Legacy of Light

Two women scientists, living hundreds of years apart, explore the meaning of love, motherhood, family, art and science in this contemporary comedy. Legacy of Light juxtaposes the story of Émilie du Châtelet, a mathematician, scientist, and lover of the great 18th-century philosopher Voltaire, who became unexpectedly pregnant at 42, and that of a 21st-century physicist desperately trying to conceive a child.Legacy of Light made its world premiere at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC, on May 8, 2009. Directed by Molly Smith, the production featured Lise Bruneau, Carla Harting, Stephen Schnetzer, Michael Russotto, David Covington and Lindsey Kyler.Pulitzer Prize finalist Will Arbery confronts humanity’s darkest fears with humor, warmth, and the fortitude of municipal public servants in this play about climate and change.'Arbery is one of the theater’s greatest listeners, able to hear and reproduce the subtle and deeply specific ways individuals reveal themselves and their relationships to others with language.' - The New York Times Magazine'In a great piece of art, you’ll have one moment where the truth will punch through. But in a profoundly generous piece of art, like Evanston - a play that is theoretical, painful, deep, and hysterically funny - those moments of truth keep punching through and through and through.' - BOMB Magazine'A pitch-dark comedy... Arbery is the playwright of the moment... writing about issues that tend to lead to indulgent hopelessness. ...But what if looking right into the heart of catastrophe could actually get us to act?' - The New Yorker