Edward Fenner to give a reading on Wednesday of his play The Tesla Chronicles

Stong College presents award-winning playwright Edward Fenner, who will deliver a staged reading of his play The Tesla Chronicles on Wednesday, March 17, from 12:30 to 1:30pm in Sylvester’s, 201 Stong College.

Fenner won first place in the 2009 Kent Haworth Playwriting Contest for The Tesla Chronicles. A mature student and York staffer, Fenner is the founder of the York University Mature Students Organization and is the publisher and past executive editor of Vanier College’s literary journal Existere. The Tesla Chronicles received its premiere at the Words Alive Festival this past fall.

Left: Edward Fenner

Nikola Tesla, the subject of The Tesla Chronicles, was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. Recognized for his contributions to the birth of commercial electricity, Tesla is also responsible for many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism that took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In this one-act play, an elderly Tesla is visited by himself as a child, teen, young man, middle-aged man, and as a ghost. Fenner has crafted a well-researched and informative play that urges contemporary society to remember this influential scientist and inventor. Identity and memory are two major themes of the thought-provoking play. 

The reading is directed by York student Wajma Soroor. It is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

The Kent Haworth Playwriting Contest was established in 2002. The contest is open to all York undergraduate students. For contest rules, visit the Stong College Web site.