The Broadway stagehands’ strike may have meant dark theaters and flatlined ticket sales, but, for actor Jimmi Simpson of “The Farnsworth Invention,” which will open tonight at the Music Box Theatre after a nearly three-week delay, it also meant one other significant change: the replacement of a poker game at fellow actor Hank Azaria’s home with a production rehearsal. During show previews, Mr. Azaria would host games, but, with the strike on, get-togethers took a more professional turn. “We would go unofficially and rehearse — line-throughs,” Mr. Simpson said. “We did one at Hank’s house … Anyplace that didn’t have to involve the producers. That would keep us all on our game.”

Games — poker and otherwise — are integral not just to Mr. Simpson, but also to his character, Philo T. Farnsworth, in “The Farnsworth Invention,” “The West Wing” creator Aaron Sorkin’s latest work, about the invention of television. Indeed, a deck of cards rested on Mr. Simpson’s coffee table in a spare, but hospitable dressing room, a few weeks ago, when the actor, with hair tousled, as if from a nap, was preparing for the show’s original opening date.

The David and Goliath tale follows two characters, alternating between the story of a young science genius, Philo T. Farnsworth, a farm boy from Idaho, and that of his nemesis, RCA president David Sarnoff, a Russian-born Jew who emigrated to America at the age of 9 and was supporting his family by age 15. Sarnoff, played by Mr. Azaria, gradually amassed control over radio broadcasting and he had a prescient awareness of television’s even greater possibilities. Sarnoff was determined to secure the same kind of control over the patents and licensing rights of this new medium, and never dreamt that Farnsworth would pose such a problem.

Today, it is acknowledged that Farnsworth invented the key elements of television. In fact, at the age of 14, he had already diagrammed the process for his high school science teacher. But Farnsworth was so little known that, in a 1957 episode of the weekly game show, “I’ve Got a Secret,” the celebrity panel could not figure out the mystery guest’s identity. Finally, the host had to tell them: “This is the famous Dr. Philo T. Farnsworth who invented electronic television!” Having stumped everyone, Farnsworth, then 51, won that round. He was handed $80 and a carton of Winston cigarettes before he walked off the set.

In “The Farnsworth Invention,” Farnsworth and Sarnoff narrate each other’s scenes — editorializing as they go — an illuminating structure that deepens the story and eliminates clear-cut villains and heroes. At times, one reality bumps up against another in a deconstructionist collision. “Most instances where things aren’t exactly factual,” Mr. Simpson noted, “he [Aaron Sorkin] tells you.”

Mr. Simpson spoke with reverence for Farnsworth’s lack of ego and his lofty view of science, qualities that inform Mr. Simpson’s performance. Farnsworth envisioned an international community of scientists, collaborators searching for truth together. But protecting intellectual property did not figure into his vision. “That was, I guess, a flaw,” Mr. Simpson said.

To prepare for the role, Mr. Simpson immersed himself in the technical aspects of black-and-white television, at least enough to be able to explain it in layman’s terms. “It’s all about the magnitude of the light bouncing off. If it’s something light, it comes back light. If it’s dark, it will come back dark. The light can then be converted into an electrical impulse and then that’s what’s sent. Okay, this is the strength that hit me,” he said, pointing to himself. “I’m now this value of an electrical charge.” Mr. Simpson also traveled to the site of Farnsworth’s lab in San Francisco, where Mr. Simpson bribed a man to let him in the building. Hanging on his dressing room wall were three framed black-and-white photographs from that excursion.

In January, Mr. Simpson joined a workshop production of this play at California’s La Jolla Playhouse, part of a “Page to Stage” development program. In La Jolla, the actors incorporated Mr. Sorkin’s rewrites each night, as the play evolved into its present state. Mr. Simpson described working with the “living legend” Aaron Sorkin: “You know what he expects of himself and you want to be there with him.”

Pem Farnsworth, Philo’s partner in life and work, died last year at the age of 98. According to Mr. Simpson, she had become friends with Aaron Sorkin. “She was so excited that he was bringing this story to life.”

Now, with the strike over, Farnsworth’s story will finally hit the stage. As Mr. Simpson said, of all the shows that went on strike during previews, “We’re the first ones to reclaim our opening.”