How are we going to find out about women in science? Certainly
not from textbooks. When Watson and Crick received the Nobel Prize for their
work on DNA, no one mentioned Rosalind Franklin but without her work, the
genetic code could not have been cracked. Thank heavens there’s a play about Franklin. And bless the
Flat Earth Theatre for their splendid production of SILENT/SKY (playing through
March 25th) about the Harvard Observatory women who singlehandedly mapped
the skies.
Bet you’ve never heard of Henrietta Leavitt! Without her groundbreaking
method of measuring distances in space (based on time and the brightness of
pulsing stars) astronomers like Edwin Powell Hubble would never have been able
to discover the existence of other galaxies or formulate the famous “Hubble
Constant” (about the ratio between a distant galaxy and the rate at which it’s
receding from us).
You, no doubt, recognize the Hubble name from the giant
orbiting space telescope launched in 1990. Imagine my surprise, when I turned
to my trusty, dog-eared copy of Webster’s New World Encyclopedia for the
correct spelling of Hubble … and found that Hubble is credited for Leavitt’s
work with Cepheid variable stars! (Why am I not surprised!)
If you want the real story—and a first rate play, to boot—you must see Lauren Gunderson’s lovely SILENT/SKY which
chronicles three actual female “computers” (i.e. star counters) at Harvard—and the appealing back story
Gunderson imagines for them. Her dialogue is smart-as-a-whip and plenty witty,
viewing these turn of the century women with a twenty-first century eye!
If Gunderson’s name seems familiar, you may have seen Theatre
On Fire’s crackerjack production of her EXIT PURSUED BY A BEAR a couple of
seasons ago. Boy, can she write! There you sit, learning intricate scientific
theories without even feeling the pinch—because
the story and the characters are so damned compelling.
Director Dori A. Robinson’s production is just as compelling,
with (dare I say) a star turn from Erin Eva Butcher as the unsatisfied Ph.D.
mathematician relegated to repetitious star counting. Leavitt left Wisconsin for Cambridge
so she could view the sky through the Observatory telescope. She is thwarted
from the get-go by an officious male supervisor (Marcus Hunter in a nifty
“transformation” role) and by her two co-counters who see little value in a
confrontation with Harvard’s male establishment.
Annie Cannon’s resolve is softened as the play progresses
(Cassandra Meyer as the tough scientist/suffragette) while Juliet Bowler as the
Scottish Williamina Fleming provides gentle comic relief. Leavitt’s supportive
but disapproving sister (a charming Brenna Sweet) is the playwright’s
invention, as is Hunter’s smitten supervisor, both conjured to provide contrast
to Leavitt’s cloistered observatory life.
See it for the remarkable script or the superb Flat Earth
production: This is what a fringe company can do with good material and a
boatload of passion!
