A reading of Anna Ziegler's award-winning play,
Photograph 51, will be a part of the Evening Reading Series at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater.
Photograph 51 recounts the controversial story of how the X-ray diffraction images created by English biophysicist Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958) provided the critical breakthrough James Watson and Francis Crick needed to develop their Nobel-prize-winning model of the DNA molecule in 1953. How
much credit Franklin deserves for this discovery - and how the work of women scientists was treated - has roiled scientific circles ever since. Photograph 51 introduces the combustible mix of characters: Franklin, Watson, Crick, and their colleagues Maurice Wilkins, Raymond Gosling, and Don Caspar to recreate the events leading up to one of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century - and in the process raising provocative
questions about sexism, collaboration, and ethical behavior.
Photograph 51 won the 2008 STAGE (Scientists, Technologists and Artists Generating Exploration) International script competition for the best new play about science and technology. The play was chosen by a panel of judges which included Pulitzer Prize and Tony-Award winning playwright David
Auburn; Tony, Olivier, and Obie Award-winning playwright John Guare; Nobel Laureate in physics and KBE Sir Anthony Leggett; Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire; and Nobel Laureate in physics Dr. Douglas
Osheroff.
Aria Alpert, who received rave reviews and was recently nominated for an Ovation Award for Best Actress for her performance in the West Coast premiere production last spring at The Fountain Theatre, reprises her role as Rosalind Franklin; Brennan Brown will play Maurice Wilkins; Ben Pelteson as Don Caspar; Christopher Abbott as James Watson; Matt Stadelmann as Ray Gosling and Kerby Joe Grubb as Francis Crick. Daniella Topol will direct.
The reading begins at 7PM and is free of charge. Rattlestick Playwrights Theater is located at 224 Waverly Place in New York City. For reservations, please email Literary@rattlestick.org
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