By Lauren Gunderson
SILENT SKY is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.
When Henrietta Leavitt trades the comforts of her rural home for a job at the Harvard Observatory, she isn’t allowed to touch a telescope or express an original idea. Instead, she joins a new group of female colleagues, known simply as “computers”, and begins to chart the stars for a renowned astronomer who has no time for women’s theories. As Henrietta begins to measure the stars, an astonishing discovery causes her to take measure of her life on Earth. Can she balance her dedication to science with the obligations of her family and the possibility of love?
This true story of 19th century astronomer Henrietta Leavitt explores a woman’s place in society during a time of immense scientific discoveries, when women’s ideas were often dismissed until men took credit for them. A powerhouse of a play from the brilliant mind of Lauren Gunderson, Silent Sky is an incredible story of a woman who found her light and changed the way we understand the universe.
