Central Connecticut State University Department of Theatre’s production of “Silent Sky,” directed by Christie Maturo and with book by Lauren Gunderson, tells the story of Henrietta Leavitt, an American astronomer who made strides in astronomy through the discoveries she made. The play celebrates Leavitt and her peers as they shake things up in the field of astronomy.
The show was put on in the Blackbox Theater in Maloney Hall and had a run time of 90 minutes. I enjoy theater immensely, but I haven’t seen many shows based on historical events, so I was curious as to how this instance of real-world history combined with theatrical presentation would play out for this show and performance.
The show begins with Henrietta informing her sister Margret about how she has just accepted an offer to work at Harvard College Observatory to further the field of research of the stars. Margret is upset that her sister is leaving but Henrietta departs for Boston. After a rocky introduction to her boss Edward Pickering’s assistant, Peter Shaw, Henrietta meets her colleagues Williamina Fleming and Annie Cannon.
Henrietta begins working as a human computer, a typical woman’s job for the time where she examines and measures the brightness of stars recorded as data on photographic plates. Margret frequently updates Henrietta about their family back home in Wisconsin but Henrietta is too busy with her work to respond most of the time and the sisters have a bit of a falling out as a result.
Henrietta begins to notice many instances of Cepheid variable stars in the Magellanic Clouds galaxies and how their brightness changes. She reasons that there must be an explanation for it and pours herself into finding out. Henrietta becomes closer with Peter and they realize they have feelings for each other.
Unfortunately, Henrietta’s father falls ill and she returns home to be there for him and her sister. She continues her work and repairs her relationship with Margret. While she’s home, Henrietta realizes that the pattern of how bright the Cepheid stars are can be used to determine how far away from Earth they are, which in turn can be used to calculate the size of the universe.
Henrietta’s work gets published and it gets used by many other researchers in their own discoveries. After she had lost contact with Peter, Henrietta meets back up with him but their relationship has gotten cold and distant, so Henrietta instead devotes herself back to her work. After she returns from a trip to Europe, Henrietta meets up with Margret, Williamina, and Annie to hear about what has been happening with them and to share what she has learned.
Henrietta falls ill and is forced to start working from home but she gets promoted to the head of the department of computers where she first made her discovery. Henrietta reconciles with Peter, who tells her that her data and discoveries have been used to prove that the universe isn’t solely confined to the Milky Way galaxy, but is vast and huge like she believed it was. To celebrate, Henrietta, Annie, Williamina, Margret, and Peter break into the Harvard Observatory to look through the telescope and see the stars.
The play ends with Henrietta explaining how after her death, there was an attempt to nominate her for a Nobel Prize for her work and she recounts all of the scientific discoveries and accomplishments that mankind has made in space as a result of her work.
This was a rather enjoyable play to watch. The cast was small but fantastic. Aria Adee was passionate as Henrietta and on point in every scene she was in. Ceara Sweet as Margret was bold and did very well with her more minor role. Margarita Rivera and Allie Nadeau as Annie and Williamina respectively were very funny and gave a lot of humor and wit to their characters. And Cedric Westcott was fantastic as Peter, putting his all into the role and doing great with every line of dialogue.
The CCSU Department of Theatre did a fantastic job of putting on the show and presenting it to the audience. Many people showed up for opening night, and the cast and crew did not disappoint. I look forward to seeing how the CCSU Blackbox Theatre will do future shows.
CCSU Blackbox Theatre will be performing “Eurydice” from December 6-9, 2023 and “The 39 Steps” from March 6-9, 2024.
