Carlsbad Playreaders Radiate Passion

Alan Alda is acclaimed for his acting (M*A*S*H), writing and directing career, having earned 31 Emmy nominations and six Golden Globes. He made his foray into the playwriting world with Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie, which will be presented by Carlsbad Playreaders on Monday, April 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Carlsbad City Library’s Ruby G. Schulman Auditorium. Alda’s biographical drama delves into the life of the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize and illustrates Curie’s struggle to realize her passion for both knowledge and romance. 

“I have a strong interest in science and I'm always reading about it, and I help put on the World Science Festival every year in New York,” Alda told Playbill.com in December 2011. “Four years ago, I thought it would be a good idea to do a reading of Marie Curie's letters, which would be easy for actors to rehearse. They can rehearse it and perform it all in the same day, and if you put letters together right, you can get an actual play out of it. I started to do a little bit more research on it, and I found that the letters are all in the library in Paris — the National Library — but they're still radioactive.”

Alda went on to explain that in the course of his research, he continued to be drawn to Curie’s personal and professional story and went on to write his play Radiance, which had its world premiere in 2011 at Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. 

Carlsbad Playreaders' reading of Radiance will be directed by Charles Peters and features Julie Clemmons, Maelyn Gandola, Eric Poppick, Steve Smith, Jessica Swan, Greg Wittman and Nick Young.

The play reading will take place at Carlsbad City Library’s Ruby G. Schulman Auditorium, located at 1775 Dove Lane. Donations are taken at the door; there are no advance reservations. Suggested donations are $5 for adults and $1 for students. For more information, visit carlsbadplayreaders.org or call 760-602-2012.