Science Theater Used as Catalyst for Kids Center

At this point, the Ventura County Discovery Center is just a plan to build a hands-on children’s science museum beside the Civic Arts Plaza.

But at the Thousand Oaks Performing Arts Center on Thursday, the principles behind the increasingly popular proposal--namely that learning about science can be a lot of fun if it is done in a creative way--were on full display.

Thanks to an $8,000 grant from Amgen Inc. and assistance from other local businesses, the nonprofit group of educators and scientists pushing for the museum is putting on the first in a yearlong series of science theater performances to promote the cause.

One of the group’s guiding themes is the Chinese proverb “I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand.”

Thursday’s performances of “The Brainiacs,” an interactive, improvisational theater piece on the workings of the human brain by UC Berkeley educators and professional actors, attracted busloads of teachers and schoolchildren from throughout Ventura County and beyond.

The shows at the 400-seat Forum Theatre were so well received, in fact, that the Discovery Center added another set of performances for today.

“By helping science learning in the community, we want to raise friends and funds,” said Carrie Glicksteen, a former principal of Portola Elementary School in Ventura who is the Discovery Center’s executive director. “It creates an excitement about the project. It’s nice to say, ‘The museum is going to be next door.’ ”

The Thousand Oaks City Council has agreed to lease a city-owned piece of land next to the Civic Arts Plaza to the Discovery Center for virtually nothing--$1 a year--if the group can raise the money to build and run the museum. Thousand Oaks has also given the Discovery Center an $80,000 loan and a $1 lease for office space at the Civic Arts Plaza, which has helped bolster the group’s credibility, Glicksteen said.

The Discovery Center hired a consultant to develop a fund-raising strategy to gather the estimated $6 million or so it will need.

In addition to “The Brainiacs,” Craig Fox, a teacher at Redwood Intermediate School in Thousand Oaks and a Discovery Center volunteer, had his students put together some hands-on science exhibits for people to check out before and after performances.

They amused adults as well as children.

City Manager Grant Brimhall, an avid supporter of the Discovery Center, took time to tinker with the displays Thursday.

“One of the real benefits of the Discovery Center is that it will continue to show us creative ways to talk about science,” said county schools Supt. Charles Weis, who serves on the group’s advisory board. “That is something educators are always trying to do.”

Weis caught a performance of “The Brainiacs” Thursday and came away impressed.

“What I thought they did really well is take somewhat dry information on the brain and make it very entertaining,” he said.

“I tend to think young people have a natural curiosity about the way the world works, and that’s science. But sometimes that curiosity is lost. Science needs to be fun.”

For information on the Ventura County Discovery Center, call 494-7753 or check out the group’s Web site at https:www.vcnet.comSciFox.