Performing the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos

Los Alamos, New Mexico has an enduring and complicated relationship with its past. During World War II, its residents worked to create the world's first atomic weapons. The nuclear legacies of the Manhattan Project are global, but in contemporary Los Alamos the Project is often primarily considered a local history before a national or international one. The community's modern identity is constructed in part through creating its history, and this article studies two children's performances of the Manhattan Project past. The plots of these performances attempt to sidestep difficult history by avoiding nuclear weapons, which can ironically raise their uncanny specter in the imagination of the audience. The community history created in the performances privileges white scientist perspectives and at times flattens differences between past and present. This performed Manhattan Project is not only domestic - Los Alamos domesticates its complex history through these performances.

Automated summary

This article examines children's performances of the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, which attempt to avoid the sensitive history of nuclear weapons but ironically invoke their presence in the audience's imagination. These performances privilege the perspectives of white scientists and sometimes flatten the differences between the past and present. Los Alamos domesticates its complex history through these performances to create a sense of local identity.