Photo credit: Ross Zentner
Look up into a starlit sky on any given night, and the view awakens and evokes different feelings for us all: wonder, amazement, passion, peace. For Henrietta Leavitt, it’s a complex combination of all of the above—especially trying to study and practice astronomy in the man’s world of the early 1900s. Henrietta makes startling discoveries looking out into space as well as within her own heart in Next Act Theatre’s fine production of Silent Sky.
“The mind is sexless. And so is the sky,” states a determined Henrietta as she faces the first of a number of inequalities moving about in the male-dominated hierarchy at the Harvard laboratory. That will change for the better over the course of this two-hour journey. Playwright Lauren Gunderson gives us a wondrous view of distant stars in faraway places through the eyes of the women known as “computers.” They map and catalogue the work of the male astronomers with painstaking, dedicated detail, yet are not even allowed to look through the telescope.
Henrietta unexpectedly finds love in the guise of the socially awkward Peter Shaw. But she must make difficult choices—and sacrifices—to follow her passion and dreams into the starry skies. Gunderson has done her homework exceedingly well, given what could be a difficult topic of what would become modern astronomy. We understand the language and terminology thanks to the excellent ensemble of the five actors assembled.
As Henrietta, Deborah Staples finds the nuance and complexity of a “frontier woman” staking her claim in the distant galaxies—one moment vulnerable, the next determined to overcome adversity. Hers is a fascinating performance from start to finish, as is that of Reece Madigan as her supervisor. Madigan shines from within as the fumbling, bumbling Peter. He is no match for the tough-talking head “computer” Annie, played to great comic effect by Carrie Hitchcock. Kelly Doherty rounds out the group of “computers” and Karen Estrada perfectly fits the sister, Margie, who stayed home to marry rather than follow her dreams.
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“Hearts and stars can be blinding,” Henrietta comes to realize as her worlds collide. But by staying the course and following one’s passion, we eventually come to see the shimmering sparkle of the stars that light up the sky.
Through Oct. 22 at Next Act Theatre, 255 S. Water St. For tickets call 414-278-0765 or visit; nextact.org.
