Welcome to Dark Sky Theater.

We are an astronomy-loving, quarantine-inspired, cosmic workshop that produces astronomy courses for those who are curious about what’s up in the cosmos. This isn’t the traditional approach to learning - no tests, no homework, no standing in the corner with a pointy hat, and absolutely no shame in not knowing something - just insightful and entertaining knowledge about our Universe geared towards adults, older teenagers, and families. In fact, we think our job is pretty easy. The Universe has so much to offer that everyone who takes one of our courses should walk away feeling inspired, knowledgeable, and at least a little bit awed.  Look - if we ever have cocktail parties and barbecues again, this is where you're going to get some really good icebreakers.

Our Foundational Course:

Our Shared Universe

(a.k.a. What you should have been taught about our universe in school)

• Day 1 - A tour of the Universe

• Day 2 - How stars work.

• Day 3 - Is that a Black Hole or am I missing something?

• Day 4 - Aliens - how to find them before they find us

• Day 5 - The Big Bang (who cares about chickens and eggs)

  Check out our detailed course contents.

Future Courses:

Okay, like all of you, we are doing our best to live through this pandemic one day at a time. Heck, we’re still having dinner table debates about what our community would most want to learn next. Should we dive deep into Black Holes? Should we do a course on the world’s most amazing telescopes? Or maybe we should do a course on beginning backyard astronomy. If you have a strong opinion about this or your own idea, send us a message through our Contact Us page.

How our courses work:

First off, register. The day before each class begins we will email you a Zoom link and password for that week’s live class. Join us, come alone or with your family (and we definitely recommend some popcorn and a drink) and watch, interact, and ask lots of questions.  There will be break-out rooms where you'll discuss universal ideas. There will be voting on ideas and opinions. And there will be laughter and fun.  Our ultimate goal is to get noise complaints from whatever Zoom meeting is happening next door.  

About our Host:

Here's what I want my learners to know about me:

When I was a child I would step out into the back yard of our home, stare up into the sky, and marvel at ... is exactly how almost every application statement to graduate school in astronomy begins.  I am so not that guy.  I grew up with my face in comic books, pretty much just interested in friends, sports and whatever was on TV.  In other words, I was a pretty typical kid.  But something happened after I went to college and then graduate school to study physics.  I was offered a job as an Astronomy Professor.  One problem though, I had only taken one astronomy course my whole life, as a young undergraduate, and that was the same course I was told to teach my very first time out of the gates as a professor!   On my first day, 120 students looked at me thinking that I knew more than they did.  (The Universe can be very humbling.)  Fast forward 19 years and I still teach that same course but with 300 students, two teaching assistants, and as much awe around the topics as I had on day one.

And now for the requisite formal bio with all the fancy words and bragging and leaving out all the times I showed up at a meeting with mustard on my tie...