Book & Lyrics by Karen Zacarías
Music by Deborah Wicks La Puma
Published by Dramatic Publishing in Large Cast and Small Cast versions.
Upcoming Productions
Synopsis
As an adult, Albert Einstein changed our view of the universe. But as a boy, he struggled with the same issues any twelve year-old might – keeping up with violin lessons, impressing the girl next-door and – oh yeah, comprehending the fundamental relationship of space and time to the speed of light, of course. This uplifting play about a fictional day in young Einstein’s life confirms that each of us is both ordinary and special. With an engaging, original score, a healthy dose of imagination, and the help of a mysterious cat, Einstein is a Dummy reveals life’s atomic possibilities.
Young Einstein’s geeky streak is reason to rock…’Einstein’ abounds with the energy of its subject matter…The verdict: Sheer energy, musicalized.” – Susan Elliott, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
History
Naya Allen, Luke Hardy and Leah Bozajian at the Norris Center for the Performing Arts. Photo Credit: Karin Cooper
Einstein is a Dummy was first seen at the Kennedy Center’s 2004 New Visions/New Voices Festival, and went on to premiere at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre in 2005 under the direction of Rosemary Newcott. Since then it has enjoyed productions at theaters throughout the country, including Chicago Playworks, UNC Charlotte, Oregon Children’s Theatre, and Nashville Children’s Theatre. In 2011 a revised and expanded 90 minute youth cast version was premiered at the Norris Center for the Performing Arts under the direction of Corey Jones. It is one of the featured plays in the book “New Visions/New Voices: 25 years/25 plays”.
Einstein is a Dummy is published by Dramatic Publishing in Large Cast and Small Cast versions.
I loved the production and was very impressed by how well it captured both the coming of age of a ‘different’ teenager AND the unique scientific insights that led to Einstein’s remarkable year of publications…It was the most creative approach to communicating physics that I’ve ever seen.” – Matthew S. Grober, Associate Professor of Biology, Georgia State University
Kylie Brown and Derek Manson, Alliance Theatre. Photo Credit: David De Vries
Cast: 1 woman, 3 men, 1 either gender
(Youth Cast version expandable up to 5 women, 3 men, 4 either gender and optional Chorus)
Female ELSA – A beautiful sweet viola player. A perfect bow on her head (Mezzo)
Male ALBERT – A clumsy and curious kid. A violin player. A small bowtie. (Bari-Tenor)
CONSTANTIN – a snotty cello player. An enormous bowtie. (Tenor)
HERR SCHLOPPNOPPDINKERDONN – a very neurotic and uptight music teacher (Baritone)
Loaded with laughs and packed with lively melodies, Einstein Is A Dummy will also raise your I.Q. by about 50 points” – Performing Arts Live.com
Authors
KAREN ZACARÍAS (Book & Lyrics) is hailed by American Theater Magazine as one of the ten most produced playwrights in the U.S. and the most produced Latina playwright in the nation. Her comedy Native Gardens, about race, class, plants, and fences, hit a political zeitgeist and was one of the top produced plays of 2019. Her musical homage to the telenovela Destiny of Desire, “a terrifically entertaining theatrical roller coaster”(Charles McNulty, LA Times) has sold-out the largest regional theaters from East to West (Arena Stage, The Goodman, Oregon Shakespeare Festival) and is now heading to Broadway. Her gripping drama The Copper Children, about a controversial child separation case in 1905, just had an acclaimed world premiere at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and her bilingual translation of Romeo y Juliet will premiere at California Shakespeare Festival in September of 2021. Other award-winning plays include The Book Club Play, Legacy of Light, Mariela in the Desert, The Sins of Sor Juana, and the adaptations of Just Like Us, Into the Beautiful North, and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent. Her work has also been produced at The Kennedy Center, The Guthrie, Cincinnati Playhouse, The Goodman, South Coast Rep, and many more.
Karen is also one of the most produced children’s theater playwrights in the country. She is the author of ten renowned TYA musicals with composer Deborah Wicks La Puma including Ella Enchanted, Einstein is a Dummy, Ferdinand the Bull, Looking for Roberto Clemente, Chasing George Washington, Jane of the Jungle, and Frida Libre. Karen is also the author of the Marvel play Squirrel Girl Goes to College, and the librettist of several Ballets. She is one of the inaugural resident playwrights at Arena Stage, a core founder of the Latinx Theatre Commons – a large national organization of artists seeking to update the American narrative with the stories of Latinos – and she is the founder of the award-winning Young Playwrights’ Theater (YPT). YPT was cited by the Obama administration as one of the best arts-education programs on the nation.
Karen was voted 2019 Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian Magazine for her advocacy work involving the arts. She is an inaugural 2019 Sine Fellow for Policy Innovation at American University for advocating for the intersectionality of art and policy and was selected by The League of Professional Theatre Women to receive the 2019 Lee Reynolds Award given annually to a woman in theater who has helped illuminate the possibilities for social, cultural, or political change. She was awarded the 2019 Medallion by the Children’s Theater Foundation of America for excellence and craft and a 2019 speaker at TEDEX Broadway. A graduate of Stanford University and Boston University, Karen lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and three children. She is represented by the Gersh Agency. www.KarenZacarias.com
