Franklin's Key
Pig Iron Theatre
1417 N 2nd St.
Philadelphia
Showing June 5 - 29
In 1752, Benjamin Franklin famously ventured into an open field with his son to fly a kite in the middle of a severe thunderstorm. The lightning struck the kite and thus, he discovered electricity by catching electrical static with a key tied to the end of his kite.
This paraphrased vignette contains a tangled web of historical facts and lore. Franklin technically did not discover electricity; he was merely curious about the nature of static energy. This alleged attribution, however, comprises one of the most recognizable founding myths centering the early days of the U.S.
Franklin’s Key is a science fiction mystery thriller that dives deeper into that myth, imagining two modern day Philadelphian teens tasked with safeguarding additional undiscovered (aka imaginary) research by the famous historical figure. The plot remembers the British's fear during the War of Independence that Franklin could actually control the weather — and wonders what it would mean if such technology were real.
Plays and Players, located near Rittenhouse Square, hosts the Pig Iron Theatre’s latest production. The story follows two siblings — Temple, a high school dropout and amateur physicist, and Arturo, a cellist and music prodigy — as they tumble down a rabbit hole transporting them to the tunnels housing secret societies underneath their city of Philadelphia.
Together, these two characters embody the duality of arts and science, connecting to Benjamin Franklin’s own legacy as a polymath while encouraging kids in the audience to recognize the magic of both math and theater.
The protagonists are played by Jameka Monet Wilson and New York-based actor Alton Alburo, respectively.
Writers Dan Rothenberg and Robert Quillen Camp have written an imaginative and inventive new play that weaves together widely-known local history with curated facts about some of the earliest scientific discoveries to have shaped our modern world. Crucial plot points incorporate Philly’s most famous historical landmarks and research institutions, like the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Wanamaker Building, and the statue of William Penn fixed atop City Hall. Audiences get to learn fun facts about the city’s past while exploring new possibilities for its future.
Franklin’s Key blends science fiction with alternate history. I found a detailed chronology tucked within the show’s playbill, pictured below, but you have to see the show to find out what’s been redacted.
The audience embarks on a ride that’s part history tour and part physics lesson, complete with intertextual references to Greek mythology. The way in which Benjamin Franklin collected static energy with his kite parallels Prometheus siphoning from the Eternal Flame on Mount Olympus to bring fire to humans. Fire represents human technological development, metaphorically.
Often witty and darkly humorous, the script incorporates detailed expository dialogue explaining principles of physics and electrical engineering. The actors deliver their lines with a level of casual eloquence that you’d expect from an episode of The Big Bang Theory.
Take, for example, a scene where Temple explains basic quantum physics while a group of masked actors — credited as “Gogglers” — surround her with long red strings, resembling a life-sized version of the children’s game cat’s cradle. The minimalist choreography complements the actress’s complex monologue. The Gogglers move around her in continuously shifting geometric configurations, resembling the enlarged image of an atom one might recognize from their high school physics textbook.
The smart set design, modeled after M.C. Escher’s “Relativity” animation, along with the stage lighting, is one of my favorite aspects of the production. Typically, you expect some degree of suspended disbelief when you go to see a live theatre show. But the technical team makes a labyrinthine stage world and non-linear space/time travel believable, all with visually striking set pieces and carefully choreographed blocking. Impressive lighting shapes the storytelling by incorporating bold pops of green, purple, and red while transporting the audience to another dimension for the show's two-hour duration.
Temple, at the beginning of the play, keeps her research a secret as she struggles with imposter syndrome. Throughout the play, her outsider instincts lead her to places and scientific findings that are otherwise overlooked, much like how she feels she has been overlooked as a young Black scientist.
She eventually catches the attention of two other eccentric scientists, Prentiss and Jenkins, who also work within the margins of the scientific community because of their unconventional research.
This alludes to how women, especially Black women and women of color, remain marginalized in scientific fields and have historically had their names erased from history while the credit goes to more professionally recognized academics. Guys like Benjamin Franklin get all the praise when they don't always deserve it (again, Franklin didn't discover electricity!)
As the play progressively unravels the mystery of what really happens in the tunnels beneath the city of Philadelphia, the depth of the main characters’ relationships and pasts also come to light. Temple had to put her own education and ambitions on hold to take care of her brother, Arturo, a high school student who is fully reliant on her for everything. The codependence goes both ways for these two, but when faced with danger they find the determination to believe in their own abilities, whether scientific or musical, and cease dimming their own sparks for the sake of others. Wilson and Alburo demonstrate palpable connection, playing off each other with great comedic timing.
At the show’s climax, Arturo has to play the organ— the Wanamaker organ of course — to save his friends, and incidentally the entire universe. Drowning in a red spotlight while elevated above the stage playing the infamous instrument, he screams “Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!” in genuine confusion, horror, and elation — all to the audience's ironic delight.
Franklin’s Key puts Philadelphia's past into the hands of future generations. The show posits that today's kids deserve the opportunity to explore both art and science in order to discern the truths of the world while still seeing life's magic. Education — and contemporary theater — can empower young people to break down myths and stereotypes so they, too, can achieve what they've been told is impossible.
You have until next Sunday, June 29, to witness Philly’s past and future colliding. Buy tickets here.
