Julian Wiles

Notes from the playwright

Cast:  4M, 1W, plus ensemble of 6-10 men and women playing multiple roles
Sets:  Multiple but simple sets to represent Edison's Lab, his childhood bedroom, a train, a barn, a telegraph office.
Recommended for: Young Audiences

As Edison and his assistant Francis Upton struggle to develop the incandescent light bulb, flashbacks take Edison to the exploits of his youth. There we see he and his buddies blow up his basement, accidentally set fire to a barn, get thrown off a train and rescue a young boy from a speeding locomotive.  Audiences discover how Edison's date devil and sometimes mischievous curiosity let to his inventive genius later in life.