Review: ‘Informed Consent’ Tests the Ethics of Genetic Research; New York Times, 8/18/15

Charles Isherwood, New York Times; Review: ‘Informed Consent’ Tests the Ethics of Genetic Research:

"In “Informed Consent,” a thoughtful and engrossing play by Deborah Zoe Laufer, a research scientist specializing in genetic diseases finds herself embroiled in controversy when her fierce dedication to her work, and her deeply personal reasons for pursuing it, lead her into murky ethical waters...

The play, which opened on Tuesday at the Duke on 42nd Street theater, a co-production by Primary Stages and Ensemble Studio Theater, then moves back in time, to Jillian’s years at a university in Arizona. Here she proselytizes (directly to us, whom she jokingly calls her “cousins”) for the wonders of genetic science with the fervency of an evangelical preacher. “Now that we can trace our genome, we’re finally able to read the greatest story ever told,” she says with excited awe, “the history of our species, written in our cells.”...

Staged on a handsome set by Wilson Chin that wittily uses a quartet of staircases in the same general shape as DNA spirals, “Informed Consent” has some speechy moments. But it raises provocative questions about the potential conflicts between scientific discovery and religious beliefs.

Advances in science, Jillian firmly believes, are sometimes accidental, and sometimes controversial. “They think we single-mindedly do experiments, know what we’ll find, and then we get the answer,” she says. “But real science is in the mistakes.”

“Informed Consent” is a reminder that some mistakes must be paid for."