UW Legacy of Light Production Set Nov. 10

The University of Wyoming Department of Theatre and Dance fall season continues with the comedy “Legacy of Light” Nov. 10-14 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. on the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts Main Stage.

Tickets cost $14 for the public, $11 for senior citizens and $7 for students. For tickets and information, call (307) 766-6666 or go online at www.uwyo.edu/finearts. Tickets also are available at the Wyoming Union information desk and Performing Arts box office.

Winner of the Steinberg Citation for Best New Play, Karen Zacarías’ “Legacy of Light” features women exploring the commonalities of love, motherhood, family, art and science across a span of nearly three centuries.

Directed by Kevin Inouye, assistant professor in the UW Department of Theatre and Dance, “Legacy of Light” juxtaposes the story of Émilie du Châtelet, a mathematician, scientist and lover of the 18th-century philosopher Voltaire, with the story of Olivia, a 21st-century astrophysicist. 

When Émilie becomes unexpectedly pregnant at 42, she is spurred by her situation to complete her most outstanding work, in case she should die in childbirth. Also 42 and a dedicated, outstanding scientist, Olivia desperately wants to conceive a child after her own confrontations with mortality. Both women struggle to balance the seemingly opposite pulls of intellectual and maternal fulfillment.

Zacarías is one of the nation’s most produced Latina playwrights. She founded Young Playwrights’ Theater, an award-winning theater company that teaches playwriting in public schools in Washington, D.C.

“Legacy of Light” premiered at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., and has been produced in some of the nation’s most respected theaters, including the Cleveland Playhouse, San Jose Repertory Theater, People’s Light and Theater Company, and Lyric Stage Company.