The passionate but troubled romance between the young scientists Albert Einstein and Mileva Maric, who met in Switzerland in the early years of the Twentieth Century, is the subject of the world premiere QUANTUM LOVERS: THE MUSICAL, by Hasan Padamsee, a Cornell University Professor of Physics and playwright with three previously produced plays to his credit. This intense and tragic romance, a musicalization of a previous play by Padamsee, was inspired by the books EINSTEIN IN LOVE: A SCIENTIFIC ROMANCE by Dennis Overbye, EINSTEIN IN BERLIN by Thomas Levenson, and ALBERT EINSTEIN/MILEVA MARIC: THE LOVE LETTERS by Albert Einstein, Jurgen Renn, Robert Schulmann and Shawn Smith. Padamsee wrote the musical’s book and the lyrics for its 22 musical numbers, with music by Athena Antiporda (Ainna), Roberto Flora, Michaela Catapano, Anshu Jha, Umuk oro Fortune (El Doxa).
QUANTUM LOVERS: THE MUSICAL will be performed three times only – on Friday, August 11 and Saturday, August 12 at 7:30 each night; and on Sunday, August 13 at 2:30 pm. The fully staged performances will be at City Lit Theater, located on the second floor of the Edgewater Presbyterian Church at 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue, Chicago.
Albert Einstein, known as the father of relativity who transformed space, time and gravity, also played a major role in discovering Quantum Physics, a concept mysterious, full of apparent contradictions, difficult to understand, and yet captivating. Like quantum physics, true love is magical but enigmatic, deceptively familiar but incomprehensible. Can the man with dramatic success in revolutionizing space, time and gravity succeed in taming the Quantum? Can Einstein find true love in the whirlpool of his personal experiences?
Padamsee’s cast of eight includes Carson Carter (Albert Einstein), Mikaela May (Mileva Maric), Peter Stielstra (Max Planck and Professor Weber), Carleigh Ray (Elsa Lowenthal Einstein), Eliana Tirona (Milana Bota and Young Mileva), Ronnie Lyall (Marcel Grossman), Patricia Lomden (Ruzica Drazic), and Erick Heyer-Fogelberg. The production team is Rachel Fox (Stage Manager), Dominic “Dom” Bonelli (Sound Engineer), Autumn Thielander (Choreographer), Zole Morack (Lighting Designer), and Mario Gallego (Production Assistant).
Top row L-R: Carson Carter, Mikaela May, Peter Stielstra, Carleigh Ray.
Lower row L-R: Eliana Tirona, Ronnie Lyall, Erick Heyer-Fogelberg, Patricia Lomden.
Padamsee began writing plays as a device to teach physics to his Cornell students. He wrote short plays about fascinating characters and the adventure of their discoveries, and gave his students the option to perform the plays in lieu of writing papers. Since those days he has written the full-length plays CREATION’S BIRTHDAY, QUANTUM LOVERS, QUANTUM WONDERLAND, in addition to QUANTUM LOVERS - THE MUSICAL. Padamsee says of QUANTUM LOVERS, “ By exploring two less charted dimensions of Einstein’s character, passionate lover, and staunch anti-nationalist, the play is transporting, timely and true. It moves the audience to Europe into the time that led to the First World War, strongly connecting to the dominant events of today.”
QUANTUM LOVERS: THE MUSICAL in rehearsal. Pictured left to right: Carleigh Ray, Carson Carter, Mikaela May. Photo by Sci-Fun Productions.
Left: Carson Carter, Right: Mikaela May. Photo courtesy of SciFun Productions.
Back row: Peter Stielstra, Carson Carter, Mikaela May, Erick Heyer-Fogelberg
Front row: Ronnie Lyall, Eliana Tirone, Carleigh Ray, Patricia Lomden. Photo courtesy of Sci-Fun Productions.
Tickets to QUANTUM LOVERS: THE MUSICAL are $25.00, available now at https://scifun-productions.yapsody.com/
LISTING INFORMATION
SciFun Productions presents
QUANTUM LOVERS: THE MUSICAL
Book and Lyrics by Hasan Padamsee
Music by Athena Antiporda (Ainna), Roberto Flora, Michaela Catapano, Anshu Jha, Umukoro Fortune (El Doxa)
Directed by Hasan Padamsee
August 11-13, 2023
Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 2:30 pm
Performances at City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Chicago, IL
Tickets $25.00, available at https://scifun-productions.yapsody.com/
QUANTUM LOVERS is about the turbulent love affair and tragic break-up between Albert Einstein and his first wife, Mileva Maric, a bittersweet tale that took place in the tumultuous times of World War I. As a young student in Switzerland who has just escaped from Germany due to its militant, nationalist culture, Albert Einstein falls passionately in love with young Mileva, the feminist physics student, torn between career and love. Together they wander into the enigmatic world of the quantum. Fascinating contradictions permeate the baffling quantum realm. And like the quantum, their magical love grows full of contradictions. Can Albert and Mileva discover the meaning of true love through the passion of their relationship, and the uncertainties of their destinies?
BIO
Hasan Padamsee (Book and Lyrics, Director). A professor of physics at Cornell University since 1978, Dr. Padamsee began writing plays in the year 2000 when he taught Physics to non-science students at Cornell. He wrote short plays about fascinating characters and the adventure of their discoveries which his students performed instead of writing papers. They loved this
option. He has written three full-length plays, and one full-length musical: CREATION’S BIRTHDAY, QUANTUM LOVERS, QUANTUM WONDERLAND, and QUANTUM LOVERS - THE MUSICAL. Screenwriting Professor John McHale from Illinois State University has adapted CREATION'S BIRTHDAY into a screenplay for a movie called HUBBLE. The screenplay was submitted to the Oscar competition and Austin Film Festival in 2022.
ABOUT SCI-FUN PRODUCTIONS
Sci-Fun Productions has previously produced CREATION'S BIRTHDAY - A BIG BANG BEGINNING, QUANTUM LOVERS (PLAY), and QUANTUM WONDERLAND. CREATION’S BIRTHDAY - A BIG BANG BEGINNING was performed at several venues in Chicago, including the Athenaeum Theatre, where the play was produced by Genesis Theatrical Productions in 2015. In 2011 there was a staged Reading at the Cornelia Street Cafe, in New York Coty as part of the regular Science and Entertainment Series hosted by Professor Roald Hoffman, Cornell University’s Nobel prize Chemist.