This paper explores the relationship between Goethe's theater praxis and his early experiments on light and color throughout the 1790s. The paper first describes the inception of each endeavor: (1) Goethe's debut as stage director of Weimar's court theater on May 7, 1791- a role that would last a quarter of a century, and (2) the defining moment occurring just ten days later, as he stood by his window alone, looked through a glass prism and suddenly saw the "true law" of color. This moment not only instigated innumerable experiments but also required Goethe to define, and later revise, his own experimental method of observation.
The paper illustrates a decisive shift in Goethe's judgment of German theater from something "mechanical" and "frivolous" in the early 1790s into something with "an inner life," worthy of epistemic value after 1796. The swing parallels two aspects of his experimental work on optics. First, it reflects the language used in his polemic against "mechanical" explanations for light and color. But more significantly, it corresponds to a significant modification of his experimental method of observation between 1792 and 1798, when he began to relax the boundaries between scientific objects and artistic efforts. This paper traces how Goethe unbolted his experimental method from scientific observation and began to apply it to theater, validating the stage as a site for knowledge production. Finally, it discusses the significance of both rules and riddles as intrinsic to performing an experiment both
