One of the things that came up in conversation in my meeting at the APS on Tuesday was Science Slams. These are a lot of fun, and are growing in popularity and frequency. Maybe you might want to take part in one, or organize one. There’s a lot of great theater to be had, and its fun for wider audience, just as poetry slams when done well can be fun for an audience that might not have chosen to study or listen to poetry. (See earlier posts on the local Dead Poets’ Slam, for example.)
My friend Herbi Dreiner, at the University of Bonn in Germany, (he’s in the photo at the right, used with permission) is one of the most active 
and experienced people I know of in the area of successfully combining physics, theatre, and (if you like) performance art. If you don’t know about his physics show, that has even gone on tour internationally, have a look at an article he wrote about it (with links to video and photos) for the journal The Physics Teacher here (arxiv version here).
Herbi’s been getting involved in physics slams too, and he wrote a very nice piece about his own participation in the Guardian. Have a look here. He went into some nice detail about how (with the help of the audience) he illustrated the issues involved in the Nuclear accident at Fukushima, and I quote some of that here:
I decided not to use slides, and instead to take you right into the heart of the reactor, highlighting the physics principles of the accident through simple reenactment. I represented the fuel rods myself, with a lab coat as the zirc alloy encasing. The audience helped me with water pistols (cooling mechanism), a pea shooter (neutrons for the chain reaction) and a tea kettle with a toy pinwheel for the generated steam and turbines. My main goal was to bring across the distinction between the nuclear chain reaction and radioactive decays. The latter unavoidably still continue even when you turn the reactor off properly. I had drawings on two flip charts at opposite ends of the stage. I moved to the nuclear decay side, once the control rods (pillows) had been inserted to absorb the neutrons
(peas). The cooling (second water pistol) was still working. Then the tsunami came: a jug of water poured by one audience member over the other with the water pistol. The subsequent hydrogen explosion which destroyed parts of the reactor building was represented by popping helium balloons.
Sounds like fun! You can see pictures from a science slam at Dortmund here, and a video report (with interviews – in German) here. Also, there’s a Science Slam website here.
Fermilab had a physics slam recently (I learned from Marge Bardeen). It also sounded like fun. There is a report on it here.
Inspired?
-cvj
