TESLA Sells Out Opening Night

With all the buzz on the purchase of Nikola Tesla's old laboratory by the Tesla Science Center, Nikola Tesla himself has become quite the hot topic. Being the 70th anniversary of his passing, citizens around the world are finding different ways to honor the incredible scientist and inventor. Some of those individuals choosing to admire his work are Sanja Bestic and Sheri Graubert with their new Off-Broadway play, Tesla. Opening this week on May 24th with a preview on the 23rd, opening night is entirely sold out with guests ranging from around the world, including The Consulate General of the Republic of Serbia in New York and Vuk Jeremic who is a Serbian physicist, Politician and President of the United Nations General Assembly. Tesla will run through June 8th at Theatre 80 in the East Village.

The play lives out Nikola Tesla's final days in his New York hotel room as he is torn over the destruction and devastation occurring back in his homeland. It will take a look back through the eyes of an older Tesla into his younger years as a scientific inventor in his lab and work place. Tesla will explore the many risks Nikola Tesla took in the scientific realm discovering things that would have brought several advanced technologies to us many years prior to when we actually had them. It will also shine light on Tesla's relationship with Thomas Edison and will make the audience think twice about Edison's discoveries.

Recently, Tesla released a teaser video. The video can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/ybyUBYy7gzA

Director and producer, Sanja Bestic, grew up in Belgrade, Serbia where she pursued a career in theatre directing at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts at Belgrade University. She continued her education at the Moving Academy of Performing Arts in Amsterdam as well as the Michael Chekov Acting Studio and Lee Strasburg Institute for Theatre and Film. In 2010, she took all that she had learned and co-founded The Local Theatre NYC, a non-profit multicultural interdisciplinary art gallery committed to the research, production, presentation and interpretation of contemporary art. Sanja has directed many plays here in NYC such as The Tiger, Want & Need, The Doll and many others. She currently is directing and producing Tesla and will be taking the next step in making a documentary in 2014 on the mysterious life of Nikola Tesla.

Sheri Graubert is a prize-winning playwright. Her plays have been produced all across the USA, as well as in Canada, London, England and Sydney, Australia. Her plays are published in Best American Short Plays 2010 and 2011 [Smith & Kraus]. Her play, Humanogram, will be appearing with Neil LaBute in the International Timewave Festival. As an actress, she has worked with Cheek by Jowl, The National Theatre of Great Britain, the Joseph Papp Public Theatre and the English Shakespeare Company.