Silent Sky
by Lauren Gunderson
Directed by: Rus Roberts
Audition Dates: Dec. 5, 6, 7, 2022
Performances: Feb. 10, 11, 12(m), 16, 17, 18, 2023
The true story of 19th-century astronomer Henrietta Leavitt explores a woman’s place in society during a time of immense scientific discoveries, when women’s ideas were dismissed until men claimed credit for them. Social progress, like scientific progress, can be hard to see when one is trapped among earthly complications; Henrietta Leavitt and her female peers believe in both, and their dedication changed the way we understand both the heavens and Earth.
Director
Rus Roberts appeared onstage at ACT as Van Helsing in Dracula, Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing, Bob in Beyond Therapy, Duke Felmet in Terry Pratchett’s Wyrd Sisters, many roles for The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler, Lombard in And Then There Were None, Sir Wilfrid Robarts in Witness for the Prosecution,
and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew; he also directed Dog
Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, Children of a
Lesser God, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Deathtrap, and The
Vampyre, served as assistant director for Paradise Lost and
Found, and worked as crew and dialect coach for The 39 Steps.
He also appeared in Midsummer Arts’ Little Red Robin Hood, for
CCT in Bell, Book and Candle and Camping with Henry and Tom,
and as director for A Man For All Seasons; and at LBCC in A View
from the Bridge and The Agamemnon. He lives in Albany with his partner Johanna Spencer.
Director’s email: r.e.roberts67@gmail.com
Cast of Characters
Henrietta Leavitt:
Peter Shaw:
Annie Jump Cannon:
Margaret Leavitt:
Williamina Fleming: