When a new telescope focused on the heavens becomes operational, the initial images it sees are called First Light. For ten years now, the EST/Sloan Project has led a pioneering nationwide effort to commission, develop and present hundreds of new plays that challenge the view of science in the popular imagination. Each play’s life onstage begins with the First Light Festival.  As we enter our second decade, join us for the latest discoveries on our creative horizon... 


WORKSHOPS
Presentations of plays in development.
Suggested donation is $10 to all Workshops.
For researvations, call 212 247 4982 x20

PURE
By Rey Pamatmat
Directed by Carlos Armesto

Alan Turing -- inventor of the computer, war hero, and persecuted for his homosexuality – has moments to choose between living a secret life in post-WWII England or completing his life's work.
Friday, April 11, 7 PM

BY PROXY
By Amy Fox*
Directed by William Carden*

A young researcher of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome struggles to maintain objectivity while invessigating a mother who has lost four children.
Thursday, April 17, 7 PM

ADA
Music by Kim Sherman
Book & Lyrics by Margaret Vandenburg
Directed by Lisa Rothe

An opera focusing on Ada Byron, daughter of the famous poet and inventor of the world's first computer.
Friday, April 25, 7 PM

THE FLOWER HUNGER
By Romulus Linney*
Directed by Jamie Richards*

The journey of discovery by William Bartram, America's first botanist. Bartram ventures into the uncharted South to document the region's wildlife, and on the way realizes his own life's purpose
Thursday, May 1, 7 PM

CABARET SCIENTIFIQUE
Admission is FREE

Discover the lighter side of science with an evening of music and comedy, a staple of the FIRST LIGHT FESTIVAL. Be ready for anything form a discourse on Einstein's significance to John Coltrane (with saxophone accompaniment) to a puppet show on communication between bacteria.
Friday, May 2, 7 PM

SATELLITE EVENT AT P.S.122
"UNTITLED MARS: (THIS TITLE MAY CHANGE)"
Regular Admission $20
Student Tickets $15
P.S. 122 members $10
Written and directed by Jay Scheib
With Karl Allen, Dorka Gryllus, Caleb Hammond, László Keszég, Catherine Mc-Curry, Tanya Selvaratnam, April Sweeney, Natalie, Thomas, Balázs Vajna with special on-camera appearances by Phillip Cunio, Zahra Khan and Dr. Robert Zubrin and others...

Taking a cue from the space industry, Jay Scheib's latest work pits hard Science against Philip K. Dick as interplanetary speculation runs amok, the indigenous population gets screwed, and a strange "anomalous" kid seems to hold all the answers. Developed at MIT with a team of Mars researchers and anthropologists, a mission to colonize the Red Planet is revving up for 2017. Imagining what might happen once we get there, Scheib drops seven performers into a simulated Martian society. Can't make ends meet on Earth? Consider a one-way ticket to Mars!
April 8 - 27, 2008
Tuesday - Friday at 8PM
Saturday at 4 PM and 8 PM
Sunday at 6 PM


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CLOSING NIGHT EVENT:
THE PHYSICISTS - A Special EST-member reading
Suggested Donation of $10
By Fredrich Dürenmatt
Directed by Mary Robinson*
Cast List TBA

Commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the EST/Sloan Project, a concert reading of Dürrenmatt's classic of atomic espionage, performed by the Members of EST.
Saturday, May 3, 7 PM