Physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg — teacher and student, respectively — helped define the theoretical limits of the modern age. In Copenhagen, the two are reunited after death to share differing accounts of a mysterious meeting in 1941 as both men led competing nuclear arms programs. Best known for Noises Off, playwright Michael Frayn gives a surprising emotional charge to discussions ranging from quantum mechanics to the ambiguity of human memory and the fate of mankind in the atomic age.

Copenhagen will be performed by the Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre.

A reception for Friends of the Kansas City Public Library members (including new members who join that afternoon) follows the performance.

The Script-in-Hand series is sponsored by the Friends of the Kansas City Public Library, which has provided generous support of library programs and projects for more than 20 years. The Friends organize used book sales, enable the Library’s purchase of needed equipment and supplies, provide scholarship funding to Library personnel for continuing education, and sponsor special events.