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Looking For Lilith's New Play Tells Untold Stories Of Women And Science

Looking for Lilith

Can women have it all? Can we balance a romantic relationship, a fulfilling career and children?

This isn’t a new question. And that's the truth behind the play “Legacy of Light,” a luminous exploration of women scientists intertwined with the expanding definition of motherhood.

The production, written by Karen Zacarias and originally commissioned by Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., is being produced by Louisville’s Looking for Lilith Theatre Company. It runs through Sunday.

Kathi E.B. Ellis is the director of this production (and, full disclosure, sometimes writes for WFPL News).

The play tells the story of 18th century mathematician Emilie du Chatelet, who was -- perhaps more famously -- Voltaire's lover.

In the play she is brilliant. When she gets pregnant, she rushes to finish her translation of Newton’s “Principia Mathematica.” The rate of death from childbirth is high, and she needs to beat the clock. She completes the project -- which is now regarded as the standard French translation -- but for centuries thereafter, her contributions to science are mostly erased.

“At one point Emily asks Voltaire, ‘Does anyone who is in the audience today know who I am?’” Ellis says. “And at that point Voltaire has to say, ‘Well, the book was published under my name, but it is dedicated to you.’”

This story is juxtaposed with that of Olivia, a 21st century astrophysicist in New Jersey who is on the brink of discovering a planet in its embryonic stages. She wants to get pregnant, but as a stage IV ovarian cancer survivor, she and her husband debate if she will live long enough to care for a child.

Olivia and Emilie mirror each other in so many ways, a point Ellis says was intentional on the part of playwright Zacarias.

“The way that she parallels the science, and the relationships, and the love and the desperation is really delightful,” Ellis says.

The play is emblematic of the kinds of work Looking for Lilith has put onstage since its inception 15 years ago.

“In different ways, each of our plays shines a light on a person, an idea, a group of people, a region that is not necessarily looked at when that story is being told,” she says.

By performing “Legacy of Light,” the company is furthering that mission by making voices silenced by history heard again.

“Legacy of Light” runs through Nov. 6 at The Henry Clay Theatre. More information is available  here.

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