I write in a variety of genres, and one thing that I've never turned my attention to was the stage. I've long contemplated writing a science based play, perhaps focusing on the formation of modern physics in the early 20th century. The kernel of the idea coalesced when I saw the Michael Frayn play Copenhagen in Detroit several years ago.

Well, it seems that M*A*S*H's Hawkeye (Alan Alda) has beaten me to it, with his new play Dear Albert, based largely upon Einstein's personal letters, exploring both the man and the science.

The play will feature Anthony LaPaglia (of television's Without a Trace) and will be directed by Tony-award winner Daniel Sullivan. The play will be performed one night only, June 1, at Columbia University's Miller Theatre.

The performance is part of the World Science Festival events in New York City, running from May 28 through June 1, and represents just one of many reasons why I'm upset I can't make it to this fascinating event.

It promises to be a great week and anyone who attends should definitely post some information to our forums! If nothing else, feel free to e-mail me and perhaps consider providing us with some photos from the World Science Festival.

Related Articles:

• World Science Festival
• PlayBill - LaPaglia to Star in Alda's Dear Albert June 1; Sullivan Directs
• Back Stage - LaPaglia to Star in Alda's Einstein Play
• BroadwayWorld.com - Sullivan To Direct New Alan Alda Play Starring LaPaglia
• Albert Einstein - Biographical Profile
• Books about Albert Einstein and Relativity

• May 15, 1618 - Johannes Kepler confirms his third law of planetary motion. Kepler had initially made the discovery a week earlier, but the initial calculations had caused him to briefly believe that he was mistaken.
• May 15, 1859 - French physicist Pierre Curie is born. Together with his wife Marie and associate Henri Becquerel, Curie won the 1903 Nobel Prize in physics for his early work in analyzing radiation.
• May 17, 1916 - Russian physicist Boris Borisovich Galitzine dies. Galitzine invented the electromagnetic seismograph in 1906.
• May 16, 1950 - German physicist Johannes Georg Bednorz is born. He received the 1987 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in high-temperature superconductivity, which included work in the electrical properties of ceramics.
• May 15, 1951 - American theoretical physicist Frank Anthony Wilczek is born. Wilczek received the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics for work in the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the strong nuclear interaction.
• May 18, 2007 - French physicist Pierre-Gilles de Gennes dies. De Gennes received the 1991 Nobel Prize in Physics "for discovering that methods developed for studying order phenomena in simple systems can be generalized to more complex forms of matter, in particular to liquid crystals and polymers" (from the official Nobel Prize announcement).