Even as students near and far steel themselves for a return to the classroom, Bainbridge Island’s Lesser Known Players are set to host a four-day, two-show science-themed festival, featuring two of the most exalted intellects in history, that combines education and entertainment in a crazy cocktail worthy of a mad genius’ lair.

The island-based performance group last rocked Rolling Bay Hall around Christmas, hosting an immersive, avant-garde take on a freshly translated Russian version of the classic children’s tale “The Snow Queen,” performed by the Seattle theater company Dacha. This new show is likewise a collaborative effort, said Lesser-Known Players spokeswoman Jennifer Hodges, this time in partnership with Matheatre, a touring performing arts organization specializing in math and science-based programming. Though perhaps most famous for “Calculus: The Musical!,” it is two other offerings from Matheatre that are set for appearances on the island stage.

“Tesla Ex Machina” (translated: Tesla from the Machine) is an energetic theatrical biography of everyone’s favorite angsty genius: Nikola Tesla -— featuring live electrical science demos. In 1892, the famed inventor awoke with partial amnesia. Using his incredible willpower, he pieced his life back, memory by memory. Ricky Coates (as Tesla) examines science and humanity through a virtuosic one-man performance, featuring demonstrations of a tesla coil, direct and indirect currents and robotics. The show is a touching exploration of memory, family and what it means to be human in an age of technology.

“Curie Me Away!” is radioactive musical based on the science, life and legacy of Madame Marie Curie, a pioneer in the field of physical chemistry. From growing up in occupied Poland, where higher education of women was forbidden by law, to becoming the first woman to win the Nobel Prize, her life story is one laced with tragedy but ultimately a triumph over seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Audiences can see one or both of the shows, together or separately, in a weekend-long production schedule:

8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 31 – “Tesla”;

8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 1 – “Curie”;

6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 2 – Both shows, and an intermission party with refreshments;

6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 3 – Bonus showing of “Curie.”

Tickets, $30 each, $20 for seniors and students and $15 for veterans, are on sale. Visit www.brownpapertickets.com (search by show title) to purchase.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/lesserknownplayers.

Both shows involve musical numbers, Hodges said, though “Curie” is “more the musical” of the two.

A self-described “science nerd,” Hodges said, “For people like me, this show completely hits the sweet spot.

“[It’s] not like in-your-face educational,” she added. “It’s all incorporated into the story.

“That’s one of the things I really liked about what they’re doing.”

It’s not in a box. It appeals to both adults — science people [and] not science people.”

She’d previously seen the “Tesla” show in Seattle, Hodges explained, and she’d loved it so much — as did her kids — that she set out trying to book a Bainbridge production. The timing worked out so that the “Curie” show could be tagged on, which was so much the better so far as the Lesser Known Players were concerned.

“That fits so well with our focus on seeing better roles for women on stage and focusing on women,” she said. “It really hit all the right buttons for us.”

A little bit of background info on both of the primary personalities may be nice, but is certainly not required, Hodges said. Neither is any kind of serious science knowledge. Anyone with middle or high school level science learning will get every technical aspect of both shows, she said, and the entertainment takes care of itself.

“There’s artsy stuff in there, like there’s a tap dance sequence that’s metaphorical,” she said.

“There are a lot of people who say theater’s irrelevant, [but] to me it was an example of how theater can bridge communities who don’t ordinarily talk to each other,” Hodges added. “Because a science person is going to love seeing the Tesla coil and the robot and all that, and [for] the theater people, the story’s really engaging and these characters are really engaging people.”