The Ball of Plutonium

The action of this play takes place at the Chinook Care Center, a fictional nursing home in Seattle, Washington, that specializes in the care of patients with Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia. The time is the mid-1980s.The main character, Lewis, who has just been admitted to the facility, is a man who played a prominent role in the production of nuclear weapons. He provides the plot engine; his aggressive and domineering personality is still very much alive, buried deep within his disability, and it is his desire to gain some kind of control over his new surroundings that moves the plot forward.

Richard Beeson graduated from the Lakeside School in Seattle (where the young Bill Gates and Paul Allen first encountered computers), before attending Columbia University and the Juilliard School of Music. After graduating from Juilliard he enjoyed a successful career as an orchestral musician at Lincoln Center, performing alongside Beverly Sills, Luciano Pavarotti, and Placido Domingo, among others. In 1987 Beverly Sills appointed him to the position of Orchestra Manager at the New York City Opera. In the year 2000, he left the performing arts so he could return to an earlier passion: writing fiction. Since then he has completed the trilogy Seduction of a Wanton Dreamer (Learning to Dream, Dreaming in the Afterjoint, and Dreams of a Dying Shaman), the thriller Stonewall's Head, and this play, titled The Ball of Plutonium. He lives in New York City with his wife, the songwriter Elli Frye.