Or·bit - noun /ˈôrbət/
In physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved trajectory of an object, such as the trajectory of a planet around a star or a natural satellite around a planet. Normally, orbit refers to a regularly repeating trajectory, although it may also refer to a non-repeating trajectory. [Wikipedia]
The Mission Statement of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City is to discover, interpret, and disseminate—through scientific research and education—knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the Universe.
The play Natural History reflects orbits as vast as all of the matter in the Universe, and as microscopic as those within our own individual lives. The play serves itself to us in four parts, each of which has unique stories to tell as the characters are drawn to their safe spaces within the Museum to feed on the familiar environment, the grounding place on the course of their own unique journeys.
It is rich with metaphors illuminating both the ways in which Homo sapiens’ interactions – like the roles of predator and prey - are inextricably linked to all of the beings in the natural world, and the distinctly human characteristic we exhibit in striving to negotiate control over the orbit of our own domain. The movements of the play chart the trajectories of the orbits in our human relationships as they intersect, align and collide. The characters are proclaiming our commitments, declaring our intentions, demanding connection, facing our fears, and are sometimes sacrificed to the cause of healing other human beings.
“The Peace of Wild Things”
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
By Wendell Berry
