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Female scientists take center stage in Korean production of 'Silent Sky'

Published: 25 Dec. 2024, 15:14

YOON SO-YEON
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A scene from ″Silent Sky,″ a play that tells the life story of female astronomer Henrietta Leavitt (1868-1921), who discovered how to measure vast distances in space during the 19th century. The play is being staged by the National Theater Company as its year-end production. [NATIONAL THEATER COMPANY]

The life of Henrietta Leavitt (1868-1921) has been resurrected on stage. Henrietta Leavitt was an American female astronomer who discovered how to measure vast distances in space during the 19th century, an era of disenfranchisement. The National Theater Company’s year-end production of "Silent Sky," directed by Kim Min-jeong, is currently being performed at the Myeongdong Theater in central Seoul.

A scene from the ″Silent Sky,″ a play that tells the life story of a female astronomer Henrietta Leavitt (1868~1921), who discovered how to measure vast distances to remote galaxies during the 19th century. The play is being staged by the National Theater Company as its year-end production. [NATIONAL THEATER COMPANY]

The play was originally written by American playwright and screenwriter Lauren Gunderson, known for writing plays and drawing inspiration from modern female scientists. This Korean production is a translated version of the original play.

Actor Ahn Eun-jin plays Henrietta Leavitt. The play serves as Ahn's return to the theater stage in seven years. Ahn was quite busy with small and big screen roles over the past few years. She appeared in the film “Citizen of a Kind," MBC drama “My Dearest” (2023) and JTBC drama “The Good Bad Mother” (2023).

However, Ahn is no stranger to live theater. She's also performed on stage for the musicals “The Sorrows of Young Werther” (2012) as well as “Judo Boy” (translated) (2017).

The production’s first scene starts in 1900, as Henrietta, the daughter of a rural pastor in Wisconsin in the United States, steps out from the back of the stage.

“The science of light is up over there, far away, alone, buried in the deepest darkness in the universe,” she says.

At that time in the field of astronomy, female scientists were not very famous. Henrietta’s ambition to devote her life to research and remain unmarried is met with concern by her sister Margaret, played by actor Hong Seo-young.

Even after joining the Harvard Observatory, all Henrietta could do was classify the stars on photographic plates manually with her own eyes because women were prohibited from using the observatory’s telescopes. This restriction also applied to her other colleagues who made significant achievements, including Williamina Fleming, played by actor Park Ji-ah, who was Harvard’s first female “computer” (a human calculator) and photometrician, and Annie Cannon, played by actor Cho Seung-yeon, who established the standard for stellar classification. They laid the groundwork for important research, yet they were excluded from recognition and dismissed for supposedly lacking the correct qualifications.

“Silent Sky” focuses on the solidarity of women who penetrate the generational barriers to explore life and the universe. Henrietta, Annie and Williamina’s passion for research is ignited by oppression, burning brighter and stronger. Williamina, who began as a housekeeper before becoming a female “computer,” copes through adversity with a smile, while Annie becomes involved in the women’s suffrage movement.

Ahn said the actors cast in the play read nonfiction works based on the Harvard Observatory women, such as “The Glass Universe” (2016) by Dava Sobel and “Miss Leavitt’s Stars” (2005) by George Johnson, like a bible.

Cho said they also “met with current female scientists and interviewed them” to prepare for their characters.

The small lights adorning the stage grow brighter as Henrietta’s research gradually uncovers the truth of the universe. Her discovery of the relationship between the luminosity of the Cepheid variable stars and their pulsation periods, known as the Leavitt Law, became the foundation for astronomer Edwin Hubble’s proof of the universe’s expansion — Hubble’s Law. Henrietta’s contributions were only recognized by the world after she died of cancer.

“The 21st century is unfolding with diversity and contemporaneity as its standards,” director Kim said. “The stories of individuals that were historically erased will be brought to light with a greater force in the future.”

BY NA WON-JEONG [[email protected]]