Lincoln Center Festival: Opening Skinner’s Box

Why do we love? When would we kill? How do we learn? Why do we believe in the unbelievable?

With their trademark mix of wit, insight, and inventive stagecraft, Britain’s Improbable Theatre takes us on a “fascinating, if at times alarming” (Times, U.K.) tour of ten famous 20th-century psychological experiments, starting with B.F. Skinner’s notorious rat boxes. Inspired by Lauren Slater’s acclaimed book, Opening Skinner’s Box is a time-traveling dialogue with the audacious scientists who set out to unlock the secrets of human behavior. Amidst ethically questionable methods, shocking results, and blinding biases, one thing becomes abundantly clear: Everything we thought we knew about ourselves is wrong.