on Civic Theatre of Allentown can be found at www.civictheatre.com.

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