No Recombination Without Representation

The MIT Museum, Central Square Theater, and the City of Cambridge are pleased to announce a partnership around a new theatrical production: No Recombination Without Representation. Bringing history back to the present and exploring civic engagement in science, the piece reenacts the 1976 Cambridge City Council hearings on the ethics and safety of new genetic research, staged in the very room where the debates happened fifty years ago. Performances will occur on June 13, 14, and 21, 2026 at Sullivan Chamber in Cambridge City Hall. All shows are free and open to the public with registration.

Recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology, which combines DNA from different organisms, has produced life-saving discoveries such as synthetic insulin and gene therapy. Yet in its early days, when research impacts and potential innovations were unknown, it sparked the public’s fear of possible “Frankenstein bacteria.” This led to national debate and the aforementioned 1976 Cambridge City Council hearings on a new lab designed for conducting rDNA research in the area. As a result of the hearings, a citizen-led review board emerged to create research guidelines, transforming Cambridge into the biotech hotspot it is today — the first city in the United States to adopt research guidelines from a deliberative community process. These debates highlight the transformative power of civic engagement in the sciences — a lesson that remains pressingly relevant today in discussions of AI and other emerging technologies.