
CECIL COLLEGE | ONE SEAHAWK DRIVE, NORTH EAST MD 21901 | BOX OFFICE: (410) 287-1037
-MSTTV.jpg)
SILENT SKY
September 15, 16, 17
Friday and Saturday at 8pm, Saturday and Sunday at 2pm
Contemporary Drama | Recommended for ages 8+
By Lauren Gunderson
Henrietta Leavitt, a real-life scientist, makes a discovery that changes astronomy forever… all before women were even allowed to vote.
A decade before women gained the right to vote, Henrietta Leavitt and her fellow women “computers” transformed the science of astronomy. In the Harvard Observatory, Leavitt found 2,400 new variable stars and made important discoveries about their fluctuating brightness, enabling fellow scientists to map the Milky Way and beyond. This inspiring drama explores the determination, passion and sacrifice of the women who redefined our understanding of the cosmos.
SILENT SKY is presented through special permission from Dramatist Play Service
_______________________________________________________
Reviews from Previous Productions:
“…sheer magic [is] in Lauren Gunderson’s SILENT SKY…Gunderson [writes] economically and with bursts of smart, infectious humor.” —San Francisco Chronicle.
“…SILENT SKY could act as a simple reminder of what a pleasant, thought-provoking evening at the theater ought to look like. 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 woman—hitherto unknown to many of us.” —AtlantaInTown.com.
“Lauren Gunderson’s luminously beautiful play SILENT SKY is an intellectual epic told on an intimate scale. Bottom line: Heavenly.” —Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
_______________________________________________________
About The Playwright:
Lauren Gunderson - Lauren is a playwright, screenwriter and short story author from Atlanta, GA. She received her BA in English/Creative Writing at Emory University, and her MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch, where she was also a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. She has been one of the most produced playwrights in America (American Theatre Magazine) since 2015, topping the list thrice including 22/23.
Lauren is one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015 topping the list thrice including 2022/23. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and John Gassner Award for Playwriting, and a recipient of the Mellon Foundation’s Residency with Marin Theatre Company. She studied Southern Literature and Drama at Emory University, and Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. Her play The Catastrophist, about her husband virologist Nathan Wolfe, premiered digitally in January 2021. She co-authored the Miss Bennet plays with Margot Melcon, and The Half-Life of Marie Curie premiered off-Broadway and at Audible.com. Her work is published at Playscripts (I and You; Exit Pursued By A Bear; The Taming and Toil And Trouble), Dramatists Play Service (The Revolutionists; The Book of Will; Silent Sky; Bauer, Natural Shocks, The Wickhams and Miss Bennet) and Samuel French (Emilie). Her picture book Dr Wonderful: Blast Off to the Moon is available from Two Lions/Amazon. She is the book writer for musicals with Ari Afsar (Jeannette), Dave Stewart and Joss Stone (The Time Traveller’s Wife), Joriah Kwamé (Sinister), Kait Kerrigan and Bree Lowdermilk (Justice and Earthrise), and Kira Stone (Built for This). She is a board member of The Playwrights Foundation. LaurenGunderson.com