Mercer Theatre’s upcoming production takes audience members on a journey of discovery with three 19th century female pioneers of astronomy and physics.
Silent Sky comes to the stage at Tattnall Square Center for the Arts at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 24-26 and 2:30 p.m. Sept. 27. Tickets are $10 for students and $15 for all others and can be purchased online or at the door.
Henrietta Leavitt is the main character in the play, written by Lauren Gunderson, and the story begins as she leaves her hometown to work at Harvard Observatory. There, she meets Annie Cannon and Williamina Fleming, and the trio is among the research institution’s human computers.
“The three women that this show centers around really did change the entire nature of physics and science in our understanding of the universe,” said Scot Mann, theater professor and director of the show. “We read about that in textbooks, but we don’t see them as people. And so, I think what this play uniquely does is take the glory and hard work of science and humanize it, so you really feel the eureka moment in the visceral and emotional way that they would have.”
Leavitt’s findings allowed astronomers to measure distances across the universe; Fleming created a system to classify stars by their hydrogen levels and discovered the Horsehead Nebula and hundreds of stars; and Cannon developed a classification system that organized stars by temperature.
“I hope the audience is moved in the same way that I was moved reading (the script) and playing this character,” said Karina Nirenberg, CLAS ’29, who plays Leavitt. “She was very important and fundamental to really big discoveries, but she’s kind of lost in history.
“(Leavitt) defied all these obstacles, and she worked very hard; but she was always described as being very optimistic. I thought that was really inspiring, the fact that she could push so many boundaries.”
Five Mercer students are in the show’s cast, and another dozen are in the crew, which includes sound designers and electricians.
“There’s some really great new talent on the stage in this show. We’ve got a lot of very strong newcomers,” Mann said. “So much of this play centers on the stars and galaxies, so a lot of our lighting effects are to make this planetarium effect inside our own theater. The music elements that are integrated into that make it almost feel like a musical at times.”
Silent Sky offers a “big dose of charm,” and its well-crafted combination of science, women in STEM and music make it interesting and enjoyable, Mann said.
“It’s going to be beautiful production-wise, but also, I love our cast so much,” said Nirenberg, a psychology major and theater minor. “It is a small, close-knit cast, and it does a great job of telling this story in a very artistically beautiful way that I’m really excited for musically and visually.”
Silent Sky is a well-known and highly regarded play in the astronomy and physics communities, Mann said. At the invitation of the Macon Museum of Arts and Sciences, the Mercer Theatre cast performed a scene from the show during its Sky Over Macon planetarium event on Sept. 18.
Following the Mercer Theatre performances on Sept. 25 and 26, Middle Georgia Astronomical Society will have a telescope set up across the street at Tattnall Square Park, so audience members can look at some of the night sky elements mentioned in the show.
