vex
news
August 17,
2011 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LOCAL PHYSICIST DIRECTS SMASH ATOMIC PLAY "COPENHAGEN"
Elgin, IL - Vex Theatre Company announces their fall production of the Tony
Award-winning play "Copenhagen" by Michael Frayn. It will be presented September
16-25, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 3:00pm, at the Elgin Art
Showcase, 164 Division Street, Elgin, IL. The play is directed by Michael Albrow,
a world-renowned physicist based at Fermilab in Batavia, IL.
A Gripping Tale Based on Real Events
"Copenhagen" is an intense drama that reveals the tempestuous relationship
between two brilliant scientists who held the fate of the world in their hands
in 1941: physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. Once friends and
colleagues, these two leaders in the burgeoning field of nuclear physics found
themselves on different sides of World War II. Who would win the race to develop
the first atomic bomb? The Allies or Germany? This play explores the life and
death decisions made by both men as they look back on the choices they made and
the consequences of these actions.
A Director and a Scientist
Director Michael Albrow is well-versed in the subject matter of the play, being
a physicist himself currently working at Fermilab in Batavia. Explains Albrow,
"When I saw this play in London some ten years ago, where it ran for 300
performances, I was excited by how brilliantly it dealt with not only the
intriguing characters of Bohr and Heisenberg, but also by the subject matter:
atom bombs, quantum mechanics, and the uncertainty principle. Yet the play is
appropriate for all who have interest in science or history or psychology. You
don't have to be a nuclear physicist to understand the issues. There really was
a meeting between these two physics giants in 1941: Bohr in occupied Denmark and
Heisenberg living in Nazi Germany. What transpired between them could have
changed the course of history." What transpires on stage is how they each
remember it and attempt to find agreement in their memories of that famous
meeting.
"Copenhagen" will be presented:
Fridays through Sundays, September 16-25, 2011
At the Elgin Art Showcase, 164 Division Street, Elgin, IL.
Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 3:00pm. Tickets are $15; $12 for
students and seniors.
Reservations may be made online at www.vextheatre.org or by calling
847-991-8081.
"Copenhagen" is directed by Michael Albrow (Naperville),
and stars Steve Blount (Wheaton) as "Niels Bohr," Susan Able Barry (Carol
Stream) as "Margrethe Bohr," and Geoffrey Maher (Arlington Heights) as "Werner
Heisenberg."
Vex Theatre Company was founded in 2004 in Palatine and is dedicated to bringing high quality, intimate theatre to the suburban stage. For more information, contact Vex Theatre Company at
vextheatre@hotmail.com or visit
www.vextheatre.org
