Asolo Rep's Silent Sky meets the Bishop Planetarium

Sometimes the stars just align. And so it was when the Bishop Planetarium partnered with Asolo Rep for a night of star gazing and conversation. The impetus for the evening was the Theatre's upcoming production of Silent Sky by Lauren Gunderson. 

As you may know, Gunderson is consistently one of the most produced playwrights in the United States. Her work has a distinctly feminist slant as she tells the stories of strong (and fiesty) women, often with a nod to history. My personal favorite of her plays is The Revolutionists, a fictionalized account of the friendship of three very real women  -- and one composite character -- who come together to fight France's Reign on Terror. Venice Theatre put on a wonderful production of the show that I saw the weekend before Hurricane Ian did its best to put the theater out of business. But I digress.

Henrietta Leavitt as seen on the Planetarium screen

Silent Sky tells the story of Henrietta Leavitt, one of the human computers who worked at the Harvard Observatory in the early 1900s. (Hearing a person referred to as a "computer" was a bit of a jolt.) Her work laid the foundation for Hubble's discovery that the universe is expanding. Pretty impressive, especially once you learn that Leavitt wasn't allowed to use a telescope on the job. Yes, telescopes were off limits for the women working at the Observatory. They would have had to have been up way too late, and it could have been cold out, so the men in charge forbade it. So instead of making their discoveries by looking at the stars, the Harvard computers studied glass plates of photographic images taken through telescopes. As Silent Sky director Seema Sueko noted, these women looked down to see what was up in the sky. 

The Milky Way

The evening started with a viewing of the night skies that Leavitt and her colleagues would have seen over Cambridge. We then spun down to the skies over Peru where Harvard had a second research station. Our exploration was led by Dina Tigeleiro, planetarium manager at the Bishop. It seemed appropriate that a female astronomer facilitated our journey into the universe. 

Sueko then shared some tidbits from her preparation for directing Asolo Rep's production of Silent Sky. (Sueko previously directed a production of the show at Ford's Theatre in D.C., so we are definitely in good hands.) Her research included a conversation with Gunderson. Sueko learned that Leavitt had suffered a hearing loss and wore a hearing aid. She would sometimes take her hearing aid out while at work to enable her to focus more deeply. The playwright became interested in Leavitt's story after coming across a little book about the astronomer. Gunderson felt a connection with the woman. The science "stuff" spoke to her; she has a background in science and is married to a biologist. "Moments of scientific discovery are inherently dramatic," she has said. And Gunderson, like Leavitt, grew up in a religious family. She often substitutes science for religion in her plays. As a line in the play reads, "There's so much more beyond ourselves." 

For an article that explains a bit more about Leavitt's work, click here. It includes a picture of a photographic negative of the type Leavitt would have used in her research. For more on Gunderson, click here. And for tickets to Asolo Rep's production of Silent Sky, click here. The show runs from January 19-March 5 in repertory with The Three Musketeers and Chicken and Biscuits.  

Happy stargazing!