COPENHAGEN to Run 2/13-3/1 at Theatre Memphis

Copenhagen, a Tony Award winner for Best Play, explodes onto the Next Stage at Theatre Memphis and runs February 13 - March 1, 2015. Written by Michael Frayn (best known for his farce Noises Off), this drama is based on "what may have happened" when two internationally known physicists, Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, meet in 1941 to discuss the creation and ultimate use of nuclear force ... for good or for mass destruction. Copenhagen was the location of the actual meeting yet the public never settled on the reason or results for such a meeting which lead to much speculation. This sometimes funny, sometimes serious work ingeniously presents the two men in a complex relationship coming together in the afterlife to understand their earthly friendship and its strains. Despite feeling like father and son, the men are divided by politics and basic beliefs leading to tension. Their encounters in this fictional recollection include a wife who adds her own insights into their memories.

Director Stephen Huff relates, "On one level, this play is about new theoretical nuclear physics and its real-world ramifications. On another level, however, it is about three people whose personal and professional lives intertwined and collided as a result of the development of exciting new scientific theories. Amid the experimentation, competition, and camaraderie of the scientific community and global upheaval of war, there were private joys and agonies lived every day." The veteran cast includes Jason Spitzer, Gregory Szatkowski and Mary Buchignani Hemphill.

Theatre Memphis Executive Producer Debbie Litch says a show like Copenahgen is important to be on the Theatre Memphis season. "Engaging and significant historical reference makes for a thought provoking production," she says. "This play literally sets the stage for intellectual discourse and debate about human intentions and moral obligations. What better use is there of theatre?"

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