Janus Theatre closes out 25th anniversary season with Chicago-area premiere of 'The Half-Life of Marie Curie'
Janus Theatre Company closes out its 25th anniversary season presenting the Chicago-area premiere of "The Half-Life of Marie Curie" by Lauren Gunderson. The play is based on the enduring friendship between two brilliant scientists - Marie Curie and Hertha Ayrton.
Performances will be 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays, Oct. 27 to Nov. 5, at the Elgin Art Showcase, 164 Division St., eighth floor, Elgin.
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at half-life.eventbrite.com or janusplays.com.
The production is presented by special arrangement with Dramatist Play Service Inc. It is sponsored in part by the Elgin Cultural Arts Commission and the City of Elgin.
In 1911, Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for her discovery of the elements radium and polonium. By 1912, she was the object of ruthless gossip over an alleged affair with the married Frenchman Paul Langevin, all but erasing her achievements from public memory. Weakened and demoralized by the press lambasting her as a "foreign" Jewish temptress and a homewrecking traitor, Marie agrees to join her friend and colleague Hertha Ayrton, an electromechanical engineer and suffragette, at her summer home in England. The play revels in the power of female friendship as it explores the relationship between these two brilliant women, both of whom are mothers, widows, and fearless champions of scientific inquiry. The play has been called:
"Both fun and educational - a 90-minute slice of history brimming with wit and wisdom, powered by two turn-of-the-20th-century female STEM stars." - New York Stage Review.
"A frisky, feminist crowd-pleaser ... radiates empowerment ... enlightening and entertaining." - Time Out New York.
"Written with insight, passion, and humor ... [a] masterful script ... With its engaging biographical narrative and timely historical message ..." - DC Metro Theater Arts.
Lauren Gunderson is a playwright, screenwriter and short story author from Atlanta, Georgia. She received her BA in English/Creative Writing at Emory University, and her MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch, where she was also a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. She has been one of the most produced playwrights in America (American Theatre Magazine) since 2015, topping the list thrice including 2022-23.
The director and producer is Sean Hargadon (Elgin), with stage manager and assistant director Elizabeth Dawson (Elgin).
The cast features Doreen Dawson (Geneva) as Hertha Ayrton and Heidi Swarthout (Batavia) as Marie Curie.
This production closes out Janus Theatre's 25th anniversary season based on the theme - Resistance, Rebellion, Revolution (Resilience) - featuring prominent figures from the past brought to life for today's audience, while reflecting on our time.
The season began in June with "Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde about the Trials of Oscar Wilde" at the height of his fame during the Victorian Age. It was followed in July by "The Maids" by Jean Genet.
Janus Theatre Company has produced more than 100 productions and is an award-winning 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of trained theater professionals, who strive to present work that is classic and contemporary, bringing the actor and audience closer together. Their work is fun, challenging and raises questions. Janus is about developing people. Since it started, they have always been interested in helping our artists grow while sharing the gift of performance with our audiences. They actively explore, create, question, and pursue new forms of theater and found spaces for audiences of all sizes. To learn more about, go to janusplays.com/.