Genesis Presents Chicago Premiere of THE RADIANT

Set one hundred years ago in Paris, The Radiant centers on the true, tempestuous, and love-torn life of Madame Marie Curie. Widowed at thirty-nine, with two young children to raise and support, she becomes involved in a scandalous affair with her young married assistant, an affair which rocks Paris and nearly costs her her career - and her life. But, she survives this and the great bias against women scientists throughout Europe then and goes on to discover and isolate radium, earn two Nobel Prizes, and revolutionize the world of science forever, ushering in "The Atomic Age" and the first cure for cancer.

The Radiant, directed by Kaitlin Taylor, will open on Thursday, May 18, 2017 at the Athenaeum Theatre, Studio One, 2936 N. Southport, Chicago. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 3pm to June 11. It is the first in Genesis' series of plays about women and written by women.

Playwright Shirley Lauro was born in Des Moines, Iowa and attended Northwestern University, the University of Wisconsin and Columbia University. She is currently a Director of the Dramatists Guild Fund at Dramatists Guild of America. Her most popular work is A Piece of My Heart about nurses in Vietnam. Her other full length plays are All Through the Night, Clarence Darrow's Last Trial, AKA, Open Admissions, The Contest, Out of Time, Pearls on the Moon, Margaret and Kit, and Speckled Birds. Shirley enjoys writing about people and characters that are thrown into life's overwhelming social and political situations.

Tickets for The Radiant are $30 with discounts for students, seniors and groups of 10 or more. To purchase tickets go to www.athenaeumtheatre.org or call 773-935-6875.