“You asked God a question, and he answered.”
Silent Sky, a play about an under recognized, extremely important female astronomer, whose discoveries, changed our view of reality as much as Einstein’s theory of relatively, opened at Tacoma’s Little Theatre Friday night. Technically, the production was every bit as awe-inspiring as the subject: astronomy.
Written by Lauren Gunderson, Silent Sky tells part of the story of Congregational-pastor’s daughter, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, a descendent of early Massachusetts Puritans, who earned a degree from Radcliffe College in the late 19th Century, then used her dowry to finance a low-level job, tracking the location of stars in a lab at the male-dominated Harvard Observatory.
By working on her own, after hours in the lab, Leavitt made a breakthrough by creating techniques to accurately measure distances of stars up to 20 million light years. Her discovery paved the way for modern astronomy’s understanding of the structure and scale of the universe, which completely challenged convention wisdom at the time. Previously, astronomers believed that the universe only consisted of the Milky Way, after Leavitt’s measurement techniques were known, astronomers could confirm that the universe consisted of many more galaxies. 
As a result of Leavitt’s work, Edwin Hubble, an American Astronomer, was able to establish that the universe was expanding. Unfortunately, by the time the Nobel committee noticed her, she had died pre-maturely of stomach cancer at 53.
The play started out with a strong exposition, as Henrietta, played by Jessica Robins, argues with her younger more conventional sister, Margaret, an accomplished musician, about whether to leave their widowed father in rural Wisconsin and take a job in Boston at Harvard.
However, the second part of the excessively long Act I, was disappointing, due to the weakness in the plot and the poor direction. The play disintegrated into a sit-com about office life, a failed potential romance, some clichéd conflicts about male chauvinism, ( along with transposed1970’s feminist pushback, which I found unconvincing.) Midwest Pastor’s daughters just did not behave like that, in 1900,
The directing by pug Bujeaud, exacerbated the script’s weaknesses by having the actors play everything for laughs so the rather funny witty dialogue fell flat. Any first Act that takes 1 hour and 15 minutes desperately needs to be cut, especially if there is so much dialogue that does not advance the plot.
However, Act II, picked up but the events which could have given the play a dramatic punch, were merely recounted: her recognition by major scientists, her post-humus consideration for the Nobel prize etc. I also found myself wondering how a woman from a conventional family in Wisconsin, actually got herself to college-first Oberlin, then Radcliffe, and what did she do in the years before she got the job at Harvard.?
Jessica Robins, as Henrietta put in a solid spunky performance, unlike her colleague in the lab Wilhelmina Fleming, played by Deya Ozburn, who unfortunately used an accent, which was geographically in no man’s land and was often incomprehensible. As a result of the poor directing Ozburn’s and the other cast member’s acting was over the top and caricatured.
The saving grace of this disappointing production and script was the technical aspects of the show. Since the play was like a movie, with a number of short scenes in a number of indoor and outdoor places, the scenic artist Jennifer York and technical director Blake R. York produced imaginative, creative and beautiful backdrops especially of the stars in the night sky. The set and special effects were exquisite.
Silent Sky, Tacoma Little Theatre 210 N I St. Tacoma 98403, Fri, Sat 7:30 Sun 2 pm. Thru July 24. PWYC Thur July 21 at &:30. ASL Interpreted Performance July 24th 2pm.
Tickets https://tacomalittletheatre.csstix.com/event-details.php?e=377
Off street free parking available.
Vaccination certificates and Masks are required.