MIT-Underground Railway Theater collaboration
presents 'Einstein's Dreams' March 13 & 14
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For Immediate Release: February 6, 2006
Contact:
Mary Haller
Director of Arts Communication
MIT Office of the Arts
20 Ames St., Rm E15-205
Cambridge, MA 02139
e-mail haller@media.mit.edu
617-253-4006
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“It is at once intellectually provocative and touching and comic and so very beautifully
written."
--Salman Rushdie on Alan Lightman's "Einstein's Dreams
Cambridge, MA...A staged reading of an adaptation of the best-selling novel "Einstein's Dreams" by
author and physicist Alan
Lightman, Adjunct Professor of the Humanities at MIT will be the inaugural event in
a new multi-year collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Underground Railway Theater (URT).
On Monday, March 13, Boston actor/playwright/director Jon Lipsky will direct a staged reading of the play written by David
Alford and Brian Niece, starring Eric Rubbe, Debra Wise and John Sarrouf, at 7:30 p.m. in Room 10-250 (enter 77 Massachusetts
Ave.). Seating is limited; no tickets or reservations are necessary. Info: (617) 253-2341.
A post-performance panel discussion will include Debra Wise, artistic director of URT;
Robert Jaffe,
Jane and Otto Morningstar Professor of Physics at MIT, and author Alan Lightman.
A second free reading of "Einstein's Dreams" will take place at the First Parish Church (3 Church
St.) in Harvard Square on March 14 at 7:30 p.m. with a post performance panel discussion including author
Alan Lightman and Alan
Guth, V.F. Weisskopf Professor of Physics at MIT. Guth is a leading theoretical
cosmologist best known for the role he has played in developing the fundamental ideas of cosmic inflation.
Set in Berne, Switzerland in 1905, just before Einstein finished his Theory of Relativity,
"Einstein's Dreams" creates time-tangled, absurd and poetic worlds that illustrate the
tragedy and beauty of the human condition. Since being published in 1993, it has been translated into
30 languages and has been the basis for more
than two dozen independent theatrical and musical productions.
The Catalyst Collaborative at MIT (CC@MIT) mission is to develop new plays about science to provide the public
with a better understanding of our increasingly scientific and technological world. CC@MIT's Artistic Directors
are Wise, Lipsky, and MIT's Associate Provost for the Arts
Alan Brody. The
collaborative recently received a grant from the Cambridge Arts Council in their Local Cultural Council
Grant Program.
"The sciences and the arts have a great deal to say to each other," said Lightman. "The CC@MIT
is an imaginative and wonderful way to contribute to the conversation between science and theater."
Lightman continued, "I'm delighted that MIT will be involved with a theatrical production of 'Einstein's
Dreams,' not only as my home institution, but a place where science and the arts and creativity in general
have always lived together happily."
Future CC@MIT programs include a May (TBA) reading of a play by Ira Hauptmann about the mathematician
Ramanujan that is loosely based on "The Man Who Knew Infinity" by Robert Kanigel, head of the MIT
Science Writing Graduate Program. Details to be determined.
MIT and URT (with its partner the Nora Theater Company) are also involved in a collaboration to create
a new theatrical arts center in a building owned by MIT at 450 Massachusetts Ave. MIT will construct and
own the building and has agreed to provide a 20-year lease at below-market rent to the operating theater
companies, who are responsible for the build-out of the theater space.
Founded in 1979, URT seeks to connect high-quality professional theater with communities through
original plays and rigorous educational programming.
The staged reading of "Einstein's Dreams' is supported in part by a grant from
the Cambridge Arts
Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
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