The Global Film Village

Ed Asner in ‘Uranium and Peaches’

// March 5th, 2010 // Stage Play

playwright Peter Cook, Ed Asner, David Hunt Stafford, Joe Estevez and Assistant Director

by Marc Halperin

Theatre 40 presented a staged reading of ‘Uranium and Peaches’  by Peter Cook on Tuesday, February 23rd. This is the story of two scientists from the Manhattan Project attempting to meet with President Truman, a little over two months before the bomb was dropped on Japan. After years of research, building secret cities and the expenditure of a king’s ransom their work is nearly complete. This fact based tale deals with an act of conscience to prevent the world from knowing about the nuclear bomb.

Their argument is that without the demonstration of the bomb the possibility of weaponizing the atom is strictly theoretical. For this brief moment in time the successful completion of their research is man’s greatest secret. Germany has already surrendered. The War in Europe is over and although Japan fights on in the Pacific it is only a matter of time until the war there is over as well.

Once the atomic bomb is used the world will change completely. Once it is public the ability to create an atomic bomb is no longer a secret. Every physicist in the world will understand that a weapon is possible and can eventually be duplicated given enough time and money. The scientists reason with this bureaucrat, a former Supreme Court Judge, that the explosion will usher in a nucleur weapons race causing every two bit dictator in the world to want one. Sound familiar?

It took many years for the nuclear club to grow beyond the big powers but now with India, Pakistan firmly in the camp and Iran and North Korea on the verge their argument is not far-fetched at all.

The genisis of the Manhattan Project was based on intelligence reports that Hitler was striving to build the bomb. The Tony award winning play Copenhagen tells the story of how German scientists from within the project systematically sabotaged their efforts to prevent it being built. Japan never had a similar project so for a short time the U.S. was the only nuclear power. The Soviet Union initiated a crash program to catch up and the celebrated spy trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, who were convicted and executed for giving the atomic bomb secrets to the Russians dominated the headlines in the 50′s. But as we can see in hindsight it didn’t really matter because Leo and Urey were right. Once a bomb was known to be possible you couldn’t stop someone else from duplicating it.

Ed Asner a Board member of OFFICE OF THE AMERICAS an organization dedicated to the cause of Justice and Peace and brought the production to Theatre 40  for a one night benefit performance. He was joined by Joe Estevez, the younger brother of Martin Sheen and David Hunt Stafford, Managing Director of Theatre 40. Stafford plays Jimmy, President Truman’s close friend and Chief of the Super Secret Committee on the Bomb.The tale is a strong one and the three actors know how to bring out the nuances of their roles. It is definitely a tale that needs to be told so younger generations can understand the message beneath the headlines. Duck and cover as taught in cold war civil defense was never an effective philosophy when atomic weapons are involved.