TRENTON, Mich.–Leave it to playwright Lauren Gunderson to give us a story from 18^th century science and philosophy to give us a story based on facts and real people to be oh-so relevant today. In exploring the work and life of French mathematician/philosopher Emilie du Chatelet, Gunderson’s play and Open Book Theatre’s production, cuts right into the discussion today of respect for women in the workplace and academia, and the battle between ideology and science.

In Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight, Gunderson deploys an interesting and effective structure for the two-hour play (with a ten-minute intermission) of Emilie (played by Krista Schafer Ewbank) breaking the fourth wall with the audience at the start to, yes, start defending her life. To do so, she must take us back from the present to her time–the time of Voltaire, with whom she had a long-term affair, though married to a French Army General and the mother of three.

Emilie not only takes us back to scenes of her life, which are populated by Voltaire (played by Jonathan Davidson), her subsequent lover, poet Jean Francois de Saint-Lambert (played by Matthew Wallace) , her husband, her daughter, her mother and various members of court (played by Caitlin Morrison, Cynthia Szczesny and Patrick Loos), but she has the occasion word with the unseen “force’ that has allowed her to revisit her life and talk to us at the same time.

The cornerstone of her work and the story is her role at the center of debate regarding Sir Isaac Newton’s work on the nature of gravity and physics, and specifically his equation F=mv, and the work of Gottfried Leibniz who advocated a theory of F=mv2. Leibniz’s theory differed with Newton’s in that the German scientist argued that Newton’s theory was wrong because it eventually becomes zero. Natural “force” of the universe would stop dead. Newton had argued that the hand of God added the necessary energy to keep the universe moving. Leibniz, and later La Marquise, argued in favor of squaring the equation, that the force of the universe was not dependent on the hand of God, but rather was self-sufficient and perpetual.

This was pretty spicy stuff. In the early 18^th century, Newton was revered, both for his work in physics and for his recognition of God’s presence in the universe. He had respect of both philosophers and religious orthodoxy–a man for all seasons.

If you are looking for moments, though, when the air of the early 18^th century breathes into 2018, for me it was when La Marquis and Voltaire (a Newton devotee) are in disagreement over their work trying to collaborate on a paper about the science of fire. Voltaire proceeded on his belief that fire had weight and substance. La Marquis proceeded without having any conclusion at all in mind. She was interested only in discovering the truth of the problem. “Working toward a pre-determined ending is not science, it’s drama,” she tells Voltaire, putting the better known and more widely read male thought-leader in his place.

Can one not think of the absurd discussion happening today, mostly in the U.S., about the forces creating climate change, and the insistence by some that human activity and CO2 production are not to blame because the science-based answer will cost business too much money? People of a certain political stripe echo and echo and echo the baseless notion that human activity is not impacting the climate because they have already decided that it hasn’t and isn’t.

Schafer-Ewbank does a splendid job of embodying the rebellious and passionate mind and spirit of La Marquis. Her passion at times gets the better of her character and she gives in to physically touching or kissing Voltaire or her daughter, only to have the lights go out on stage, and then come up again with La Marquis gasping for air. She, like Scrooge in The Christmas Carol, is not of the corporeal living of her friends and family, and the “force” yanks her back into the ethereal space where she belongs. Morrison plays the young Emilie at times, especially when kissing or being physicall held by Voltaire to keep from angering the God(s).

Emilie is distraught, especially at the end of her natural life, over her work being unfinished. She wants more time. Of course, she can’t have it, but in revisiting her unorthodox life, she gains better perspective on her, in fact, not having left anything undone. Her contributions are timeless. We all, in fact, affect the universe. Some garner headlines and have biographies and plays written about them. Others change the humanscape noticed by only a few. But we all alter the rotation of the earth and the hearts of man in one way or another. “Undone” or “unfinished” are ideas not holding much water in the grand scheme. Others always carry on. Force Vive, F=mv2 is a real thing.

Despite the eclectic, literary and philosophical weight of the subject, Gunderson and director Sarah Hawkins Moan keep the story bouncing along with plenty of light and even delicious moments. Voltaire, it seems, would most certainly be going down today with Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey after being caught by La Marquis having an affair with his own niece. Voltaire earnestly explains: “It looks worse than it is,” delivered perfectly by Davidson to howls from the audience.

History is never dull when properly presented, complete with comedy, drama and irony that has always been a part of living, no matter what universe you come from.