IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

DIRECTED BY

CARIN BRATLIE WETHERN

WRITTEN BY

LAUREN GUNDERSONSHOWING

FEB 22—MAR 8, 2020PERFORMING AT

BELL MUSEUMWHITNEY AND ELIZABETHMACMILLAN PLANETARIUM

Silent Sky by Lauren Gunderson

The Cast Henrietta Leavitt Victoria Pyan Margaret Leavitt Danielle Krivinchuk Peter Shaw Carl Swanson Annie Cannon Amber Bjork Williamina Fleming Sarah Broude

The Crew Director: Carin Bratlie Wethern +

Stage Manager: Clara Costello +

Costume Designer: Samantha Kuhn Staneart +

Lighting Designer: Julia Carlis Fulldome photography: Dome3D Immersive Media Solutions Sound Designer: Jacob M. Davis +

Props Designer: Jenny Moeller Dialect Coach: Keely Wolter Props Design Assistant: Ursula K. Bowden Bell Museum Planetarium Producers: Sally Brummel Sarah Komperud Thaddeus LaCoursiere ASL interpretation: Rebecca Rick Logan Yakesh Audio Description: Laura Wiebers Graphic Design: Max Lindorfer Photography: Charles Gorrill

+ Theatre Pro Rata company member

Special Thanks to Parke Kunkle for connecting Theatre Pro Rata to The Bell Museum, Jay Lamm of the Louisiana Art & Science Museum for additional scene assets, Professor Lawrence Rudnick at the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, University of Minnesota, Nimbus Theatre, Wu Chen Khoo, Norcostco, Amber Bjork and The Winding Sheet Outfit.

A note from the directorA play about an astronomer is a natural fit for a site-specific production here, even though this script was originally intended for a traditional theater space. Staging a play outside of a theater means giving up some of the usual features such as theatrical lighting instruments, a backstage, and space for scenery, but in exchange we get all of the unique assets of a planetarium. We have chosen to embrace the dome with simpler staging and production elements in order to give the view as much focus as possible within the parameters of the play. You will see the sky featured alongside the actors and many of our choices were made to highlight it and use it as an emotional tether to Henrietta.

An interesting fact: it is conventional to name lunar features after prominent scientists, astronomers, and philosophers. Out of ~1600 named features, 29 are named after women. Three of them are in this show, meaning that we are showcasing 1/10th of the Moon’s female population. As you know, it was not always the case to encourage women to pursue individual interests. For years there was an assumption that a woman’s first love would be inside the home, not outside it. This play follows the arc of Henrietta’s love story, and the path her heart leads her on.

~ Carin Bratlie Wethern, TPR Artistic Director

Amber Bjork (Annie Jump Cannon)At Pro Rata: The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Twelfth Night, Good Woman of Setzuan, Lovers & Executioners, Dido, Queen of Carthage, The Taming of the Shrew, The Spanish Tragedy, Marisol, Quills, Machinal, Slag Heap. (As Director) The Minotaur, The Knight of the Burning Pestle, Elephant’s Graveyard, T Bone N Weasel. (As Assistant Di-rector) Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom. (As Direct-ing Observer) Traveling Light. Representative Theater: The Winding Sheet Outfit: You Are Cordially Invited to the Life and Death of Edward

Lear, Blood Nocturne, The Memory Box of the Sisters Fox, Birds of Passage; Transatlantic Love Affair: 105 Proof or the Killing of Mack “The Silencer” Klein, Solitaire; Savage Umbrella: Sweet Dreams, Alfie; Theatre Unbound: Silkworms (a nun play), The Tempest; Sandbox Theatre: Suitcase; Freshwater Theatre; Te-dious Brief Productions; Nimbus Theater; HUGE; Killing Joke Productions; Guth-rie Theatre; and others. (As Director) The Winding Sheet Outfit: ...And What Alice Found There, You Are Cordially Invited to the Life and Death of Edward Lear, Blood Nocturne, The Memory Box of the Sisters Fox, The Theatre of the Tiny Clandestines; Theatre Unbound: Iphigenia and Other Daughters; Sandbox

Artists’ Bios

Theatre: 600 Years, Marie-Jeanne Valet Who Defeated la Bete du Gevaudan; Heather Bunch: You Know We’re Related to Debbie Reynolds; Freshwater The-atre: Turn Signals.Training/Education: University of Minnesota, Duluth: B.A.; Masque Theatre and School.Honors/Awards: Named one of the 2019 CityPages Artists of the Year; MN The-ater Award for Exceptional Performative Direction (The Memory Box of the Sis-ters Fox); 5 MN Fringe Golden Lanyard Awards (collective for You Are Cordially Invited to the Life and Death of Edward Lear and Blood Nocturne).Member of: The Winding Sheet Outfit (Founding Member)Upcoming: The Winding Sheet Outfit: Årsgång: What You Follow Follows You (Summer 2020) Carin Bratlie Wethern (Producer, Director)

At Pro Rata: (as director) My Sister in This House, Isaac’s Eye, Up: The Man in the Flying Chair, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, A Lie of the Mind, The Illusion, 1984, Twelfth Night, Good Woman of Setzuan, Emilie: La Marquise du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight, Lovers & Executioners, 44 Plays for 44 Presidents, Cat’s Paw, Dido, Queen of Car-thage, The Taming of the Shrew, Marisol, Metamorphoses, Feelgood Hits of the 70s, Slag Heap, Hamlet, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Emma, All Choked Up, White Noise. (As Director and Set Designer) The Spanish Tragedy,

The Life of Galileo, Killer Joe, Much Ado About Nothing, Trainspotting. (As Director and Costume Designer) Dusa, Fish, Stas & Vi, Machinal, Trainspotting. (As Fight Choreographer) Elephant’s Graveyard, Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom, T Bone N Weasel. (As Costume Designer) Traveling Light, Quills. (As Producer) all productionsRepresentative Theater: Mike’s Brass, Park Square Theater; History Theater; Theatre Unbound; Theatre L’Homme Dieu; Concordia, St. Paul; Bridge Pro-ductions; Tedious Brief Productions; St. Croix Valley Summer Theatre; Chame-leon Theater Circle; Grand Marais Playhouse; Theater of the Invisible Guests; Hamline University Theater Department; Avalon Charter School; and others. (As Asst. Director) Guthrie Theatre; History Theater; Outward SpiralTeaching: Guthrie Theatre; Steppingstone Theater; and othersTraining/Education: Wesley Balk Opera/Musical Theater Institute: Participant Director; Concordia College, Moorhead, MN: BAHonors/Awards: Ivey Award for Inventive Reinterpretation: Julius CaesarMember of: Theatre Pro Rata (Artistic Director)

Sarah Broude (Williamina Fleming)At Pro Rata: Elephants GraveyardRepresentative Theater: Sidekick Theatre: Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood; Park Square Theatre: The House on Mango Street; Swandive Theatre: Kid Simple; Hard Cover: Mrs Mortimer’s Xenophobic Travel Guide; Pangea World Theater: Zafira, The House of Bernarda AlbaTraining: Stephens College: B.F.A. Acting/ HB Studios NYCUpcoming: Park Square Theatre: The Diary of Anne Frank

Sally Brummel (Planetarium Manager, Bell Museum)

Bio: Sally has been involved in planetarium production, science outreach, and museum exhibit development for 20 years. She has produced and presented more than 50 original programs for planetariums in Minnesota, Maryland, and Colombia, and managed national and international planetarium collaborations that focused on a variety of astronomy topics, as well as Earth science, water resourc-es, and the brain. Mathematics was her first love, and she enjoys nurturing her kids to become “computers.”Education: Bachelors in Physics - Albion College, Masters

Science Education -University of Minnesota Twin Cities Julia Carlis (Lighting Designer)

At Pro Rata: (As Lighting Designer) Silent Sky, Up: The Man in the Flying Chair, Henry V, 44 Plays for 44 Presi-dents (remount), The Knight of the Burning Pestle, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Illusion, The Woodsman, Good Woman of Setzuan, Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom, T Bone N Weasel, The Taming of the Shrew, The Spanish Tragedy, Killer Joe. (As Scenic Designer) The Minotaur, 1984, Emilie: La Marquise du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight, Lovers & Executioners, Dido, Queen of Carthage. Isaac’s Eye, (As Scenic/Lighting Designer) Ele-

phant’s Graveyard, 44 Plays for 44 Presidents, Cat’s Paw. (As Properties Design-er) A Lie of the Mind, Twelfth Night.Representative Design: Oncoming Productions: Dread the Halls; Theater Unbound: Aliens with Extraordinary Skills, Title IX, Silkworms (a nun play), Julius Caesar, 10 Virgins, Chemical Imbalance, Aphra’s Attic, Quilters, Fran-kenstein Incarnate; Chameleon Theatre Circle: Stanley Ann: The Unlikely Story of Barack Obama’s Mother; Freshwater Theatre: If You Don’t Weaken, Mrs. Charles, Desperation Panties; Loudmouth Collective: Fuddy Meers; Fortune’s Fool: Stop Kiss; Yellow Tree Theatre: Steel Magnolias, String, Expecting Isabel, Anna & August/Lena Long Legs, The Last Five Years; Upright Egg: The Goodbye Project, Songbird, Venus (a play about energy); North Hennepin Community

College: The Wolf, The Book of Liz; Minnesota Shakespeare Company: Hamlet; Eclectic Edge Ensemble: Rhythm & Flow, Foot Flight by Night, EEE First Jazz-View, First Nights of a Foot Flight, EEEx12, 10th Anniversary Concert, Reeling Over Love, Snow Bound and A Grimm Tale (both with Mad Munchkin Produc-tions), Send in the Jazz, For Sports’ Sake, A Woman’s Choice, Shelter from the Storm, Sirocco/Flow, Ella Sueña.Training/Education: University of Minnesota – Twin Cities: BA.Upcoming: Theatre Pro Rata: Convent of Pleasure (June 2020) Clara Costello (Stage Manager)

At Pro Rata: The Ever and After, My Sister in This House, Isaac’s Eye, Rocket Man, Up: The Man in the Flying Chair, Goodbye Cruel World, Henry V, Knight of the Burning Pes-tle, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, A Lie of the Mind, The Illusion, The Woodsman, 1984, Twelfth Night, Elephant’s GraveyardRepresentative Theater: The Winding Sheet Outfit …And What Alice Found There; Landman Land: Dream County; Mike’s Brass: Rumpus, Circus McGurkus; Tedious Brief Pro-ductions: Mead Hall; Chameleon Theatre Circle: Stanley

Ann: The Unlikely story of Barack Obama’s Mother; Little Lifeboats: Confes-sions of a Butter Princess or Why the Cow Jumped Over the Moon, Parhelion; (As Producer) Little Lifeboats: Sing to Me Now; (As Venue Technician) Minnesota Fringe Festival 2018, 2019; (As Stagehand) Phipps Center for the Arts: Becky’s New Car, It’s a Wonderful Life, On Golden Pond; (As Wardrobe Supervisor) Phipps Center for the Arts: The Producers; (As Translator) Meiningens: The Juggler’s TaleTraining/Education: University of Minnesota, Morris, B.A. in Theatre ArtsMember of: Theatre Pro Rata, Little Lifeboats Jacob M. Davis (Sound Designer)

At Pro Rata: Isaac’s Eye, Rocket Man, Minotaur, Up: The Man in the Flying Chair, Goodbye Cruel World, Beauty Queen of Leenane, Lie of the Mind, 1984, Good Woman of Setzuan, Emilie: La Marquise du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight, Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom, Lovers & Executioners, T Bone N WeaselRepresentative Theater: Park Square Theatre: Pirates of Penzance, Cardboard Piano, Henry and Alice: Into the Wild, Amy’s View, Flower Drum Song, Nina Simone: Four Women, Soul of Gershwin, Love Person; Theatre Latte Da:

Sweeney Todd; Mixed Blood Theatre: Safe at Home (Technical Coordinator); Intermedia Arts: Global Taxi Driver; University of Minnesota Duluth: Compleat Female Stage Beauty, The Diviners; Nimbus Theatre: Elmer McCurdy, Ludlow, The Kalevala, The Storms of November, From Darkness, Tesla, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Happy Birthday, Wanda June, The Golden Ass, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, The Balcony; Gremlin Theatre: Sea Marks; Minneapolis Musical

Theatre: Big River; Tedious Brief Productions: Mead Hall, The Final Act; Shake-speare Festival LA: Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night; The People’s Cook: ¡Viva la Soul Power!, Fed and be Fed (installation); Northern Lights.mn: Ruination: City of Dust (Installation); and others. (As Associate Sound Designer or Pro-grammer) Cirque du Soleil: KOOZA!, Wintuk, Zed; Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theater, Universal Studios Hollywood, Pasadena Playhouse, Goodman Theatre; and othersTeaching: Art Institutes Minnesota, California Institute of the Arts, University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Southern CaliforniaTraining/Education: California Institute of the Arts: MFA Sound Design; Univer-sity of Minnesota Duluth: BFA Theatre, Design / TechMember of: Theatre Pro Rata, Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Asso-ciation Christine “Kit” Gordon (Dramaturg)

At Pro Rata: The Ever and After, My Sister in this House, Issac’s Eye, Minotaur, Henry V, The Illusion, The Woods-man, 1984, Twelfth Night, Elephant’s Graveyard, Good Woman of Setzuan, Emilie; La Marquise du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight, Lovers & Executioners, Dido, Queen of Carthage, The Taming of the Shrew, The Spanish TragedyRepresentative Theater: Mary Worth Theatre Company; Shakespeare in the Park; Theatre in the Round: All’s Well That Ends Well, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing; Girl

Friday Productions: The Matchmaker, Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth, Street Scene, Camino Real; Flaneur Productions: Coriolanus; University of Minnesota: The Rover, King Lear, The Arabian KnightsTraining/Education: PhD, English, University of Minnesota; Summer Intensive for Theatre Professionals, Shakespeare and Company, MassachusettsMember of: Theatre Pro Rata (Artistic Associate), Girl Friday Productions (Advi-sory Board Member) Sarah Komperud (Planetarium Programs Coordinator, Bell Museum)

Bio: Her tenure as an astronomy educator (and lover of all things astronomy related) has led her to unexpect-ed places including working in observatories, museums, planetariums, and teaching college courses. Some favorite experiences have been designing and building the Whitney and Elizabeth MacMillan Planetarium at the Bell Museum, developing museum exhibits, and traveling to research observatories in Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and across the USA. Actively involved with astronomy education, Sar-ah runs telescope observing nights for the public, teaches

weekend astrophotography courses for middle and high school students, gives talks at local astronomy society meetings, and develops fun, hands-on science activities for budding astronomers. In her free time, she enjoys knitting and

gardening.Education: Bachelors in Physics - Gustavus Adolphus College, Masters Science Education -University of Minnesota Twin Cities Danielle Krivinchuk (Margaret Leavitt)

At Pro Rata: DebutRepresentative Theatre: Royal Conservatoire of Scotland: Titus Andronicus; Theatre Unbound: Penelopiad, The How and The Why; Lyric Arts: Silent Sky; Chameleon Theatre Circle: Arcadia, Betty’s Summer Vacation; Hero Now The-atre Company: The Oresteia; Raw Sugar Theatre Company: The Funny, Synchronicity; Eugene O’Neil Theatre Center: Young Playwrights Festival; Workhouse Theatre Company: Eastern Standard; Chain Reaction Theatre: Seven; Starting Gate Theatre Company: Our Country’s Good; Aethem The-

atre Company: Workshop; Kismet Kreative Productions: English Made Simple; Schmidt Ellie Says: Ministry of Ideas; Six Elements Theatre Company: Much Ado About Nothing; Freshwater Theatre Company: The Drowning Girls, Before You Speak; Comedy Comics: Captain Do Good Saves the Future; 20% Theatre Company: AnonTraining/Education: Classical Text Intensive Study- Shakespeare’s Globe, London; National theatre Institute, Eugene O’Neil Theatre Center (CT); B.A. Theatre Arts and Psychology, Hamline University; Master’s Classical and Con-temporary Text, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (Currently Attaining) Samantha Kuhn Staneart (Costume Designer)

At Pro Rata: The Ever and After, My Sister in This House, Issac’s Eye, Rocket Man, Up: The Man in the Flying Chair, Henry V, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, 1984Representative Design: Lyric Arts: Guys and Dolls, She Loves Me, Anything Goes, Urinetown, A Christmas Story, Always… Patsy Cline, Shrek the Musical, The Explor-ers’ Club, Grease, Boeing Boeing, Into The Woods, It’s A Wonderful Life, The Laramie Project; Theater Unbound: Mere Trifles, Silkworms; Theatre in the Round: Six Degrees of Separation; Steppingstone Theatre: The Best Christ-

mas Pageant Ever; DalekoArts: Godspell, Our Town, Urinetown, Little Shop of Horrors; Apple Valley High School: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, 9 to 5, Eurydice; Actors’ Theatre of Columbus, OH: A Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of Venice; Ohio State University: Carmen, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Marat/Sade, Twelfth Night, Spring Awakening; Hamline University: The Ash Girl, Romeo and Juliet; Andover High School: The Music Man, Kiss Me Kate, Thoroughly Modern MillieTeaching: The Art Institutes International MN, The Ohio State UniversityTraining/Education: The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH: M.F.A. Costume Design and Construction; Hamline University, St. Paul, MN: B.A. Economics and Theatre Arts

Honors/Awards: American College Theatre Festival, Distinction in Costume Design: The Ash Girl, Romeo and JulietMember of: Theatre Pro Rata Thaddeus LaCoursiere (Lead Planetarium Producer for Silent

Sky, Bell Museum)Bio: as both a planetarium show producer and presenter, Thaddeus has wowed audiences with his work for nearly a decade. He enjoys bringing new ideas to light (except for black holes) and created visuals for Silent Sky, as well as the Bell Museum original productions One Giant Leap, Out of This World, and others. Silent Sky has been an amazing opportunity to push outside the regular bounds of astrono-my content and bring the “real world” into the immersive dome environment. Along with production, Thaddeus

leads school group planetarium presentations and hopes that the student’s experiences in the planetarium inspire them to take part in the great astro-nomical discoveries happening today. His dashing JFK impersonation has been characterized as “quite something” and his views about Pluto dubbed “infuriat-ing.” Outside the dome, he can be found making puns like this one. Education: Bachelors of Arts in Philosophy, University of New Mexico Jenny Moeller (Props Designer)

At Pro Rata: The Ever and After (as scenic assistant) Isaac’s Eye, Rocket ManRepresentative Theater: (as playwright/creator) Raw Sugar: Synchronicity, DefianceAlliance, The Funny. you smell like whiskey and bad choices. (As props designer) Nimbus: Ludlow, Redemption, Tesla, Happy Birthday, Wan-da June; Theatre Unbound: Hamlet. (As lighting designer) Theatre Unbound: The Taming, Mere TriflesMember of: Theatre Unbound (Executive Director)

Victoria Pyan (Henrietta Swan Leavitt)

At Pro Rata: Henry V, Twelfth Night. Representative Theater: (as actor) Oncoming Produc-tions: The Deep Dark, The Last Bombardment, Geminae; Girl Friday Productions: Skin Of Our Teeth; Market Garden Theatre: My Barking Dog; Frank Theatre: The Arsonists; Freshwater Theatre: Preferred by Discrete Women Every-where,We Just Clicked; Little Lifeboats: Raise Your Voice (Suzanne Cross): That F–king Harriet Tubman Play, I Never Eat December Snowflakes; Mission Theatre Co: Midsummer Night’s Dream; Public Dreams Theatre: The Tempest; The-

atre Unbound: Girl Shorts, Julius Caesar; Flowershop Project: Jason vs. Medea, Almost Got It Made; Pioneer Place: Laughing All the Way; Maximum Verbosity:

Penner vs. The Hydra. (as director) Little Lifeboats: Sing to Me Now, Parhelion, Tease-The Easy Access Script Experience; Love’s Prick Productions: How to Date a Werewolf. Training/Education: University of MN Morris; University College of Dublin. Member of: Little Lifeboats (Company member) and Oncoming Productions (Company member)

Carl Swanson (Peter Shaw)At Pro Rata: debut.Representative Theater: National Tour: NOEL: The Musi-cal; Children’s Theatre Company: Cinderella; Lyric Arts: Bright Star, If/Then; Old Log Theatre: How I Became a Pirate, The Reluctant Dragon; Theatre Elision: Grand and Glorious Feeling; Artistry: The Drowsy Chaperone, WitTraining/Education: Univ. of WI - Stevens Point: BA DramaUpcoming: Actors Theatre MN: Flanagan’s Wake, Sancti-fied: Feature Film

Keely Wolter (Dialect Coach)

At Pro Rata: Henry V, The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Representative Theater: Guthrie Theater: NOURA, The Great Leap; Theater Latte Da: Chicago, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Ragtime, Sweeney Todd, All is Calm (2015-2019), Lullaby; Jungle Theater: Small Mouth Sounds, The Wickams, Hand to God, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pem-berly (2017,2019), Lone Star Spirits, Le Switch, Constel-lations; Walking Shadow Theatre Company: A Midwinter Night’s Revel, The Coward, Gabriel, The Three Muske-teers, Schiller’s Mary Stuart, The Sexual Life of Savages,

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; Gremlin Theatre: Journey’s End, Dial “M” for Murder, An Absolute Turkey; 20% Theatre Company: Pink Unicorn, Where We’re Born; Children’s Theatre Company: Akeelah and the Bee, The Jungle Book. Training/Education: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama: MA; Viterbo University: BA. Member of: Voice and Speech Trainers Association. Upcoming: University of MN/Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program: Cau-casian Chalk Circle (April 2020)