SYNOPSIS

Cold Fusion book and lyrics by Alanah Fitch, Music by Kyra Leigh

In 1989 Jerry Soames discovers the secret to the world’s energy needs.  He bets all that his results are true.  Are they?  What if they are not?  His scientific community responds to his discovery with excitement and skepticism.   His gyrations are watched by Diane, his only woman mentee.  What are the consequences for Jerry, Diane, and for the world of science?  Margaret Mead turns her trained cultural anthropological eye on the field and interprets the science and politics for the audience while events unfold.  In this dark comedic musical dancing molecules provide a backdrop to the action.  The audience soon discovers that a science community is no different than small towns where individuals are filled with envy, jealousy and rigidity. 

I began the play Cold Fusion because of my own sense of being an alien, outsider in my chosen profession.  I was a chemist with no degree in the field, no mentor to push me forward.  I watched at small conferences where people for whom I had no admiration pushed themselves forward and grabbed the spotlight.  Many of these people had no redeeming features other than their ability to do good science.  This raises from the dead the age-old question about artists and geniuses: how empathetic they have to be when grappling with creativity.

What surprised me in writing this play, which was in rather bad rhyme, how hard it was to write compared to science.  The difference, I imagine now, is training.  To write I found I needed to really listen to the spoken word, the work as I read it out loud.  My gauge was only: did it sound right.

After this play had its first round of being the “finished” project I find unresolved many of the same issues that were there in the beginning.  Do the same things irritate me?  If not, how do I keep the voice of the play true while softening up some of the characters.  I notice the difficulty I have in keeping characters emotions in front of the play so they are not flat.  This is particularly true as the genre has changed from play to musical.