Sierra Madre Playhouse pays tribute to a groundbreaking, trailblazing astronomer who refused to let her gender hold her back in Lauren Gunderson’s engaging, informative biodrama Silent Sky.

Ann Marie Wilding stars as Henrietta Leavitt (1868-1921), who managed to crack the glass ceiling that separated the men from … well, from the women in the early 20th Century.

We first meet “Henry” circa 1900 as the recent Radcliffe grad leaves behind her beloved father, tradition-bound sister Margaret (April Elize), and their Wisconsin home to join Harvard University Observatory head Edward Charles Pickering’s all-female team of “computers,” whose sole responsibility is to name and catalog stars seen through the university observatory telescope and captured on glass.

Tedious as Henrietta’s work would seem to be, this is hardly the adjective to describe the squabbling of Henrietta’s partners in star-gazing, the feisty, quick-witted Scot Williamina Fleming (Aubrey Saverino) and the starchy, imperious Annie Cannon (Candida Celaya).

Romantic potential soon arrives in the person of Peter Shaw (Jack Menzies), Pickering’s brilliant assistant and just the right match for the equally brainy Henrietta if only he can keep from putting his foot in his mouth, something that seems to happen whenever they meet.

In tried-and-true romcom tradition, bickering proves mere foreplay to an attraction neither astronomer can deny as Henrietta devises the first-ever means of calculating a star’s magnitude, and even more significantly, a method that just might determine the distance of stars as far as ten million light years away, thereby making it clear for the first time that the universe is infinite, and not merely limited to our own galaxy, as previously thought.

 Silent Sky is far more than just your standard historical romance, however. There’s also the excitement of scientific discovery, and the very real characters whose lives we are drawn into, first and foremost the plucky Henrietta, whom Wilding brings to luminous life in a performance that reveals all of the astronomer’s gumption, ambition, and smarts.

Under Barbara Schofield’s assured direction, the always fabulous Saverino gives Williamina abundant Scottish grit and wit, trading multiple zingers with the powerhouse women’s rights activist that is Celaya’s Annie, as a terrific Elize’s deeply caring Margaret stays at home being an old-fashioned wife and mother, and Menzies’ dashing and dynamic Peter does his best to break down Henrietta’s romantic defenses without putting his foot in his mouth.

Schofield’s spare but effective set design benefits enormously from Fritz Davis’s scene-setting projections, especially those that fill the upstage screen with views of the heavens above, and from Marygold Martinez’s scenic artistry.

Shon LeBlanc’s costumes take us from the turn of the 20th century to the WWI years, Derek Jones’s vivid, emotion-enhancing lighting extends beyond the proscenium arch to the ceiling above, and Rachel Ross-Sullivan scores high marks for period-perfect props ranging from Henrietta’s headphone-like hearing aid to the glass slides the computers use to chart the sky.

Last but not least, sound designers John Dimitri and Jeanne Marie Valleroy and composer Jenny Giering combine their talents to give Silent Sky appropriate effects and mood-setting music.

Understudies Cristiana Barbatelli, Madi Bready, Chris Granlund Madelyne Heyman, and Gloria Tsai have their own dedicated performances on Saturday September 17 at 2:00 and Saturday September 24 at 8:00 and perform their roles at Thursday student performances as well.

Deborah Ross-Sullivan is dialect coach. Matthew Duran is assistant lighting director. Dimitri is stage manager and Dori Jurican is assistant stage manager. Philip Sokoloff is publicist.

With the Mount Wilson Observatory located directly north of Sierra Madre atop the San Gabriel Mountains and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory a mere fifteen-minute drive away, Silent Sky proves a particularly apt choice for Sierra Madre Playhouse’s late-summer/early-fall offering. Add to that its blend of human relationships, science, and romance and you have a production that educates and entertains in equal measure.

Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre.
www.sierramadreplayhouse.org

–Steven Stanley
September 10, 2022
Photos: Berrie Tsang

Tags: Lauren Gunderson, Los Angeles Theater Review, Sierra Madre Playhouse