Bioethics Symposium

media release: The 16th annual Bioethics Symposium will feature a staged reading of Homo Ex Machina, a new play that grapples with the existential fallout a brain implant wreaks on the life and love of a married couple. The reading will be followed by an expert panel including an ethicist, a neurologist, and a philosopher.

Join on Saturday, April 5 from 2-6 p.m. in the Play Circle at Memorial Union on the UW–Madison campus.

Tickets for this event are free. Reserve your ticket today and two weeks before the event you will receive more information via email about how to claim your ticket.

About the play

Charlie is a brilliant scientist whose life is upended when she is diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease that leaves her stuttering, shaking, and forgetful. Charlie’s wife Maggie selflessly plunges into a new role as Charlie’s caretaker. Over the years, both settle into their new identities. When Charlie finds out about an experimental neurostimulation brain implant, she is determined to undergo the procedure. Charlie’s transformation, however, is more than either she or Maggie bargained for, and the two suddenly become strangers in their own home. Impelled by the vainglorious neurosurgeon Ava and the adoring graduate student Tyler, Maggie and Charlie are pushed to their breaking points. As they negotiate the problematic gift of Charlie’s Faustian bargain, they must each confront themselves in excruciating and disorienting ways. Entangled in each other’s identities, the lives of Charlie and Maggie crescendo into a devastating climax that leaves their marriage incapable of being like it was before. The play was written by Karola Kreitmair, PhD, associate professor of medical history and bioethics.

Staged play reading

• 1:30 p.m. — Doors open
• 2 p.m. — Introductions and announcement of Dr. Norman Fost Award for the Best Medical Student Bioethics Essay
• 2:10 p.m. — Act I of Homo Ex Machina
• 3:10 p.m. — Intermission with coffee and snacks
• 3:20 p.m. — Act II of Homo Ex Machina
• 4:05 p.m. — Intermission with coffee and snacks

Panel discussion

• 4:20 p.m. — Presentation by Eran Klein, MD, PhD
• 4:40 p.m. — Presentation by Ariella Tubert, PhD
• 5 p.m. — Presentation by Arthur Derse, MD, JD
• 5:20 p.m. — Discussion with panelists and Karola Kreitmair, PhD
• 5:45 p.m. — End of event and start of reception