Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Silent Sky: Henrietta Leavitt goes beyond the Milky Way

Harvard Observatory at Lamb's Players

Leavitt noticed that distant stars beamed from “bright” to “cold” at varying rates.
Leavitt noticed that distant stars beamed from “bright” to “cold” at varying rates.

Sean Fanning has done it again. The Designer of the Year for 2016 converted Lamb’s Players’ stage into the Harvard Observatory.

Silent Sky

Laura Gunderson’s Silent Sky begins early in the 20th Century. Harvard has the state-of-the-art telescope: the 15´ “Great Refractor.” Fanning creates the dome above it, dark, wood-paneled walls, and various arches (the dome, doorways, half of the circular floor). But no telescope. Where’s the vaunted Refractor? As the play proceeds, the omission becomes an apt choice.

Place

Lamb's Players Theatre

1142 Orange Avenue, Coronado

Henrietta Swan Leavitt never got to see it either. When she worked at the observatory, Leavitt (1868–1921) discovered something few thought possible: the universe didn’t stop at the Milky Way — it went far beyond. Even more: the core of the Milky Way was not the center of the universe. Her discovery would make the third great leap in astronomy: from the Earth at the center of the universe and then the sun. She theorized an endless Out There — but couldn’t prove it. The telescope was off limits to women.

Silent Sky is the Hidden Figures of astronomy. In the movie, African-American women work, in a segregated area, as “computers” (“people who compute data”) for the space program. Katherine Johnson, math whiz, calculates the flight trajectories for Project Mercury. The women had two strikes against them: they were female and they were black. Levitt had two against her as well: she was a young woman and nearly deaf. Make that three: she trusted her instincts and spoke her mind.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Like Katherine Johnson, Henrietta Leavitt received little credit for her discovery. Prior to it, one could only measure nearby stars. Using a “spanker” — a square magnifying glass — she and other women studied photographic plates of more distant stars. Leavitt noticed that they beamed from “bright” to “cold” at varying rates. The differences let her calculate their distances from Earth. Problem solved. But male scientists took her findings without mentioning her work. In 1923, Edwin Hubble studied star V1 and proved the Andromeda Galaxy lay beyond the Milky Way.

In Silent Sky, Leavitt has a phobia for normalcy. Unlike her conventional sister, Margaret, who marries and raises a family back in Wisconsin, Henrietta dreams huge. Only the “exceptional” will do. Margaret repeatedly urges her sister to come down from the clouds — er, universe.

Which raises the question: has anyone ever thought bigger?

At Lamb’s, her hair coiffed like a turban, Rachael Van Wormer gives Henrietta grand emotional size. She takes the largest steps and often windmills her arms to express her aims. In a fine, fearless performance, Van Wormer rightly shows that, for Henrietta, even a theater is too confining.

It’s as if she were born into a trap. Henrietta rebels against every limit. Though she knows little of the world (not even how love feels) it’s not enough. Plus, she has “fundamental problems with the state of knowledge.”

Offered a work-for-free post at the observatory, she spends her dowry to attain it. Once there, she shares an office with other women studying minuscule dots on glass plates. In effect, they count and label a star’s relative brightness and must resist “the temptation to analyze.”

The other two women, Annie Cannon and Williamina Fleming — both famous in hindsight — accept restrictions (prissy Annie even abhors “bloomers” and “dancing”). Annie and Williamina just “bookkeep the stars,” while Henrietta, who combines an omnivorous hunger for truth with a sense of destiny, can’t resist temptation and shoots the known universe beyond the Milky Way.

Silent Sky has a strong first act, as Henrietta wrestles with balky evidence and male nay-sayers, and not much of a second. The climax, her breakthrough, takes place during the intermission. The much shorter Act Two plays like a denouement. It fills in loose ends and raises some important questions but with little build. The playwright uses the standard formula for theatrical biographies: move point by point and account for all the stages of a life. But few lives match that blueprint. This approach in Sky undercuts a sustained dramatic arc.

In a comic sub-plot, Sky spends a great deal of time with Peter Shaw’s bumbled attempts to woo Henrietta. These allow her heart to thaw but become predictable — even the surprise revelation in Act Two. As Shaw, Brian Mackey gets some well-earned laughs but must jump from ungainly oaf to Shaw’s bullish alter-ego — empowered male ablaze — and back. The leaps are too extreme. Starting with less cartoony choices might help.

One of the best parts of the play and production: how Henrietta’s colleagues grow to accept her. Talk about heading into a trap. Williamina Fleming (Deborah Gilmour Smyth) and Annie Cannon (Cynthia Gerber) are hyper-territorial. Like men in ankle-length dresses, they are the rules. As their respect for Henrietta increases, they open up, delightfully.

Leavitt died of cancer in 1921. In 1923, Hubble said she deserved the Nobel Prize. Eyebrows rose throughout the scientific community: Who? Wait — a woman? Highly respected Swedish mathematician Gosta Mittag-Leffler recommended her. Both were too late. The Nobel committee never awards the prize posthumously.

Silent Sky, by Lauren Gunderson.

Lamb’s Players Theatre, 1142 Orange Avenue, Coronado.

Directed by Robert Smyth; cast: Cynthia Gerber, Catie Grady, Brian Mackey, Deborah Gilmour Smyth, Rachael Van Wormer; scenic design, Sean Fanning, costumes, Jemima Dutra, lighting, Nathan Peirson, sound, Deborah Gilmour Smyth.

Playing through May 28; Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. Matinee Wednesday at 4:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 p.m.; lambsplayers.org.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Tuétano and Mujer Divina: two storefronts, one famous birria

Burritos and coffee or tacos and tortas, marrow or not
Next Article

Was Reddit ghost sighter hired by Hotel del Coronado?

Parking 1/2 mile away and complaints of vandalism
Leavitt noticed that distant stars beamed from “bright” to “cold” at varying rates.
Leavitt noticed that distant stars beamed from “bright” to “cold” at varying rates.

Sean Fanning has done it again. The Designer of the Year for 2016 converted Lamb’s Players’ stage into the Harvard Observatory.

Silent Sky

Laura Gunderson’s Silent Sky begins early in the 20th Century. Harvard has the state-of-the-art telescope: the 15´ “Great Refractor.” Fanning creates the dome above it, dark, wood-paneled walls, and various arches (the dome, doorways, half of the circular floor). But no telescope. Where’s the vaunted Refractor? As the play proceeds, the omission becomes an apt choice.

Place

Lamb's Players Theatre

1142 Orange Avenue, Coronado

Henrietta Swan Leavitt never got to see it either. When she worked at the observatory, Leavitt (1868–1921) discovered something few thought possible: the universe didn’t stop at the Milky Way — it went far beyond. Even more: the core of the Milky Way was not the center of the universe. Her discovery would make the third great leap in astronomy: from the Earth at the center of the universe and then the sun. She theorized an endless Out There — but couldn’t prove it. The telescope was off limits to women.

Silent Sky is the Hidden Figures of astronomy. In the movie, African-American women work, in a segregated area, as “computers” (“people who compute data”) for the space program. Katherine Johnson, math whiz, calculates the flight trajectories for Project Mercury. The women had two strikes against them: they were female and they were black. Levitt had two against her as well: she was a young woman and nearly deaf. Make that three: she trusted her instincts and spoke her mind.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Like Katherine Johnson, Henrietta Leavitt received little credit for her discovery. Prior to it, one could only measure nearby stars. Using a “spanker” — a square magnifying glass — she and other women studied photographic plates of more distant stars. Leavitt noticed that they beamed from “bright” to “cold” at varying rates. The differences let her calculate their distances from Earth. Problem solved. But male scientists took her findings without mentioning her work. In 1923, Edwin Hubble studied star V1 and proved the Andromeda Galaxy lay beyond the Milky Way.

In Silent Sky, Leavitt has a phobia for normalcy. Unlike her conventional sister, Margaret, who marries and raises a family back in Wisconsin, Henrietta dreams huge. Only the “exceptional” will do. Margaret repeatedly urges her sister to come down from the clouds — er, universe.

Which raises the question: has anyone ever thought bigger?

At Lamb’s, her hair coiffed like a turban, Rachael Van Wormer gives Henrietta grand emotional size. She takes the largest steps and often windmills her arms to express her aims. In a fine, fearless performance, Van Wormer rightly shows that, for Henrietta, even a theater is too confining.

It’s as if she were born into a trap. Henrietta rebels against every limit. Though she knows little of the world (not even how love feels) it’s not enough. Plus, she has “fundamental problems with the state of knowledge.”

Offered a work-for-free post at the observatory, she spends her dowry to attain it. Once there, she shares an office with other women studying minuscule dots on glass plates. In effect, they count and label a star’s relative brightness and must resist “the temptation to analyze.”

The other two women, Annie Cannon and Williamina Fleming — both famous in hindsight — accept restrictions (prissy Annie even abhors “bloomers” and “dancing”). Annie and Williamina just “bookkeep the stars,” while Henrietta, who combines an omnivorous hunger for truth with a sense of destiny, can’t resist temptation and shoots the known universe beyond the Milky Way.

Silent Sky has a strong first act, as Henrietta wrestles with balky evidence and male nay-sayers, and not much of a second. The climax, her breakthrough, takes place during the intermission. The much shorter Act Two plays like a denouement. It fills in loose ends and raises some important questions but with little build. The playwright uses the standard formula for theatrical biographies: move point by point and account for all the stages of a life. But few lives match that blueprint. This approach in Sky undercuts a sustained dramatic arc.

In a comic sub-plot, Sky spends a great deal of time with Peter Shaw’s bumbled attempts to woo Henrietta. These allow her heart to thaw but become predictable — even the surprise revelation in Act Two. As Shaw, Brian Mackey gets some well-earned laughs but must jump from ungainly oaf to Shaw’s bullish alter-ego — empowered male ablaze — and back. The leaps are too extreme. Starting with less cartoony choices might help.

One of the best parts of the play and production: how Henrietta’s colleagues grow to accept her. Talk about heading into a trap. Williamina Fleming (Deborah Gilmour Smyth) and Annie Cannon (Cynthia Gerber) are hyper-territorial. Like men in ankle-length dresses, they are the rules. As their respect for Henrietta increases, they open up, delightfully.

Leavitt died of cancer in 1921. In 1923, Hubble said she deserved the Nobel Prize. Eyebrows rose throughout the scientific community: Who? Wait — a woman? Highly respected Swedish mathematician Gosta Mittag-Leffler recommended her. Both were too late. The Nobel committee never awards the prize posthumously.

Silent Sky, by Lauren Gunderson.

Lamb’s Players Theatre, 1142 Orange Avenue, Coronado.

Directed by Robert Smyth; cast: Cynthia Gerber, Catie Grady, Brian Mackey, Deborah Gilmour Smyth, Rachael Van Wormer; scenic design, Sean Fanning, costumes, Jemima Dutra, lighting, Nathan Peirson, sound, Deborah Gilmour Smyth.

Playing through May 28; Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. Matinee Wednesday at 4:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 p.m.; lambsplayers.org.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Operatic Gender Wars

Are there any operas with all-female choruses?
Next Article

Gonzo Report: Hockey Dad brings UCSD vets and Australians to the Quartyard

Bending the stage barriers in East Village
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader