June 13: No Recombination Without Representation
Sat June 13, 2026
2 pm
Central Square Theater and the MIT Museum present:
NO RECOMBINATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION
by Patrick Gabridge
Directed by Debra Wise
June 13, 14, & 21 at Cambridge City Hall
Free; tickets required
History Cambridge is excited to be a community partner on this exciting new play. Grab your free tickets today, and we’ll see you there!
Science, Democracy and Existential Risk: Re-staging Cambridge’s Recombinant DNA debate 50 years
On a hot summer evening in 1976, the Cambridge City Council faced a packed hearing room—and a decision that would echo across the globe. At the center of it all stood Mayor Al Vellucci: sharp-tongued, fearless, and ready to take on science itself. The issue? A new biohazard lab designed for groundbreaking recombinant DNA research—celebrated by some as the future of science, feared by others as the birthplace of “Frankenstein bacteria.” Nobel Prize–winning scientists, passionate citizens, politicians, and the global press all converged on Cambridge to confront one explosive question: Who gets to decide the boundaries of scientific discovery?
Fifty years later, step back in time with an immersive theatrical experience staged in the very same Cambridge City Hall hearing room where this conversation took place. Relive the tension, the debate, and the moment that turned local politics into a worldwide reckoning and that formed the Kendall Square that we know today.
Stay after the show to engage in thought-provoking conversation about the legacy of the hearing, the power of public oversight, and the future of community-driven science.
Central Square Theater has partnered with the MIT Museum and the City of Cambridge to produce the world premiere of No Recombination without Representation. This project came to life as the leadership of the MIT Museum and Central Square Theater (CST) reflected on the continued relevance of these debates as the occasion reached its semicentennial. Central Square Theater has a history of collaborating with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology through the Catalyst Collaborative@MIT, the nation’s only on-going partnership between a professional theater company and a world-class research institution.
