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Silent Sky is as relevant today as it was when Henrietta Leavitt lived over a century ago. As a nation, we are, once again, locked in a debate over identity and belonging. We are reexamining old questions about who should be given access to the seats of knowledge and power. Silent Sky tells the story of a determined woman who defies convention and smashes through a glass ceiling. The play delivers a potent message against our current national backdrop. 

My daughter, Billie, is five years old. Soon she will age into the space where national events begin to carry meaning – and require explanation. As I took on the project of directing this masterful work by Lauren Gunderson, I asked myself again and again “what lesson does this play have for Billie?” If I am accepting the responsibility of telling this story, what is its message? The answer I kept coming back to is this:  

Anything worth achieving is worth fighting for. Some people will have to fight harder. As a woman, my daughter may very well have to fight harder. It’s still worth the fight. To me, that is the great takeaway from Silent Sky.  

We’d like to think that a glass ceiling once smashed would obligingly stay in shards on the floor, but it doesn’t. The shards reconstruct themselves and must be broken again and again. Is it fair? Is it just? Is it right? How will I answer these obvious questions when Billie asks me?  

 
I will say to her that, right or wrong, It’s still worth the fight. 

Jay Stratton, Director