Could You Patent the Sun? A Solo Keynote Performance LIVE OUTDOOR GARDEN!

Written and performed by Galinsky, directed by Cory Michael Herman, and executive produced by Dr. Nigel Brown, Could You Patent the Sun? drops audiences into one of the most defining moral moments of the twentieth century: Jonas Salk’s development of the polio vaccine and his refusal to patent it.

At a time when - MUCH LIKE TODAY - fear, illness, public trust, scientific discovery, and access to medicine shaped the daily life of millions, Salk made a decision that still reverberates today. Asked who owned the patent to the vaccine, he famously replied: “Could you patent the sun?”

That question becomes the moral engine of Galinsky’s solo performance.

Part theatrical keynote, part historical reckoning, part live act of civic imagination, Could You Patent the Sun? asks what happens when discovery meets conscience. What do we owe one another when medicine can save millions? What does public trust require? And how do we measure a life’s work when the reward is not ownership, but service?

The show draws a clear line from Salk’s era to our own. Then, as now, Americans wrestled with fear, uncertainty, institutional trust, scientific urgency, access to treatment, and the pressure placed on public figures in moments of national consequence. Galinsky brings that history into the room not as a lecture, but as a living, breathing theatrical encounter.

*****Please note this performance is outdoors with no raindate.

Event venue & nearby stays

Campos Community Garden, 644 East 12th Street, New York, United States

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