A Beautiful Sky

Monette Magrath in Silent Sky.  Photo by Henry DiRocco.

On Friday, April 8, First Night of Silent Sky, the heavens—as seen in the early 1900s from the Harvard Observatory—opened wide to reveal a stunning star-filled sky, drawing pleasurable sighs from the audience…

…and a few days later from the Los Angeles Times: “John Iacovelli’s gorgeously minimalist, midnight blue set features an upstage screen that arcs open as if revealing the night sky from an observatory. Enhanced by York Kennedy’s evocative lighting and John Crawford’s projection design, the stage resembles a telescope turned on the stars.”

But it was the story of Henrietta Leavitt’s scientific work against great odds that caused the most admiration among First Nighters, including special praise from former Board President Tom Sutton, who, coincidentally, had just read David A. Weintraub’s “How Old is the Universe.”

“The book describes Leavitt’s computing of Cepheid vairables,” Sutton said.  “And I’m impressed by the play’s terrific merging of art and science in a creative and entertaining way.”

See photos and read more about the Cast Party.