WORLD PREMIERE April 19 - May 10, 2009 Julianne Argyros Stage EMILIE La Marquise du Châtelet Defends Her Life at the Petit Théâtre at Cirey Tonight by Lauren Gunderson directed by Kate Whoriskey Bette and Wylie Aitken, Honorary Producers

Passionate. Independent. A great beauty. A prodigious scientific intellect. These are the qualities that inspired this story of 18th century Parisian noblewoman Emilie du Châtelet and her lifelong affair with the Enlightenment superstar Voltaire. In this highly theatrical rediscovery of one of history's most intriguing women, Emilie must defend her life by tallying her achievements in Love and Philosophy—and searching for a formula that will convince the world of her worth.

Playwright:
Lauren Gunderson is a playwright, screenwriter, short story author and actor. She is currently pursuing her M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and is a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. Her work has received the Berrilla Kerr Award for American Theatre, Young Playwright's Award, Eric Bentley New Play Award, Essential Theatre Prize, Virtual Theatre Prizes and many others. Leap was published with Theatre Emory's Playwriting Center, and her first collection of plays, Deepen The Mystery: Science and the South Onstage, was published with iUniverse. Her short story Cancer/Dish won the Norumbega Short Fiction Award and is included in the forthcoming collection The Shape of Content, and her poem "Hook of a Number" will be anthologized in the forthcoming poetry collection Riffing on Strings.

*Post-show discussion led by SCR literary staff and artists from the show.
**ASL interpreted performance for the Deaf community.