You may not know her name, but her work has helped us understand our universe.
Henrietta Swan Leavitt hopefully may no longer be a name lost to history thanks to the new play “Silent Sky,” which showcases her life as a female “computer” in the early 1900s at Harvard College Observatory.
Marking the Chicago premier of the play, First Folio Theatre’s production takes stage March 29 to April 30 at Mayslake Peabody Estate, 1717 W 31st St. in Oak Brook.
Through her pioneering work, Leavitt made a revolutionary discovery in the field of astronomy that helped advance the work of Edwin Hubble and other astronomers who followed. And she did this all without being allowed to use a telescope.
The play was penned by Lauren Gunderson and premiered in 2011.
“She has a wonderful ear for dialogue, so while ‘Silent Sky’ is a play set in the early 1900s, it never feels like a musty and boring historical play,” said Director Melanie Keller. “There is a contemporary sound and feel to her play, and the characters she has written are smart and funny and entirely relatable.”
In fact, the play is written in a cinematic style with lots of quick location shifts and transitions.
“We are embracing the theatricality of the script, and we’ll be using a more minimal set and props than First Folio audiences might be used to,” Keller said. “We’ll be asking the audience to use their imaginations to really come along on this ride with us.”
Given the subject, there’s also a fair bit of complicated science in the script.
“The playwright presents it in a way that is almost poetic, and I think it’s very clear for the audience, but we wanted to understand it on a deeper level,” Keller explained. “We’ve been in touch with representatives at the Adler Planetarium in addition to having a dramaturge and a few consultants on the show.”
That has led to some thought-provoking prep.
“We’ve had discussions in rehearsals about the theory of relativity, the size of the universe and how light and time are measured and more,” Keller said. “It’s fair to say we’ve all been getting quite an education working on this show.”
Similar to the history of women computers at NASA, portrayed in the recent movie “Hidden Figures,” Leavitt and her female colleagues at Harvard deserve to have their stories told, she said.
“My hope is that the audience will leave knowing a bit more about the contributions of women to our present understanding of the size and nature of the universe,” Keller said. “I hope that we can break that ‘silence’ in the title of the play and teach the audience about the women who devoted their lives to this work.”
Founded in 1996, First Folio is the resident theater company at Mayslake Hall, on the grounds of the Mayslake Peabody Estate Forest Preserve.
Jen Banowetz is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
‘Silent Sky’
When: March 29 to April 30
Where: Mayslake Peabody Estate, 1717 W 31st St. in Oak Brook
Tickets: $26-$39
Information: www.firstfolio.org or 630-986-8067
