The Catastrophist

The Catastrophist is a theatrical meditation on uncertainty, connection, and the fragile boundary between everyday life and global crisis. Moving through time and memory, the play follows a scientist navigating the emotional and ethical weight of studying viruses—and the personal relationships that shape how we face the unknown.

Playwright Lauren Gunderson crafts an intimate, deeply human story about curiosity, fear, love, and the limits of what we can control. The Catastrophist invites us to sit inside the questions that define modern life: What do we owe each other in uncertain times? How do we live with risk? And how do we find meaning when the future feels unstable?

A riveting solo performance, The Catastrophist is less a biography than a reflection—an exploration of ambition and mortality in an age of unpredictability.