Alan Lightman received his AB degree in physics from Princeton University in 1970, Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude, and his PhD in theoretical physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1974. He has received four honorary degrees.  From 1974 to 1976, Mr. Lightman was a postdoctoral fellow in astrophysics at Cornell. During this period, he began publishing poetry in small literary magazines. He was an assistant professor of astronomy at Harvard from 1976 to 1979 and from 1979 to 1989 a research scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.  In 1989, Mr. Lightman was appointed professor of science and writing, and senior lecturer in physics, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He was the first professor at MIT to receive a joint appointment in the sciences and the humanities.

In 2004, Mr. Lightman cofounded the Catalyst Collaborative at MIT, which is a collaboration between MIT and the Underground Railway Theater of Boston. The Catalyst Collaborative aims to convey science and the culture of science through theater. CC@MIT commissions new plays and produces existing plays that involve science or scientists. Mr. Lightman’s novel Einstein’s Dreams was an international bestseller and has been translated into thirty languages. More than two dozen independent theatrical and musical productions have been based on Einstein’s Dreams, including a production by the Catalyst Collaborative and Underground Railway Theater in Cambridge in April 2007, which, like Mr g, was adapted and directed by Wesley Savick.

Suzan Zeder is one of the nation’s leading playwrights of plays for young and family audiences. Her work has been seen in all fifty states and has been produced and published in Great Britain, Germany, Australia, Japan. Israel, and Switzerland. She is the four time winner of the Distinguished Play award from the American Alliance of Theatre and Education, most recently in 1999 for her play The Taste of Sunrise. She has chaired the Playwright’s Fellowship panel for the National Endowment for the Arts and Theatre Communications Group. In 1997 she was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre. Most recently she has written the book and additional lyrics for a major musical, Time Again in Oz, co-produced by Seattle Children’s Theatre and The University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Theatre and Dance.

Melissa Jesser is making her debut with Underground Railway Theater at Central Square Theater. Previous credits include: The Seagull (Huntington Theatre Company: Elliot Norton Award- Best Ensemble), Chosen Child (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre), and The Hobbit (Wheelock Family Theatre). She has also appeared with Science Fiction Theatre Company, Hibernian Hall, and The Footlight Club. Currently, Melissa spends her mornings performing Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for schools across New England with Shakespeare Now! Melissa can next be seen in The Flick at Gloucester Stage Company this August and September. She holds a BFA in Acting from Emerson College and studied at Interlochen Arts Academy. www.melissajesser.com

Jordan Ahnquist is making his debut with Underground Railway Theater at CST, and with the Catalyst Collaborative@MIT in this world premier of Mr g.  Jordan has worked with Speakeasy Stage Company, The Lyric Stage Company, New Repertory Theatre, Stoneham Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, and The Gamm theatre,  among others.  He can often be found in the long running comedy Shear Madness at the Charles Playhouse.  Some favorite credits include Hamlet, Big River (IRNE nom), Heartbreak House, Tartuffe, and Anything’s Dream.  Jordan holds a BA in theatre from Muhlenberg College.