Lauren Gunderson is one of the most prolific playwrights in the country.looking at her silent sky, Now that we’re on stage at Asolo Rep, it’s easy to see why.
nevertheless silent sky When you meet heroine Henrietta Leavitt (Kendra Jo Brooke), stargazing in the skies of her hometown of Wisconsin and desperate to study, she deals with science and math problems… and them for life. Levitt is a real person, a female astronomer more than a century old who made important discoveries such as the “standard candle” that enabled the study of galaxies far beyond the Milky Way.
Despite her disability, which is that she is not even allowed to be near a telescope at Harvard University and has hearing loss, she has taken a job as a “computer,” one of several female staff members mapping the sky from photographic plates. I found. In Brooke’s portrayal, Levitt’s passion for the mysteries of the universe feels utterly real and infectious, even if certain aspects of Gunderson’s story are fictionalized or telescoped over time. increase.
of silent sky, Leavitt works with two female companions, Annie Cannon (Suzanne Grodner), who appears to be a strict and suffragette, and Williamina Fleming (Lise Bruneau). Both of these women worked at Harvard in the same office as Leavitt. In Gunderson’s play, they appear to be having a “Boston Marriage” of sorts, but it is never directly mentioned.
The two other characters in the play are given even more freedom. In real life, Leavitt had a sister, but here that sister, Margaret or Margie (Zoya Martin), is a musician and mother who inadvertently leads to Leavitt’s scientific leap. There’s a big interest, Peter Shaw (Christian Douglas). Audiences are unsure if he was a real person or just a representation of a traditional love relationship that Levitt’s full-fledged devotion to his career and other duties made impossible.
Either way, FSU/Asolo Conservatory students Martin and Douglas are a match for experienced actors on stage. Douglas especially fascinates us as a man who is not as confident in himself as he wants to be. And director Cima Sueko has a knack for comically and dramatically emphasizing small moments that seem almost nothing when read on the page.
Gentle comedy often abounds in the workplace, even when important life stories are being told. Thanks to the director and cast, as well as the landscape design of Milagros Ponce de Leon and the projections of Sean Duan, we are able to share the magic of diving into the night sky and getting lost in the stars for a moment. I was.
silent sky It will last until March 5th in the rotation rep. For tickets, call (941) 351-8000 or visit asolorep.org.
