Silent Sky Theatre Production
“He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.” - Psalms 147:4
"All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
A decade before women gained the right to vote, pastor’s daughter Henrietta Swan Leavitt and her fellow women "computers" transformed the science of astronomy. This inspiring drama explores the determination, passion and sacrifice of the women who redefined our understanding of the cosmos.
When Henrietta Leavitt begins work at the Harvard Observatory in the early 1900s, she isn’t allowed to touch a telescope or express an original idea. Instead, she joins a group of women “computers,” charting the stars for a renowned astronomer who calculates projects in “girl hours” and has no time for the women’s probing theories. As Henrietta, in her free time, attempts to measure the light and distance of stars, she must also take measure of her life on Earth, trying to balance her dedication to science with family obligations and the possibility of love. 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.