The Half-Life of Marie Curie at Doreen Black Box Theatre, Arete

“The Half-Life of Marie Curie,” a one-act play by Lauren Gunderson, humanizes historical figures, two-time Nobel Peace Prize winner Marie Curie, and a lesser-known electromechanical engineer Hertha Ayrton.

Its story follows Curie during the summer of 1912 when a piece of dire news broke loose: Curie is having an affair with Paul Langevin, a married colleague and a former student of her late husband, Pierre.

Ill-timed, the scandal casts a shadow over Curie’s second Nobel Prize win.