SILENT SKY, 2023
Silent Sky by Lauren Gunderson was the final production in Southern Plains Productions' third season. Henrietta Leavitt was one of the most prolific astronomers of her time, discovering the fundamental pattern behind how we measure distance to stars outside of our galaxy. This play tells the story of the latter half of her life, after she was rendered hard of hearing. Our production took place in the Kirkpatrick planetarium, on a circular tiered platform in the round. I took American Sign Language classes for 6 months in New York before heading out to direct this entirely accessible production, which included ASL and closed captioning for every performance. It was a great joy to enter the world of Deaf theater, and working with a DASL was a wonderful collaboration that I would love to repeat.
Kaia Fitzgerald as Henrietta Leavitt
Silent Sky
By Lauren Gunderson
Southern Plains Productions at the Kirkpatrick Planetarium
Artistic Director: Jackson Gifford
Director: Cameron King
Director of ASL: Kaia Fitzgerald
Movement Director: Hui Cha Poos
Intimacy Director: Cam Hamlin
Dramaturg: Katy Zapanta
PSM: Audrey Mantia
ASM: Katelyn King
Projection Designer: Bea Esfahani
Scenic Designer: Ningning Yang
Lighting Designer: Clara Wiebe
Costume Designer: Jason Estala
Sound Designer: Harley Roche
Hair and Makeup Designer: Allison Winsby
Technical Director: Christian Heffron
Lead Carpenter: Monica Tran
Scenic Charge Artist: Scott Roberts
Photographer: John Gifford
Henrietta Leavitt: Kaia Fitzgerald
Margaret Leavitt: McCall McCarty
Peter Shaw: Zack Palomo
Annie Cannon: Ava Mingo
Williamina Fleming: Ashley Mandanas
Understudies: Cam Hamlin and Coy Maloney
