Forces of Good and Evil Meet at Sci-Port's Mad Scientist Ball

Heroes of legend and science will battle the forces of evil when Sci-Port: Louisiana’s Science Center hosts its Mad Scientist Ball 7 p.m March 15 at their headquarters, 820 Clyde Fant Parkway in Shreveport.

The theme this year is “Superheroes vs. Supervillains,” and attendees are encouraged to dress as their favorite hero of lore or science – or wear their cocktail finest.

Jennifer McMenamin, senior director of development and marketing for Sci-Port, is excited about the event.. “We hold the Mad Scientist Ball to raise money for [science, technology, engineering and math] education in our area. We pick a theme each time, and this year we decided there’s a lot of great science in superheroes in general. Superman defies the law of physics. How does the Fantastic Four’s Human Torch withstand such high heat? How strong is the magnetic pull of Magneto?” McMenamin said. “Plus, there’s science superheroes like Einstein as well. We always have a goal of raising six figures for the event.”

Dressing in costume is a tradition for the Mad Scientist Ball. “That’s always one of the best parts of the Mad Scientist Ball. It originally started that our guests would wear lab coats to the ball. They would decorate a lab coat and wear it over their cocktail attire. We still have people that pull out their lab coats and wear them, which is fun to see,” McMenamin said. “Costumes are not for everybody, so if you don’t want to don your cape and tights, you can show up as your civilian alter ego to the ball.”

Mark and Rebecca Evans are first-time chairs for Sci-Port’s biennial fundraiser and will host in costume as Batman and Batgirl.

“We have four kids, and so education has been a big part of their development. They have all gone through the public school system here in Shreveport, and Sci-Port has played a part in that from the very early stages,” Mark said. “Our appreciation for Sci-Port comes from the curiosity level that it brings for the kids, and who knows where that can take them. That curiosity from seeing different experiments, and then their little mind clicks and spurs them to learn more, to me that is the beauty of Sci-Port. It’s a real important piece to our community.”

APEX Events is helping create the event, and co-owner Julia Foley has enjoyed the experience. “It’s a great opportunity for us to work with Sci-Port on this to help them with creating an experience and not just an event. We are trying to take what they’ve done in the past and ramp it up for this year and create a flawless event that has a great silent auction but allows guests to have a great experience for the evening,” Foley said. “The superhero/supervillan theme isn’t a new theme for events or fundraisers, but we are trying to take it up a notch. Guests are going to go through so many transitions through the space – from the time that they walk in the door, go through the check-in process and right when they go into the event – there are so many experiences throughout,” she said. “We have many different levels of interactions with superheroes and villains. You can’t have a superhero without a villain here and there. We really wanted to take what’s in Sci-Port already and really give the guests the ‘Pow’ and the ‘Wham’ of the great superhero sounds and include that in the scientific theme,” Foley said.

The exhibit at Sci-Port will be open during the ball. “The exhibition at Sci-Port right now is ‘Treasure,’ which talks about treasures throughout history. We thought, ‘Who is the guardian of the treasures? Who is the super hero of the treasures out there in the world?’ Of course, it’s Indiana Jones. You will see our hunky Indiana Jones around the event as well,” Foley said.

The event, catered by Good Eats Louisiana Food Service, will offer a buffet, as well as Sci-Port’s signature Liquid Nitrogen daiquiri. “DJ A-Bomb will be spinning music in the Space Dome. The premise of superheroes came from that time frame around World War II and the nuclear impact on people at that time. We wanted to include those elements as well. I think people will be surprised throughout the evening,” Foley said.

The Gotham Good News Band will also play. There will be a silent auction with more than 150 items on which to bid. A live auction will offer many “superherothemed” big-ticket items. Excalibur Comics will also offer a selection of comic books and comic book-themed items for purchase.

Individual tickets are available for $125, and sponsorship levels range from $1,500- $10,000 and offer various high-profile benefits and marketing opportunities. “At the highest level of sponsorship ($10,000 or higher), we include a superhero sidekick. That person will make sure your plate is full all night, they will get drinks for you if you don’t want to wait in line, they can check on an auction item to make sure you’re still the highest bidder. Basically you’ve got a superhero to take all the tough punches for you,” McMenamin said.

– Mandy Byrd