INGENIOUS NATURE Offers Final Human Nature Talkback, 1/4

Off-Broadway's rap guide to dating, Ingenious Nature, led by Baba Brinkman with turntablism by Jamie Simmonds at the SoHo Playhouse (15 Vandam Street), is offering its final Human Nature Talkback during the last week of the show's run. The weekly Talkback Series has invited experts from the science community to speak to Ingenious Nature's audiences. On Friday, January 4, following the 7:30 PM performance, audience members are invited to stay for the post-performance talk back by guest speaker Christopher Chabris, Associate Professor of Psychology and Co-Director of the Neuroscience Program at Union College in Schenectady, NY. For his talk back, Dr. Chabris will be discussing his research on cognition, intelligence, and behavior genetics and taking questions from the audience.

Dr. Chabris is the co-creator of the famous "invisible gorilla" video experiment, and co-author of The New York Times Best Seller, The Invisible Gorilla, and Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us, both with Daniel Simons. His research focuses on cognition, intelligence, and behavior genetics and he is also a contributor to The Wall Street Journal.

Ingenious Nature kicked off the talkback series with guest speaker Dr. Gary Marcus, blogger for The New Yorker, Professor of Psychology at NYU, and author of four books about cognitive science, including The New York Times Best Seller Guitar Zero and Kluge: The Haphazard Evolution of the Human Mind. Following Dr. Gary Marcus was Dr. Christopher Emdin, author of the book, Urban Science Education for the Hip-Hop Generation, who spoke about the use of hip-hop in urban science classrooms and education. On December 20, Dr. Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at the NYU-Stern School of Business and author of The Happiness Hypothesis, and The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, discussed the intuitive foundations of morality - its emotional foundations, cultural variations, and developmental course.

Directed by Darren Lee Cole, Ingenious Nature began performances on Friday, November 23rd, opened Wednesday, December 5th and has a closing date of Sunday, January 6, 2013. In this new theatrical mix tape, everyone's looking for love, or sex, occasionally even both. The science of evolutionary psychology claims to explain why, and how, this state of affairs came about. But can it help us find the right one? A young man decides to take the "science of mating" seriously in his personal quest for true romance. Will the theory work in practice? It turns out, ovulation studies can make for awkward first-date conversation. Ingenious Nature features music and turntablism by Mr. Simmonds, lighting by Jason Boyd and projections by Erik Pearson.

Ingenious Nature will play on the SoHo Playhouse Mainstage Wednesdays through Sundays at 7:30pm, until Sunday, January 6, 2013. The running time is approximately 90 minutes without an intermission. Tickets are available for $65. SoHo Playhouse Season Subscriptions are available for $99 and include 1 ticket to all 3 SoHo Playhouse shows (The Old Man and the Old Moon, Ingenious Nature, and Hamlet in Bed), a $195 value, and is fully tax deductible. To purchase tickets, visit: www.sohoplayhouse.com or call (866) 811-4111.

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