Tesla's Letters is as topical as today's headlines.  Playwright Jeffrey Stanley deals with the Serbo-Croatian conflict, with its cruelties and madnesses on both sides.  At the same time, he interweaves the biography of Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), a Serbian-American scientist who was a visionary well before his time and never received his proper recognition. 

Given such a heavy agenda and Stanley's careful research, Tesla's Letters, now in production at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, easily could have sunk beneath its own weight.  It might have been a ponderous docudrama, overloaded by facts. Or it might have been an agitprop play, given Stanley's passionate concern with both the Balkan crisis and Tesla's neglect. But the playwright never stoops to sermonizing. 

Instead he offers us a lively adventure tale, skillfully pulling all threads together.  A young American comes to Yugoslavia in 1997 to research the life, letters, and inventions of Tesla.  It is the basis for her Ph.D. thesis.  In spite of herself she is quickly caught up in political intrigue.  If she doesn't play the game, she will not get her hands on those vital papers.  Despite the play's careful structure, confusion mounts toward the end as deceptions pile upon deceptions, intrigues upon counter-intrigues.  But how can one avoid convoluted plots when dealing with the Balkans? 

Keira Naughton plays Daisy, the doctoral student, with a gutsy, no-nonsense style that works beautifully.  She is the centerpiece for the play, and her strong presence carries the piece along.  Her scenes with Grant James Varjas are especially delightful.  As the young Slav who picks Daisy up, Varjas displays a sharp, nervy energy and considerable humor.  He is fortunate that Stanley has written some of the best, and funniest, lines for his character.  As to the others, Victor Slezak is smoothly menacing, and Judith Roberts is empathetic, though not convincing as a Serb.