Ann Arbor meeting between physicists Fermi and Heisenberg dramatized in new original play

This story is part of a series about arts and culture in Washtenaw County. It is made possible by the Ann Arbor Art Center, the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, Destination Ann Arbor, Larry and Lucie Nisson, and the University Musical Society.

The Ann Arbor District Library (AADL) and Ann Arbor Civic Theatre (A2CT) have teamed up to present "Last Summer," an original one-act historical play about a pivotal conversation on nuclear weaponry that took place in Ann Arbor in 1939.

The 20-minute play is based on a discussion between Nobel laureates Enrico Fermi and Werner Heisenberg, portrayed in the play by A2CT actors Chris Grimm and Greg Kovas. "Last Summer" was commissioned for AADL's Ann Arbor 200 project — a collection of 200 original pieces of content released in 2024 to commemorate the city's bicentennial. The play is written by Ignatz- and Eisner-nominated artist and author Jim Ottaviani and directed by Cassie Mann. 

"It’s been a wonderful collaboration," Mann says. "Both AADL and A2CT providing resources and guidance allowed me to focus on the performance itself, rather than the logistics of the production."

Doug Coombe"Last Summer" director Cassie Mann and playwright Jim Ottaviani.
Ottaviani's background is in comic book writing, and his first comic, "Heavy Water," focuses on many of the same topics discussed in "Last Summer." He was excited to take on a playwriting project after being approached by AADL Director Eli Neiburger.

"The themes of responsibility, objectivity, and if there are such things as pure science or neutral technology have been in the background of everything I’ve written," Ottaviani says. 

While Ottaviani had never taken on a project like this before, he says he felt very welcomed into the process by Mann, Neiburger, and the cast. Mann also mentions the strong relationship between herself and Ottaviani during the casting and scriptwriting process, with both of them agreeing that their teamwork should hopefully lead to a "successful play."

Doug Coombe"Last Summer" playwright Jim Ottaviani.
"Cassie has been generous about including me in early discussions of the story, even before it was cast," Ottaviani says. "I’ve had my share of opportunities to weigh in, and there’s been give and take that I’m certain has made this a better play."

"Jim did such a good job of making the dialogue natural and believable, and was able to convey all of these esoteric concepts without getting bogged down," Mann says. "The structure of the conversation is almost like a game of cat and mouse, and we had a lot of fun digging into the dynamics between these characters."

Ottaviani had to invent the dialogue between Fermi and Heisenberg on his own, so he says he hopes that the exchange seems realistic.

Doug Coombe"Last Summer" director Cassie Mann.
"We’ve all had conversations like these. Mine don’t usually involve world-shaking decisions, of course," Ottaviani says. "The beauty of collaboration is that the actual pacing the audience will experience is more up to Cassie and the actors. I’m excited to be surprised by their interpretation."

"Last Summer" will be staged twice at AADL's downtown branch, on Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. and on Dec. 11 at 6:30 p.m. A Q&A session with Mann, Ottaviani, and the cast will also take place after each performance. No tickets or registration are required, and admission is free. More information is available here.

"I would like the audience to come away from the play with a sense of how important [the University of Michigan] and Ann Arbor was in the summer before World War II," Mann says. "There are arguably parallels to be drawn around the world in the 21st century."

Rylee Barnsdale is a Michigan native and longtime Washtenaw County resident. She wants to use her journalistic experience from her time at Eastern Michigan University writing for the Eastern Echo to tell the stories of Washtenaw County residents that need to be heard.

Photo by Tom Steppe.