by George Morgan
Special Alumni Weekend event!
- Performance Date: May 17, 2014
What if someone created a non-polluting form of energy that was cheap and inexhaustible? In 1989, Dr. Stanley Pons of the University of Utah and Dr. Martin Fleischmann of Cambridge claimed to have done exactly that. They invited journalists from around the world to a press conference in which they announced their discovery—a discovery the media soon began referring to as "cold fusion." After several highly respected universities began announcing successful replication of the Pons/Fleischmann experiment, all hell broke loose, and everyone everywhere began to believe that the Earth’s energy problems had been resolved forever.
Through interviews and records provided by academic researchers—many from Caltech—this latest play from George D. Morgan shines a light on the dramatic story of two scientists whose rise to fame, and subsequent humiliation was played out in front of the entire world.
Capture the Sun was directed by Brian Brophy, Director of Theater Arts at Caltech. Morgan's first two plays in his "Pasadena trilogy"—Rocket Girl and Pasadena Babalon—were also produced at Caltech under the direction of Brian Brophy.