SMART PEOPLE at Capital Stage

From The New York Times:

Review: A Campus Caldron Too Hot to Touch in ‘Smart People’

Characters in Lydia R. Diamond’s drama grapple with race, class, prejudice, identity and sexuality.

Notes to Smart People, by Lydia R. Diamond

7-8) Valerie’s lines,  from Julius Caesar, II, 1, ll 257 onward:  Portia worries about her husband’s health.  What she doesn’t know is that Brutus’ worries have to do with the planned conspiracy to kill Caesar.

9) “Orientalism”, the theory popularized in the Academy in late 50’s, and debunked, famously by Edward Said in Orientalism (1978) in which he discusses the West’s presumption of superiority to application of clichéd analytical models for perceiving the “Oriental World”. 

10) BRIAN:“These numbers represent real people……” v. ‘scholars’ who argue decimal points 

11) “The stereotype-content model predicts….”   See Wiki…SCM

15) 1st BlackBerry phones released in 2002—offering cellular phone service, wireless email and internet access.  Took business world by storm.

16) ‘cognitive neuroscience’ “is the scientific field that is concerned with the study of the biological processes and aspects that underlie cognition, with a specific focus on the neural connections in the brain which are involved in mental processes.”    (See WIKI on ‘cognitive neuroscience for more info.)

Also see Brian’s work with Valerie, Scene 5.

‘neuropsych’—is a branch of psychology.  It is concerned with how a person’s cognition and behavior are related to the brain and the rest of the nervous system. Professionals in this branch of psychology often focus on how  injuries or illnesses of the brain affect cognitive and behavioral functions.”  (See WIKI on “neuropsychology” for more info.)

19) I-Phone released in 2007.

22)  As far as I can figure out, Jackson’s fooling with Valerie.  Both titles are of/or close to African-American songs.  Couldn’t find any ‘play’ entitled either.

29) Brian’s description of what his “study” is all about seems as clear a description of what he does as a neuroscientist as any.

33) “The Harvest,” opened 1975.  Upscale restaurant on Harvard Square, 

44 Brattle St. to be exact.

36) XR versions of Saxagliptin—drug for diabetes patients.

50) “stucky”- snobbish, arrogant.

52) Mass General – major teaching hospital in Boston

54) Enemy of the People (1882)—first response is that Dr.Stockmann and Dr. Brian White share similar qualities—including being stubborn.  (See interesting discussion of this in morgue, review of Smart People, by Tony Adler)

55)  Clark’s Study—the 6 dolls (3 White, 3 Black) visual reference to the Clarks’ study of prejudice in kids using dolls.  See Brown v. Board & “The Doll Test” in the morgue, if interested.  (Brian and Jackson discuss them further in Act II, sc. 1)

57) Rosen and Gardner “predict”—they might but I can’t find reference to them?

62) Mengele—the “angel of death”.  Nazi who sent 10’s of thousands of Jews to their deaths in camps, and performed grisly surgeries on many others—famously on twins.  

77) A Genius Grant.  The MacArthur Fellowship given annually to talented individuals in  many fields so they can be independently wealthy for a few years to pursue their art/science/whatever.  It’s mega-prestigious.

86) 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon.  More fun than I thought.  See Wiki—6 Degrees of KB.

88) “hobbyist”—huge insult to a serious scholar.

97) PDD-NOS  -- Pervasive development disorder—not easily specified.