Former "Dr. Science" plays real-life professor
By David Burke, QUAD-CITY TIMES -- January 1, 2005

Dan Coffey grew up in a family of scientists, with his father and older brothers getting their doctorates in chemistry and physics.

Now, Coffey is getting a chance — a second chance — to play a scientist.

The 54-year-old, who gained a following among public radio listeners for his portrayal of answer-man “Dr. Science,” is again playing the role of a scholar in “QED,” a play produced by New Ground Theatre beginning next week.

In “QED,” he plays Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. That’s as close as he’s coming to the science mold his family had set.

“When it came to be my turn as a scientist, I realized God had made my brain a little bit different than my father and older brothers,” Coffey said from his home near Brooklyn, Iowa. “I wasn’t going to get a doctorate in chemistry, I was going into theater and creative writing.”

He also paved the way for younger siblings, including a brother who makes a living as a professional juggler in Australia.

Dr. Science grew out of Duck’s Breath Mystery Theatre, a troupe he founded along with fellow University of Iowa students in 1975. Called “the American Monty Python” by one publication, the Duck’s Breath members moved to San Francisco, where they began a 12-year collaboration.

“We’d seen what happens to people that stick around Iowa City too long,” Coffey recalled. “They end up delivering pizza in their 30s, with doctorates in English.”

He returned to Iowa in 1988, where he taught part-time at his alma mater and made the movie “Zadar, Cow From Hell.” A few years ago, he began teaching English composition at William Penn College in Oskaloosa, Iowa, making his daily commute from Brooklyn about 50 miles each way. He continues performing as Dr. Science, but mostly as an after-dinner or convention speaker.

Coffey accepted the “QED” role after being approached by New Ground founder and creative director Chris Jansen, who was an undergrad at Iowa when he was a grad student.

Jansen said Coffey was a logical choice between he was about Feynman’s age and character type, and his Dr. Science background was a bonus, she said.

“I thought he could really hold a one-man show, because he’s very engaging on stage,” she said. “It’s a lovely, engaging script, full of fascinating stories that this character tells.”

Directed by Jeff Coussens, “QED” is virtually a one-man show about Feynman, who developed the atomic bomb and quantum electrodynamics. He also had plenty of extracurricular activities, from performing in university theatricals to playing the bongos to frequenting topless bars.

“There’s all these different currents in it, memories of World War II, thoughts about science in general, and the use of intellect to treat the world’s problems as puzzles that can be solved,” Coffey said. “And the mortality of a single person.”

The only other character in the play is a student, played by Emily Burr, who appears during one scene in the second act.

“She gives him the will to go on living,” Coffey said. “The show is set at a time when Feynman is wrestling with cancer. He’s gone into remission for a few years, and he’s back. He’s trying to figure it out, use his intellect to beat this thing, like he used his intellect to help present the atomic bomb or the theory of quantamelectrodynamics, or QED, which won him the Nobel Prize.”

Coffey said the limit to his acting over the past few years has been reader’s theater presentations of plays he’s written. But performing again, especially opposite Burr, is making him want to do more.

“To act with a great actress again makes me realize I love acting. It’s just the most wonderful thing in the world,” he said. “No wonder people get bit by the bug and never leave.”

Coffey said he’s finding it difficult to prepare a one-man show.

“I never realized how much of a daunting task it would be to memorize all this dialogue. It’s amazing,” he said. “I’m 54 years old, and I think I’m burned out brain cell-wise.”

But he looked upon “QED” as “the very terrifying act of doing something real and new,” he said.

“It’s harder the more comfortable you get in old age to want to take a big risk,” he said. “It’s a big risk to be in a play. What if it gets a lousy review?”

David Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com.

Return to News&Reviews Page