Steal Her Bones tells the story of Diana, a renowned evolutionary biologist and outspoken atheist She publicly conducts debates with creationists about things like the age of the earth and intelligent design, explains Thomas Gibbons, InterAct s Playwright-in-Residence.
Diana is scheduled to debate a theologian named Martin but just before the debate, she s diagnosed with cancer and is forced to cancel. After Diana dies, Martin publishes an essay, in which he says that they had their debate in private, Gibbons says, he believes that she came to accept God in her final days.
There s a third character in the play, Diana s wife Ellen, who challenges Martin s story and says there was no deathbed conversation. That leads to one of the play s primary philosophical questions.