As 21-year-old Williamina Paton Fleming steamed across the Atlantic toward Boston in November 1878, she had no idea how brightly the stars overhead would shine in her future. MetroWeekly- Somewhat Recommended "...The Scottish immigrant housekeeper-turned-astronomer Williamina Fleming breezes onstage in Silent Sky, quickly establishing herself as the warm, cantankerous, shrewdly observant comic relief and sage advisor who stirs the plot, defining moral and dramatic support. bostonglobe.com In ‘Silent Sky,’ a pioneer claims her place among astronomy’s stars ... Williamina Fleming, played by the delightful Juliet Bowler with a Scottish accent and an air of hearty bonhomie, and Annie Cannon, portrayed by Cassandra Meyer with an intensity of focus that conveys the character’s no-nonsense approach to her work.

Posted on February 21, 2020. One of nine children of a Scottish craftsman and his wife, she already knew the cold reality of family survival.

“Silent Sky” is more straightforward and earnestly informative than some of her scripts, but the humor is piquant. Interview with Kassie Scott. Share.

HENRIETTA. Her biggest contribution to astronomy is, of course, the Cepheid variable period-luminosity relationship which she discovered in 1912.

Jump to. It’s the second of three plays in the Festival Playhouse’s 56 th season following forgotten female figures.

SILENT SKY ACT ONE Scene 1 The late evening sky outside Henrietta and Margaret’s father’s rural Massachusetts church — about 1900 … A ruddy sun sets on Henrietta — a fiercely smart woman, curious, energetic, spilling over her own traditionalism. Silent Sky finds Henrietta when she begins working at the Harvard Observatory, but in the real story she began volunteering in 1895 and was not officially hired until 1902. Silent Sky Features Women Reaching for the Stars. Williamina Fleming received considerable recognition for her work and became the leading female astronomer of her day. Stage manager is Skylar Ramsey with Claire Johnson as the assistant stage manager.
SILENT SKY could act as a simple reminder of what a pleasant, thought-provoking evening at the theater ought to look like. Although Jonathan David Martin does what he can with the role, the romance is unconvincing. Watch a trailer of Silent Sky on YouTube. Leavitt’s work with fellow scientists Annie Cannon and Williamina Fleming, portrayed in Silent Sky by Sophie Hill ’20 and Milan Levy ’23 respectively, builds a theme of feminism in the play. Sections of this page Silent Sky includes one fictional character, a young astronomer named Peter Shaw who becomes a love interest for Leavitt.

Milan Levy ’23 (from left), Sophie Hill ’20 and Aly Homminga ’20 portray astronomers Williamina Fleming, Annie Cannon and Henrietta Leavitt in the Festival Playhouse production of Silent Sky.

Silent Sky reveals the astonishing true story of Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868-1921), an American astronomer who worked at the Harvard College Observatory as a human “computer” starting in 1893. ‘Silent Sky’ tells the story of pioneering female astronomers with humor and warmth ... Williamina Fleming (a delightful Holly Twyford), and brusque suffragist Annie Cannon (a …
Brief life of a spectrographic pioneer: 1857-1911. Dressed primly and warmly, she points to the sky above her.

Tweet .

She was made an honorary member of the Royal Astronomical Society of London in 1906, and was presented with a medal by the Astronomical Society of Mexico. It’s a lively, funny, accessible play that’s alive with interesting ideas.” —ArtsAtl.com “[SILENT SKY] is a startling, entertaining true story of a brilliant, history-making The company of Silent Sky included: Maya Abram (Annie Jump Cannon), Samantha Burns (Williamina Fleming), Cierra Dolata (Henrietta Leavitt), Rachel Shannon (Margaret), and Nick Sterling (Peter Shaw).