Vern Thiessen
How much do we know (or care) about the political affiliation of artists and scientists? What motivates someone to actively use her talent or expertise for a cause? Or become a spy? Is perfumery art or science? In UNCOMMON SCENT, award-winning playwright Vern Thiessen draws on the lives of two famous perfumers, Jean Carles and Germaine Cellier, and other denizens of Paris during World War II, to probe these questions, and more.
UNCOMMON SCENT will have its first public reading at 3:00 PM on Thursday, May 15 at the Ensemble Studio Theater as part of the Spring 2025 EST/Sloan First Light Festival. The reading is free and reservations are encouraged.
We infused Vern with questions about his play. He spritzed us with answers.
(Interview by Rich Kelley)
Tell us the origin story of UNCOMON SCENT. Where did the idea come from?
I've been thinking about this play for a dozen years. It started with a conversation in a bar with my science advisor Stuart Firestein about people who lose their sense of smell, and of perfumery. The particular case of Jean Carles came up in discussion
Why this play? Why now?
Well, the play certainly has a different resonance now than it did when I started writing it a year or two ago; what with right wing ideologies and fascism rising around the world.
From a purely human perspective, our sense of smell is the least understood of all our senses. It was fun to write a play about what that really means.
Jean Carles (photo courtesy of Givaudan)
From a political perspective, the play deals a lot with when, how, and why people collude with evil, and, on the opposite side, those that turn a blind eye or ignore what's happening under their noses — pun intended.
Also, for some people, COVID's effect was for them to lose their sense of smell, which is a profound experience.
What kind of research did you do to write the play? Did you work with a consultant?
Yes, I did a ton of research on the science of smell, perfumery, Coco Chanel, Josephine Baker, the perfumers, the Second World War in Paris, etc. It was a lot of research. Stuart and I have been refining the science sections of the play so that they are accurate.
What evidence is there that the Allied Forces tried to create a stink or stench bomb as a secret weapon during World War II? Were French perfumers really involved?
Quite a lot of evidence. The section about the trials of the stink bomb in the play is absolutely true. Were perfumers involved? No, not really, but hey, it's not a documentary. It's what I call a “fantasia of ridiculousness.”
Germaine Cellier (photo courtesy of Fragrantica)
I love the contrast you set up between Jean, who maintains that creating perfume is an art, and Germaine who insists that it’s more a matter of chemistry. Do such dichotomies exist in the perfume world?
I'm not a perfumer, but what I know is that things change rapidly. What I also know is that the rivalry between these two perfumers [Jean Carles and Germaine Cellier] was real and that at the time using chemistry in perfume was still in its infancy.
You include some famous historical people in UNCOMMON SCENT, most notably Coco Chanel and Josephine Baker. How historically accurate are your portrayals?
These portrayals are 100% accurate as far as I'm concerned. I read a lot of reliable sources and biographies about both of them so I'm very confident about what I've written.
What would you like the audience to take away from seeing UNCOMMON SCENT?
I want them to wonder how they "smell the world" they are in. How do they breathe it in? And what side of history are they on?
If we use the parts of a fragrance to describe UNCOMMON SCENT, would you say that the Base is the historical setting in World War II, the Heart is the debate over whether perfumery is art or science, and the Top Notes are your flights of imagination?
Left, Coco Chanel in Los Angeles in 1931 (Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection at the UCLA Library / CC 4.0)
Right, Josephine Baker in 1930 (photo by Nadar (1856-1939) Public Domain)
My formula for the play is a secret. The audience and readers are welcome to discover their own.
Your play includes several stage directions that say, “Sex is imminent.” How do you imagine actors staging that?
That is entirely up to the director.
Was everyone who lived in Paris during WWII, regardless of nationality, bisexual? Or simply oversexed?
Ha! Who knows? But it was fun to write.
How acute is your own sense of smell? What is your favorite smell?
I have a TERRIBLE snifter. My wife is always saying, “Can't you smell that?” (e.g. toast burning). I did lose my smell during COVID for a few days, which was awful.
My favorite smell? Today, it's the fresh baked bread I smell in the house.
What’s the hardest part of writing a play about science?
Making it fun. So many plays about science are so EARNEST, which is different from serious. I want to write entertaining plays about science that go beyond the facts.
EST mounted a production of a previous EST/Sloan-funded play of yours, Lenin’s Embalmers, about the scientists charged with embalming Lenin’s body. What draws you to write about the intersection of key historical figures and science?
Scott Sowers, left, and Zach Grenier in the play Lenin's Embalmers at EST in 2010 (Photo: Michael Nagle)
EST/Sloan also helped develop Einstein’s Gift and commissioned Pugwash. I am indebted to them, as this will be my fourth EST/Sloan play.
I am always interested in the untold story.
What’s your favorite play about science?
Oof. Tough Question. Today, Brecht's Galileo
What’s next for Vern Thiessen?
I'm working on a number of projects. One is the true story of four friends from a working-class hood of my hometown of Winnipeg, They sign up for the Vietnam war in the last of the 1960s. There are a lot of little-known connections between Canada and the U.S. And, as the relations between our two countries change so dramatically, this is a good time to talk about the things that connect us AND make us different.
UNCOMMON SCENT is one of two readings of new plays in development as part of the EST/Sloan Project in the Spring 2025 First Light Festival, which runs from May 15 through June 5. The festival is made possible through the alliance between the Ensemble Studio Theatre and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
