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Listen to Kaiulani perform excerpts from "A Sense of Wonder", as heard on NPR's Living on Earth. |
About Rachel Carson
Rachel
Carson has been called "the patron saint of the environmental movement."
She was a marine biologist and zoologist best known for her book Silent
Spring, which alerted the world to the dangers of chemical pesticides
and launched our modern environmental movement.Less known is that Miss Carson was one of America's great poets of the natural world. In her earlier works she brought alive the beauty and the mystery of the seas and its creatures to millions of readers.
In their purest form the poet and the scientist are one and the same. They are seekers after truth. Through the power of her knowledge and the beauty of her language, Rachel Carson became one of the great champions of the living world.
A Sense of Wonder
The play is the story of one woman's love for the natural world and her fight to defend it. It is the story of the extremely private Rachel Carson thrust into the role of controversial public figure.
ACT I
takes place in Miss Carson's summer home as she is preparing to leave. Fighting cancer, she fears this may well be her last visit to her beloved Maine coast.
ACT II
begins two months later in the wake of the furor over her book Silent Spring. Carson is simultaneously battling the chemical industry, the government, and the press to get her message to Congress and the American people.
A Sense of Wonder has been created with the
help and guidance
of many of Miss Carson's friends and colleagues and with permission
from the Rachel Carson estate.
of many of Miss Carson's friends and colleagues and with permission
from the Rachel Carson estate.