I have made a list of a few others. Given the respect with which science is accorded in Russia, it is not terrible surprising that most I have found come from Russia. I suspect there are others from Eastern Europe that I haven't heard about. A book by Arbusov, about which I have no further information, apparently lists more.
Around 1905 Maxim Gorky and Leonid Andreyev, the famous symbolist writer, intended to write a play together about astronomy. The plan was never realized and instead each wrote his own, although the protagonist in Gorky's play is a chemist.
Leonid Andreyev--To the Stars
The action takes place at an observatory in the Caucasus, as the family
of a famous astronomer, Sergei Nikolaevich Ternovsky, is stranded during
a blizzard and a revolution (evidently the revolution of 1905). Ternovsky
is portrayed as brilliant and aloof, benevolent but unconcerned with wordly
affairs; to him "all people are the same." When his daughter and son-in-law
return from having fought in the revolution, the theme of the play is made
manifest: Through tears Ternovsky must reconcile his belief that "all people
are the same" and that the spirit survives with the fact that his son has
been captured and beaten to idiocy in prison.
"To the Stars" is Andreyev's first play and the characters are drawn somewhat in black and white. Science itself is treated with greater respect than one finds in Western plays. There appears to be no translation in English.
Maxim Gorky--Children of the Sun
The general plot line is strikingly similar to Andreyev's: The action
takes place at the home of a naturalist, Pavel Fyodorovich Protasov. Protasov's
exact profession is not spelled out, but he seems to be a chemist of some
sort, and occasional remark are made that he is engaged in creating a "homunculus."
Like Ternovsky in Andreyev's play, Protasov is portrayed as removed from
worldly affairs, but unlike Ternovsky, he is not shown as being cold, but
polite, innocent and absent-minded. The snowstorm in this play is the chaos
of the household: a neglected wife on the verge of having an affair with
an artist, a drunken plumber who beats his wife, swindlers, cholera, a
sick sister who with oracular prophecies foresees revolution. Russia. And
Protasov is trying to get some work done. He is an optimist; he sees humans
as "children of the sun" and foretells a bright future for all mankind.
His sister sees suffering and cruelty everywhere. Cholera, suicide, madness
and class warfare all come together in the last pages. Though Gorky keeps
all the plotlines clear (the play is long--four acts, over 200 pages in
a loose format), it comes across as a bit too much, almost a Russian situation
comedy. Given the date of composition, 1905, Gorky probably saw it differently.
Apparently Children of the Sun was done at Louisville about ten years ago, but I have not seen a translation.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn--I have been informed that Solzhenitsyn has written a cybernetic play of the future, although I have not yet been able to track it down.
Maureen Hunter--Transit of Venus
Blizzard Publishing Co.
301-89 Princess St.
Winnepeg, Canada R3B 1K6
1992
This play by Canadian playwright Maureen Hunter was published in 1992
and concerns the efforts of French astronomer Guillaume Le Gentil (1725-1792)
to measure the transits of Venus, which was an important method in the
18th century to establish the distance from the Earth to the Sun. The action,
however, takes place in his country home before, between and after his
ill-fated voyages, and centers mostly around his fictitious engagement
to a very young Celeste, who is a prototypical feminist. She waits faithfully
for him through his first voyage, but during the second--which lasts six
years--she takes a lover, having assumed Le Gentil has deserted her. In
fact, storms, wars and disease have kept him away nearly two and one-half
years longer than anticipated. Le Gentil returns home, having failed in
his endeavor and having been declared dead, only to find his estate confiscated,
his mother senile and Celeste pregnant. The play ends on this sad note.
The author seems to lay most of the blame with Le Gentil's scientific pursuits, and throughout he is portrayed as a self-centered, if lively, egotist. Astronomy is relegated to the background and the audience will not learn anything about measuring transits of Venus other than it is necessary to establish the scale of the solar system. However, the enterprise of astronomy is treated with some respect, although the primary tension in the play due to the conflict between love of work and romantic love. Clearly, the plays title is meant to be taken in the metaphorical sense.
(There is an earlier play of the same name by Harwood, but it does not appear to have any connection to science.)
Tony Rothman--The Magician and the Fool
This three-act drama concerns an imaginary meeting between the Russian
poet Pushkin and the French Mathematician Evariste Galois on the eve of
their respective duels (in which they were both killed). During the meeting
they recount the stories of how each got into his particular mess and attempt
to dissuade each other from going through with the affairs of honor. To
no avail of course. Apart from the meeting, which never took place, the
drama is based on factual events of the early 19th century. On another
level it is a meditation on the similarities between the artistic and scientific
personalities.
The Magician and the Fool won the annual playwriting competition at Oxford (The Oxford Experimental Theatre Club competition) for 1981-1982 and received a partial staged reading in Boston.
Tony Rothman--The Sand Reckoner
This is a drama written in the form of a Greek tragedy, complete with
chorus, that concerns Archimedes and the defense of Syracuse during the
Second Punic War. It centers around Archimedes' decision to build engines
of war for King Heiron and in doing so wrestles with the scientist's moral
responsibilities in building weapons. The play has had several staged readings
in Boston, including one at the Parallels in Creativity Symposium (October
1995), Jim Simpson, director.
Freeman Dyson wrote of the Sand Reckoner: "Gripping and moving...The
play is a lot better than Brecht's Galileo and almost as good as Eliot's
Murder in the Cathedral."
The Following rough list of plays on science was provided by Susan Croft. At present we have no further information on them.
Cloning and Genetic Engineering:
An Experiment with an Air-Pump --Shelagh Stephenson
BBC TV play re: discovery of DNA
Nicola Chapman ? -- Karen Malpede
Codes:
Play re: Enigma -- Hugh Whitemore
Scientific Ethics:
Blinded by the Sun -- Stephen Poliakoff
The Affair, The New Men and The Masters -- Ronald Millar and C.P..Snow
Astronomy:
The Astronomers Garden -- Kevin Hood (Methuen, 1992?)
Nuclear Power / Weapons Research/ Einstein:
Insignificance -- Terry Johnson
e=3Dmc2 -- Hallie Flanagan (1947)
Dead End Kids -- Joanne Akalaitis in Theater13: 3, Summer/Fall 1982
Lusty Alberts Timely Passion -- Eileen Pollock
The Genius -- Howard Brenton
Einstein Wouldnt Like It -- Sandra Clark
Brighter than a Thousand Suns -- Simon Dunmore
The Choice for Life - Franz Xaver Kroetz
The Life of Einstein -- Norman Leach
Uranium 235 - Ewan McColl
How I Wonder -- Donald Ogden Stewart
Theory for the Attention of Mr Einstein -- Paul Unwin
The Atom Bomb Project -- Michael Wilcox
Women and Science:
Breathless -- April De Angelis in Second Wave Plays ed F.Gray Sheffield
Academic Press, 1990
Classic plays touching on science, featuring scientists, scenes re:
science:
Faust -- Goethe
Dr Faustus - Chrsitopher Marlowe
Frankenstein (adaptations of) -- e.g. Living Theatre
Too True to be Good -- GB Shaw
The Basset Table -- Susannah Centlivre