About | MATHEATRE

About Matheatre

Our Story

At the 2006 Minnesota Fringe Festival, Sadie Bowman and Marc Gutman premiered a highly unlikely smash hit: Calculus: The Musical! It was the product of a funny math teacher and a smart comedian, and it struck a resounding chord in the education world. Bowman and Gutman toured an early version of the show to schools throughout the US and Canada, then Know Theatre of Cincinnati produced an eight-year tour with their own actors. In 2016, Bowman and Gutman were joined by actor/writer/one-time-astrophysics major Ricky Coates to reboot the now classic Calculus musical and in this configuration, Matheatre continues to grow.

Now a 501(c)(3) entity with international reach, Bowman and Coates tour full time with four full scale productions that promote scientific literacy and intellectual curiosity. Marc Gutman and Rosalie Norris Gutman provide administrative support and music production from our home base of Minneapolis, MN. We now work with museums and science centers, libraries, and planetaria in addition to high schools and colleges. We now travel beyond North America, building relationships with students and science fans worldwide. We offer workshops to educators and science communicators and have a dramatized nonfiction podcast about math and science history. Matheatre is a member of ASTC (Association of Science and Technology Centers).

Besides her years of educational theatre experience with Matheatre, Sadie has previously served as Education Manager at Know Theatre of Cincinnati and a coordinator and performer for Thinking People’s Theatre of Portland, Oregon. She has been part of sketch and musical comedy groups in various cities and served as a creative contributor for educational software company ScienceVR. She holds a BA degree in Theatre Arts from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Born and raised in Cheyenne, WY, Ricky received his BFA from the University of Arizona and has been working as a professional actor for nearly 20 years. Since 2009, he has been a certified Teaching Artist. He has contributed creatively to educational software company ScienceVR. He started college as an astrophysics major and says he has finally found his dream job–pursuing his passion for acting by bringing his passion for science to life on stage.

Marc toured “Calculus: The Musical!” from 2006-08. Before and after developing the show, he worked as a Calculus teacher in Minneapolis, MN. He continues to create original songs about math and science. Marc holds a Masters degree in Math Education, a BS in Mathematics and an Electronic Art minor from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Rosalie is an accomplished musician and level 40+ Pokémon trainer. She wrangles paperwork and supports Matheatre behind the scenes.

Positive Impact

As of 2019 statistics, Matheatre reaches over 18,000 individuals every year and growing. Based in the United States, we travel worldwide to museums, colleges, high schools, libraries, theatres and any place science and arts can collide. Our professional theatre artists perform for and work with educators, students and laypeople to enrich science communication with the power of story. We believe that scientific literacy, curiosity, and imagination are necessary components of a healthy society, and these are values we seek to promote through our work.

Additionally, Matheatre takes the climate crisis seriously and is committed to offsetting the carbon emissions generated by touring. Besides doing what we can to reduce waste on the road (traveling with our own dishware, eating a plant based diet, refusing single-use plastic when possible), a portion of every booking fee is invested in carbon offsetting through the Nature Conservancy. We are working toward raising capital to purchase an electric vehicle for domestic touring.

Matheatre is a 501(c)(3) entity.

We accept tax-deductible donations at any level, at any time.

For a powerful impact in your community, school sponsorship opportunities are available at local, regional and national levels. The number one reason cited by educators for declining the opportunity for a Matheatre experience is lack of funding. Sponsoring a Matheatre event demonstrates to your community that you or your organization value STEM education, curiosity, scientific literacy and imagination.

All sponsorships come with benefits. Contact Sadie Bowman (sadie@matheatre.com) for more information.

In-Kind sponsorship opportunities are also available in the following sectors:

Hotels

Electric tour vehicle

Sound equipment

Air travel

We inspire curiosity and scientific literacy through live theatre, a unique experience that also fosters empathy, abstract thinking and attention span. Many students we reach report that this was their first time experiencing a live play. Other students tell us they didn’t enjoy math until our show framed it in a way that spoke to them. Still others are bolstered by the rare catharsis of being entertained by an experience that unapologetically celebrates the cerebral.

Our world desperately needs people who are scientifically literate and intellectually curious. We work to engage and recruit those people through the performing arts.

Thank you for supporting the imagination of the next generation of scientists and visionaries.

Board of Directors

Matheatre, Corporation | 501(c)(3) | EIN: 83-0526245