We modern folk tend to think we are living in the most intricately involved and complex era of time, in the History of Ever. Karen Zakarías' play "Legacy of Light" is a paean to pain - the pain of creation, of living, of motherhood itself but not the corporeal pain of giving birth. Émilie de Châtelet (Lenne Klingaman) experiences this pain daily though she is committed to her science and knowledge beyond knowing, vision beyond what is merely seen. Ms. Klingaman gives a luminous performance full of verve and humor, sure to send you Googling her brilliant counterpart. Voltaire (Allen Gilmore), her lover and collaborator in matters philosophical, literary and scientific, supports her work. He’s a louche cannon full of cool and spark. Just like modern life, life during the Enlightenment was not so bright for creative, competent STEM oriented women.
Zakarías' play was originally produced in 2009. Work/life balance truly came into focus for many of us during COVID, but it has clearly been something with which women have struggled, forever. Picture it - France, 1749. Madame de Châtelet is not your average woman. When we first meet, she is immediately-post in flagrante delicto with her much-younger lover Lambert (Trey DeLuna) who is completely besotted. Lambert is a pupil of Voltaire's and she enjoys them both. Embracing her life fully, Klingaman's Émilie is as electric as her theories. Yet, 18th century relations have consequences and Émilie is 42 years old. Klingaman gives us the joy, the gravitas and the nuances of the situation.
Flashing forward in a quantum fashion, we meet another scientist. Olivia (Kimberly Chatterjee) may just have discovered a planet! She's thrilled to share this news with her husband Peter (Zack Fine) who has had a breakthrough day with a student he teaches, a child who overcame a great challenge. Olivia is determined that she and Peter now is the time to have a child. Olivia is 42. Chatterjee is focused and not by turns, as Olivia's mind is moving at the speed of light. She and Peter have been trying to conceive, and modern medicine will give them one more chance with the help of Millie (Gina Fonseca) - a young librarian with a flair for fashion. Having had a baby who's now a toddler, Millie sees surrogacy as an option for her, and her daughter's, future. Thus the merriment begins.
Many of us know that the answer to life, the universe and everything (wink-wink, Douglas Adams) is 42. This is also the age when even women who have had children before as Émilie has may have difficulties with carrying to term. Considering both Émilie and Olivia are working on very important items of intellectual motherhood as well as high stakes physical, it begs the question for modern civilization as it did for our 18th century ancestors.
Zakarías has gifted us a comedy that is arch, self-aware and has quantum panache. It has been updated and it lampoons our ideas of ourselves as modern and enlightened by showing us that those who originated the Enlightenment were geniuses who were still human. Times change, people remain the same. The second act is where it all comes together and the actual descriptions of Émilie's experience is the bonus that ices the cake. I am still unwrapping my thoughts, it is multilayered brilliance.
Artistic Director Sarah Rasmussen is at the helm of the production and she and Julie Felise Dubiner have been fans from first reading. What has come to fruition is a tight ensemble piece beautifully costumed (Raquel Adorno), styled - hair, wigs, makeup (Carissa Thorlakson), wondrously lit (Jane Cox, Tess James) with Andrew Boyce brilliant set and Andre Pluess' sound design makes for an intimate experience. You are in the arms of Destiny, and how Émilie and Olivia fare may ultimately be the best gift of all.
Get your tickets now for Legacy of Light - the show closes April 6, 2025: https://tickets.mccarter.org.