Caltech Will Present TESLA: A RADIO PLAY FOR THE STAGE

As part of the Getty-led PST ART: Art & Science Collide Festival, Caltech will present Tesla: A Radio Play for the Stage, written by Dan Duling and starring Gregory Harrison, Dan Lauria, Hal Linden, Charles Shaughnessy, French Stewart and Vanessa Claire Stewart for five performances only October 4, 5, and 6 at Ramo Auditorium on the Caltech campus.
 
The production is directed by Michael Arabian and produced by Conwell S. Worthington, II.  The sound effects are by Tony Palermo. Tesla: A Radio Play for the Stage is presented as part of Opening Doors, Caltech’s performing arts series that is funded as part of the Getty’s PST ART: Art & Science Collide.   
 
Tickets are available at  https://pst.caltech.edu/events/opening-doors?
 
When Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning named their newly incorporated company Tesla Motors, Inc. in 2003 to build “a car manufacturer that is also a technology company” as a tribute to the Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla, his name became one of the world’s most known brand names.

Tesla himself is now the subject of Tesla: A Radio Play for the Stage, telling the story of the brilliant, but controversial inventor and futurist during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Consider: while Thomas Edison was busy inventing commercial appliances for the 20thcentury, Tesla was already imagining technology (wireless power, the possibility of world-wide wireless communication that could fit in one’s pocket) for the 21st century.
 
His volatile relationship with Edison, his allegiance with George Westinghouse, and his confrontations with the power brokers of American business provide the framework for this fascinating, compelling and wildly entertaining production.
 
The play is staged as a radio drama (Tesla was posthumously credited with the invention of radio) featuring live, very theatrical sound effects and a cast of six renowned actors who portray close to 50 different characters while chronicling Tesla's life.
 
Michael Alexander, on behalf of Caltech Campus Arts and Culture, said, “Director Michael Arabian and producer Conwell Worthington II have assembled one of the most well-known casts in recent memory to perform this play which tells the story of one of the most integral, intriguing and possibly eccentric figures of modern life.   But unlike E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime, Tesla is not a fiction, but based on Tesla’s actual life, which was indeed instrumental to how the 20th century there-after played out.”
 
About Tesla: A Radio Play for the Stage
 
In 1900, Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla were the talk of New York, equally famous for their contributions to the science of electricity. But while Edison was monetizing inventions for the 20th century, Tesla was envisioning breakthroughs to revolutionize the 21st century. Who would have guessed that Tesla: A Radio Play for the Stage, a theatrical performance about Nikola Tesla, one of the greatest, and most eccentric, scientific minds the world has ever known, could be, from moment to moment, so gripping, funny, human and surprising?
 
Featuring award-winning director Michael Arabian’s star-studded ensemble, Dan Duling’s rapid-fire script vividly brings the improbable but true story of Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current, radio and so much more, to life onstage.
 
Nikola Tesla's time has come. Interest in this charismatic savant has never been stronger. His story, that of a man of science who was also an immigrant, now has additional political resonance. An added bonus: Tesla was also an extraordinary showman, bon vivant and visionary. And while Thomas Edison was inventing appliances for the 20th century, Nikola Tesla was envisioning the technology of the 21st century.
 
Playwright Dan Duling said, “My fascination with Tesla began in the 1990s. The Internet was in its infancy. Google was still years away. Modem calls were only slightly better than fax machines!  My challenge: to find a way to convey the scope, scale and human drama of Tesla’s improbable career and life.  Eventually, I hit upon the theatrical conceit of a radio play, allowing the narrative to fly, telling a story of triumph, tragedy and the value of scientific innovation. As much as possible, I relied on Tesla’s own words from his personal writings and interviews.
 
As for my relationship with electricity, it started very early. I was still in diapers when I picked up an electrical cord, pushed it into my mouth and bit down. I’m told I scooted across the floor as if shot from a rocket. Clearly, I was destined for a life in the theater.”
 
The Opening Doors series presented by Caltech features three other performing arts programs. 
 
On October 18 and 19 at Beckman Auditorium, Huang Yi & Kuka weaves together the art of modern dance and the science of mechanical engineering in a series of stunning vignettes between live dancers from the Huang Yi Studio and Kuka, a robot conceptualized and programmed by Huang Yi, an acclaimed Taiwanese choreographer, dancer, and inventor.
 
On November 16, the local choral and Grammy Award winning vocal ensemble, Tonality will present HomeCare, a choral concert focused on the climate crisis that includes the use of words from young leaders who have spoken about the urgent need for action to conserve what resources are still available on this planet
 
On December 6 and 7, locally-based, nationally-touring Invertigo Dance Theatre presents Turing Tests, Apples, and Queens: Collective Storytelling Through Fairy Tales and Artificial Intelligence, blending fact and mythological fiction to explore the life and work of English mathematician Alan Turing through dance. The program uses movement, music, and words to illuminate facets of Turing's experiences as a WWII codebreaker, the father of computer science, and a gay man who faced discrimination and criminalization.
 
For additional information on tickets and times, visit  pst.caltech.edu or call the Caltech Ticket Office at 626-395-4652.  Caltech’s Campus and JPL are also hosting visual arts exhibits beginning on September 29. 

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