For a show that takes place in the 1940s, the TV series Manhattan does a pretty good job of breaking out of the stereotypical mold that is used to portray scientists. Case in point, the show features an African American scientist and two women scientists.
On the series, one of those female scientists, Helen Prins, is the sole woman working on the Manhattan Project, the mission that eventually created the atomic bomb. Actress Katja Herbers, who steps into the role of Helen every week, told us what it was like.
What appealed to you when you first took the role of Helen?
"There wasn't much known about the character and what she would turn out to be, but the pilot that I read, written by Sam Shaw, was poetry. I really wanted to work with him and the brilliant Tommy Schlamme and all the wonderful people involved in the show. And Helen being the only female scientist of course appealed to me, but honestly I would've played a horse if Tommy and Sam had asked me to."
There weren't a lot of female scientists in the 1940s. What was it like to step into a role as rare as that, particularly being the sole woman at Los Alamos working on the Manhattan Project?
"There's a scene in episode 7 when Helen talks to Charlie that I think says it all: 'After the war, you'll get tenure wherever you want. Even Theodore, he'll be fine. Academics chooses a black man over a woman every time. I'll fight to get an adjunct job at Podunk Junior College. But I don't give a shit, because for however long the war lasts, I get to do what I love.'
"Wartime was her time, however paradoxical that sounds. Gender didn't matter as much, and Helen got a job that she probably wouldn't have gotten were it not war."
What sort of research did you do to prepare for the role? Did you have to learn about scientific terms and language?
"I tried to understand as much of the science as I could and watched and read everything on the subject I could get my hands on. I also thought about women during that time— my grandmother, for instance, who wanted to become an actress or a pianist but had four children instead. Helen sacrificed becoming a mother in order to have a career."
Helen seems to fit in as "one of the boys" with her scientific team, but at the same time, she also seems to feel like the odd woman out. How do you balance that with the character?
"It's interesting watching back some of the episodes, the kind of woman Helen has become. I didn't know at the time I played her that that would be how she'd read. She has something to prove and I guess her ambition makes her less at ease with herself than I thought she would be. At the same time she is very independent and doesn't seem to need anything or anybody. But then we see her wanting love, like all of us."
The season finale of Manhattan airs on Sunday, October 19 at 10 EST.
