Prologue
Sarin Images/The Granger Collection
Thomas Edison
H1: In the 1870s, inventor Thomas Edison built a laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
H2: He hired a team of mechanics, mathematicians, blacksmiths, and engineers.
H1: In Edison’s mind, to invent something, all you needed was a good imagination and a pile of junk.
H2: Edison and his men were on the cutting edge of technology.
H1: Back then, when the sun went down, the only light—other than that from the moon and stars—came from candles or lamps that burned oil or gas.
H2: Their open flames were hazardous and created soot and noxious vapors.
H1: Edison was determined to solve these problems.
Scene 1
Edison’s lab
SD1: Twelve-year-old Alfred is picking through the trash heap outside Edison’s laboratory.
SD2: A disheveled man comes out a side door. His hair is uncombed, and he wears a rumpled blue suit.
Thomas Edison: Hey there, boy. What have you got?
SD3: Alfred slowly opens his hands.
Alfred (sheepishly): Um, some copper wire and glass tubing.
Edison: What do you intend to do with this treasure?
Alfred: I’m conducting experiments.
Edison: A young scientist, are you?
Alfred: Yes, sir. Someday I hope to be as good as Mr. Edison himself.
Edison: Today may be your lucky day. Come with me.
SD1: Edison takes Alfred into the lab. A wave of heat from the many gas lamps washes over them.
SD2: The acrid smell of burning metal fills the air. Men huddle around worktables strewn with parts and tools.
SD3: Alfred is mesmerized by the whir of machines. The room is a hive of activity.
SD1: Edison leads Alfred to a table covered with threads.
Edison: Here’s where the real action is. We are working on an incandescent lamp. Do you know what that is?
Alfred: It’s light that glows instead of flickers?
Edison: That’s right. We put a long, thin strand of some material into this glass bulb. That strand is called a filament. It heats and glows when electricity runs through it.
SD2: Alfred watches a large, bearded man delicately handle a fiber from a coconut shell.
Charles “Batch” Batchelor: Problem is, we can’t find a filament that can take the heat. We’ve tried plants, paper, all kinds of metals—thousands of substances. Now we’re trying this here coconut fiber.
Edison: When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: You haven’t. Right, Batch?
Batch: Right, Boss.
SD3: Alfred stares at Edison, dumbfounded.
Alfred: You . . . you’re the boss?
SD1: Edison winks at Alfred and tips an imaginary hat.
Edison: Mr. Edison, at your service.
Scene 2
Edison’s lab
Shutterstock.com
SD2: Alfred starts helping Edison in his lab. He brings supplies, carries water, and runs errands.
SD3: One day, Alfred and Batch are cleaning up when J.P. Morgan arrives.
J.P. Morgan (waving a newspaper): Have you seen this headline? “Is Edison a Fraud?” See that? A fraud!
Edison: It’s a pleasure to see you too, J.P.
Morgan: You said you were on the verge of making incandescent light. You claimed gaslight would soon be obsolete. That was a year ago!
Edison: Electric light has turned out to be more complex than I anticipated.
Morgan: Other scientists have already made lamps that work.
Edison: True, but they only burn for a few minutes.
Morgan: If someone else brings these lamps to market, it’s the end of the line for us.
Edison: We will succeed. We just need more time.
Morgan: If you don’t solve this soon, you’ll get no more money from me.
Edison: I need to pay my men. They work 12 to 16 hours a day!
Morgan: Seems like all you’re paying them to do is fail.
Edison: We have not failed. We have successfully found thousands of ways that won’t work. Don’t you see? Every failure is a step forward.
Morgan: Every failure is a failure.
SD1: Morgan storms off.
SD2: Edison shakes his head and goes back to his work.
Alfred (to Batch): Would he really give up on Mr. Edison?
Batch: Mr. Morgan doesn’t understand what experimentation is. He wants the end result, but he doesn’t want the struggle it takes to get there.
Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
Gas streetlamps had to be lit by so-called lamplighters.
Scene 3
Alfred’s house
SD3: Mama and Lillie stand in front of a small stove in a modest farmhouse kitchen. A large bandage is wrapped around Mama’s right arm.
Mama: Now chop those potatoes in half and drop them carefully into the boiling water.
SD1: Papa comes in with an empty milk jug.
Papa: Where’s your brother, Lillie?
Lillie: In the barn.
SD2: Papa goes outside just as flames dart from the barn. He grabs a bucket of water and rushes in.
SD3: Alfred is swatting at a growing fire.
SD1: Papa douses it.
Papa: What in tarnation is going on in here?
Alfred (quietly): I was burning pieces of fishing line, and the hay caught fire.
Papa: What’s all this about? You’ve been shirking your duties, Alfred, and I have had it with you.
Alfred: Papa, I met Mr. Edison. He’s making an electric lamp, and I’m going to help.
Papa: You will do no such thing.
Alfred: But Papa, I have to!
Papa: What you have to do is go milk the cows.
Alfred: Who cares about milking cows? Mama could have died in that fire! I saw it, Papa. The way the flames engulfed her sleeve . . . It never would have happened if we had electric lights instead of oil.
Papa (softening): It was a terrible accident, son, and I know you fret for your mama. But judging from this fire you started, electric lights will be just as dangerous.
Alfred: They will be so much safer. No open flames, no dripping oil or leaking gas.
Papa: Listen here! This experimenting will lead to nothing but trouble.
Alfred: Please believe me, Papa. Mr. Edison is going to change the world!
Papa: You will stop these experiments, and that is my final word on the subject.
George Eastman House/Getty Images
Dangerous Light
In the 1820s, cities across America began using gas lamps. Unlike today’s electric lights, gas lamps had to be lit by hand—and they could be dangerous. Frequent fires and accidents involving gas lamps, candles, and stoves were common before the widespread use of electricity, as many homes and buildings were made of wood that burned easily.
This photo was taken in Rochester, New York.
Scene 4
Edison’s lab
Shutterstock.com
H2: In the following months, doubts about Edison and his efforts grow.
H1: Newspapers publish more articles about his failures.
H2: But at the Menlo Park lab, Edison and his men continue the search for a suitable filament.
Edison: How long did that piece of platinum last?
SD2: Batch checks his notes.
Batch: Thirty minutes.
SD3: A telephone rings, and Batch steps away to answer it.
Batch: Boss, it’s your wife. She wants to know when you’ll be home.
SD1: Edison picks up some cotton threads and rubs them between his fingers.
Edison: Soon, soon . . .
SD2: Edison works well into the late evening, forgetting to eat.
SD3: His family, once again, has dinner without him.
SD1: After a nap on a workbench, Edison pops up, alert as ever.
Edison: Batch, I’ve just had an idea.
SD2: Batch looks up from a desk nearby.
Batch: Aren’t you going home tonight?
Edison: Nope. I work best while the world sleeps. Are you heading out?
Batch: No, I am staying . . . and Boss? Even if the money stops coming, I will still be by your side.
SD3: The two men begin their work.
Scene 5
Edison’s lab
H1: In late October 1879, Edison and Batch make a breakthrough.
Batch: I baked these cotton threads in the oven until they charred.
Edison: Excellent! We’ll use this carbonized cotton as a filament in the lamps we’re testing tonight.
Batch: OK. We’ve got filaments made of horsehair, paper dipped in tar, fishing line, red cedar, and cotton thread.
SD1: Edison and Batch watch the lamps all night.
Edison: Lamp Number 2 has gone out. It’s 11 p.m.
SD2: Batch writes down the time in his notebook.
SD3: One by one, the other lamps short-circuit or grow so dim they can barely be seen.
SD1: Except for the one with cotton thread.
Batch: This one is still going strong.
Edison: Let’s turn up the power.
SD2: The lamp glows for another hour before the glass overheats and cracks.
Edison: That’s 14-and-a-half hours.
Batch: The longest ever! We’re on the right track.
Edison: If we can make a lamp that lasts 14 hours, we can make one that lasts 100 hours.
Scene 6
Edison’s lab
Shutterstock.com
SD3: Alfred walks into Edison’s lab.
Edison: Ah, my young scientist friend! Where have you been these days?
Alfred: My papa told me I’m not supposed to come here anymore. I almost burned down our barn.
Edison (chuckling): What were you doing?
Alfred: Burning stuff, trying to find a filament for you.
SD1: Edison looks closely at Alfred, his eyes unfocused as he becomes lost in thought.
SD2: The stage lights fade to black.
SD3: The lights come back on to reveal the living room of Edison’s childhood home in Michigan.
SD1: Ma Edison sits in a chair, sewing by candlelight.
Ma Edison: What’s that funny smell?
Pa Edison: Must be coming from the basement. Tom is down there experimenting with his chemicals.
SD2: Just then, a deafening BOOM shakes the house.
SD3: Young Tom, about Alfred’s age, runs up the basement stairs smiling, his hair slightly singed.
Young Tom: I made hydrogen gas!
Pa Edison: One of these days, boy, you are going to blow up the whole house!
SD1: The lights fade, then come back up on the lab.
SD2: Edison is brought back to reality by Batch handing him a newspaper.
Batch: I thought you might want to see this headline.
Edison (reading): “Edison’s Light: The Great Inventor’s Triumph in Electric Illumination.” That’s more like it.
Alfred: I wish my father understood the magnitude of this, how life-changing it will be.
Edison: We’ve got a little something to show the world on New Year’s Eve. Why don’t you bring your family?
Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images (Edison)
Changing the World
Edison wanted his inventions to make life easier. His light bulb did just that, providing a clean and dependable source of light for the first time in history. Streetlights allowed people to enjoy nighttime walks without fear. And, unlike the dim flickers of gas lamps or candles, electric light seemed as clear and steady as daylight. Still, it would be decades before most homes in America used electric light.
Scene 7
The town of Menlo Park
SD3: On the night of December 31, Alfred tells his family to bundle up.
Alfred: We are going for a walk. I want to show you something amazing.
Lillie: What is it?
Alfred: It’s a surprise.
Mama: I’m not sure I like surprises.
Alfred: You will like this one.
SD1: They walk to the train station, where they see softly glowing lamps on tall poles lining the road.
Lillie: What are those?
Alfred: Electric lights. Aren’t they beautiful?
SD2: Mama walks toward the lights in awe.
Mama: I’ve never seen anything like it.
SD3: Alfred leads his family up the hill to Edison’s lab, where rows of lamps illuminate the street. Warm, lovely light emanates from the lab.
SD1: Edison comes to the door to greet them.
Edison: Welcome, welcome. You must be Alfred’s family.
Papa: Sir, I’m absolutely flabbergasted by these lamps! They don’t flicker or sputter or hiss.
Alfred: That’s because they’re electric. I told you, Papa. Edison is a true genius.
Edison: Genius, my young friend, is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.
Papa: Well, your hard work has paid off.
SD2: Alfred leads his family to a table where Batch is turning a lamp on and off.
Alfred: See, these wires are clamped to that horseshoe-shaped filament. When the electricity flows through, the filament gets really hot and starts to glow.
Mama: And that’s what makes the light?
Alfred: Yes, Mama. And it’s so much cleaner and safer than oil or gas.
Edison (to Papa): Your son has impressed me. I’d like to make him an official part of my team, if he is interested.
SD3: Mama puts her arm around Alfred’s shoulders, smiling.
Papa (with pride): Son, I can see you have a bright future ahead of you.
SD1: Alfred is beaming.
Edison: We will find out what the world needs next, then try hard to invent it. Right, Alfred?
Alfred: Right, Boss.
Writing Prompt
In Scene 1, Edison tells Alfred, “When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: You haven’t.” What does he mean by this? What does this line tell you about Edison’s character? Answer these questions in a 1-2 paragraph response.
This play was originally published in the May/June 2026 issue.
