Into the mind of a young genius

Director Wes Savick has worked with such visionaries as Howard Zinn and Robert Brustein , and on plays about characters as complicated as Thomas Jefferson. So turning to certified genius Albert Einstein shouldn't be a stretch.

Savick is directing his own adaptation of "Einstein's Dreams," which marks the first full production of the Catalyst Collaborative at MIT , a collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Underground Railway Theater . The world premiere runs at MIT's Broad Institute Auditorium today through April 29.

Based on the 1993 novel by MIT's Alan Lightman , "Einstein's Dreams" imagines the young physicist on the cusp of articulating his ideas about the theory of relativity.

"What I found so enchanting about the book," says Savick, "besides the sense of wonder and imagination, is that it's about a guy who's working as a clerk in a patent office. We know he's a genius, but it's not so obvious to him, and he's playing with ideas but he's not sure where they'll lead."

In the book, Einstein's flights of fancy are dated and separated into chapters, but Savick says the stage version needed a stronger dramatic arc.

"I think it's important to humanize and demystify Einstein without reducing him or oversimplifying him," says Savick. "That was the brilliance of Lightman's book, because Lightman is both a physicist and a novelist, so he knows how to talk about the science without being overwhelmed by it."

Set in the patent office in Berne, Switzerland, and later when the young scientist, played by Robert Najarian, is fishing at a river, much of the action happens within Einstein's daydreams. The cast includes an unnamed typist from the patent office ( URT's Debra Wise ) and another man ( Steve n Barkhimer ), who are, Savick says, "parts of Einstein's brain, but also trickster characters, sometimes comic, sometimes dark and sad."

By using each of the dreams as a hint to where Einstein's ideas are taking him, Savick says, the play helps make his creative process become more accessible.

"I think anyone can respond to the notion of inheriting a rigid idea you accept as gospel until you begin to brainstorm," says Savick. "Chasing Einstein's voyage of discovery has built-in dramatic tension."