Central Square Theater mourns the loss of Brit d’Arbeloff, a long-time dear friend whose vision and generosity helped shape who we are today.
Brit has been a part of Central Square Theater’s story since we broke ground in 2007. In 2017, she activated that legacy by underwriting the “Brit d’Arbeloff Women in Science Production Series,” a program that platforms women explorers of everything from the cosmos to DNA, honoring the challenges these women faced in their fields alongside their groundbreaking discoveries.
With Brit’s support, this initiative has produced seven plays — including three world premieres — and a month-long digital festival. A body of work giving voice to women in science on our stage and reflecting the very qualities Brit embodied throughout her own life: intellect, curiosity, and the refusal to accept limitations. (See highlights here.)
Brit was the first woman to graduate in mechanical engineering from Stanford University in 1953 and later earned a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, working on heating and cooling systems for high-speed aircraft, moon launches, and space travel.
As one of the few women in her field, she often spoke candidly about being turned away from job interviews simply because employers assumed “Brit” was a man — an experience that undoubtedly shaped her lifelong commitment to championing women in science, a commitment our theater has been honored to help carry forward.
Known affectionately by family and colleagues as “Queen d’Arb,” Brit will be remembered here, and everywhere she left her mark, as a woman who devoted her life to building a better world with her intellect, wit, warmth, and determination.
Central Square Theater is forever grateful for Brit’s belief in the power of theater to illuminate the stories of women in science, and for the legacy she leaves in every production of the Brit d’Arbeloff Women in Science Series still to come.
This reflection draws on d’Arbeloff’s formal obituary published by Bellodeau Funeral Home and a remembrance posted by the MIT Women’s and Gender Studies program.
A stronger
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