QED (play) - History and Productions

History and Productions

In the mid-1990s, Alan Alda, having read Feynman's autobiographical books, became intent on playing Feynman on stage. He consulted director Gordon Davidson at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, who suggested that playwright Peter Parnell as the play's author. Over the course of more than six years, the three went through many revisions in their combined effort to bring the many facets of Feynman's character to the stage.

The play premiered on March 25, 2001, at the Mark Taper Forum. Later that year, the production went to Broadway, where it was performed 40 times between November 18, 2001 and June 20, 2002 at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. Six years later, Alda briefly revisited his role in a scenic reading at Columbia University's Miller Theatre as part of the 2008 World Science Festival, once more directed by Davidson.

The Chicago area premiere of QED on September 23, 2010, featured Rob Riley as Richard Feynman under the direction of Maureen Payne-Hahner performed at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science of Northwestern University, produced by ETOPiA.

The national premiere for Italy of the play was translated and directed by Luca Giberti at the Stabile Theatre in Genoa (Sala Duse), with Andrea Nicolini playing Feynman.