Shunya Theatre Presents Ira Hauptman's PARTITION, Now Through 8/18

What is the art of the sciences - and can the arts be approached scientifically? Can the precise language of mathematics be inspired by supernatural visitation? Can one human believe that another's work was so inspired - inviting him halfway across the world for collaboration and enlightenment?

Analytics are revealed through leaps of faith in "Partition" in which two mathematicians break down their own with the ghost of another - and one winsome goddess. G. H. Hardy and Srinivasa Ramanujan's collaboration as mathematicians is widely documented, as is Ramanujan's inspiration in the form of the goddess Namagiri.

Shunya Theatre presents Ira Hauptman's theatrical interpretation of the relationship. Ira Hauptman's script centers on Ramanujan's working years with Hardy at Cambridge. Hauptman, a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and currently a

professor of playwriting at Queens College, has interwoven real events and magical fantasy into a rich cultural tapestry where a South Indian goddess and an egotistical French ghost can play right alongside hard-nosEd Cambridge professors.

Director Sara Kumar says, "Ultimately, the play is about partition or separation - the separation of faith and reason, of two iconic figures in mathematical history, of East and West. However, within this tension of separation, there is also a gravity-like force that draws seemingly distinct people and ideas together. Like any artistic endeavor, the birth of mathematical poetry is as creative as it is destructive."

Partition runs August 2 - 18, 2013 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, at 14 Pews (800 Aurora Street, Houston, TX 77009). Information and tickets are available at www.shunyatheatre.org. Tickets are $16 in advance, $20 at the door.