A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Tesla's Letters

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  2w, 2m

This two-act, four-character drama set in 1997 in the Balkans is about an American who sets out to find Nikola Tesla’s doomsday device, leading her to strike a complicated and dangerous bargain.

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    2w, 2m
  • Duration
    Duration
    105 Minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Docudrama/Historic
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult, Senior, Teen (Age 14 - 18)

Details

Summary
This two-act, four-character drama set in 1997 in the Balkans is about an American who sets out to find Nikola Tesla’s doomsday device only to discover that a machine is not required. Electrical pioneer Tesla, a Croatian-born Serb, was Thomas Edison’s biggest rival. Daisy Archer, a bright-eyed Ph.D. candidate, arrives in Belgrade thinking she has permission to view a certain cache of letters at the Nikola Tesla Museum. She is not prepared to face the museum’s director, Dragan, a Serb with family in Croatia, who has needs of his own and who strikes a dangerous bargain with Daisy. He will test her willingness to see the letters by having her enter war-torn Croatia to visit Tesla’s birthplace and determine whether it has been destroyed. If she returns with photographic evidence, she will be given access to Tesla’s letters. Daisy learns that the bargain is much more complicated than it at first appears, and that she is a pawn in a larger agenda.
History

Tesla's Letters had its World Premiere Off Broadway in 1999 at The Ensemble Studio Theatre.

DRAGAN MILINCEVIC - 42; Director of the Nikola Tesla Museum.
BILJANA - 60; Dragan's secretary.
DAISY ARCHER - 27; US graduate student.
ZORAN JELECIC - 24; Croatian entrepreneur.
  • Time Period Contemporary, 1990s
  • Features Contemporary Costumes / Street Clothes
  • Additional Features Not Applicable
  • Duration 105 Minutes
  • Cautions
    • Alcohol
    • Gun Shots
    • Strong Language

Media

“Well written, well constructed drama... pertinent, intelligent, and often witty and suspenseful theatre.” – The New York Times

“Is there a more timely play in New York? This well written, well constructed drama constitutes pertinent, intelligent, and often witty and suspenseful theatre. It’s a measure of its appeal as theatre that the first act ends not with a whimper but a bang... Tesla’s Letters provides a multitude of rewards.” – The New York Times

“Jeffrey Stanley has a nice ironic sense of humor, but it took NATO air strikes to turn it black. In its refusal to take sides or settle for easy analysis, the powerful Tesla’s Letters provides a welcome contrast to the high-intensity chatter of CNN et al.” – Time Out New York

“It perceptively tells the story of a Balkan society so laden with a sense of victimization that it can no longer see its own murderous face... [Daisy] obtains an intimate knowledge of human evil, a discovery that shatters even the myth of Tesla’s peace-loving past... The writing offers historical depth and insight on a subject that defies simplified soundbites and media clichés.” – Village Voice

Music

  • Musical Style N/A (Not a musical)
  • Vocal DemandsN/A (Not a musical)
  • Chorus Size No Chorus

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: $110 per performance

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Authors

Jeffrey Stanley

Jeffrey Stanley has written a number of stage plays and screenplays. TESLA'S LETTERS premiered Off Broadway at The Ensemble Studio Theatre in 1999, directed by Curt Dempster and funded by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. It has gone on to numerous productions and ...
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