Silent Sky

Jordan Jackson (10) onstage as her character, Annie Jump Cannon, who is a successful astronomer and suffragette.

Trojan Theater’s fall play Silent Sky, is an inspiring story of three trailblazers Henrietta Leavitt, Annie Cannon, and Williamina Fleming. It focuses the story on Henrietta Leavitt and how her works and discoveries affected modern astrology.

“It tells a story of some pretty inspirational women in the world of science and astronomy,” said Derek Jensen, director.

This inspirational story also gave the opportunity to showcase the strong female actresses in Trojan Theater in the production on September 29 – October 1. The cast included five students: Lily Krohe (10), Trysta Norton (9), Jack Ludlum (9), Jordan Jackson (10), and Autumn Lane (12).

Norton who played Margaret Leavitt, the sister of Henrietta,, said the play is “kind of a dramatic love story.” Henrietta is slowly falling in love with her colleague, Peter Shaw, but is called back home on account of her father’s health.

Lilly Krohe (10) onstage as her character, Henriette Leavitt, who is an aspiring astronomer.

This play wasn’t exactly easy for everyone involved. For technical director Amanda Burr, her biggest struggle was taking on the task of multiple crews and having to be in multiple places at once. “I was often tripled booked,” said Burr.

Norton said she struggled with keeping track of what she needed to bring on stage and when to go on.

Props crew member, Maurine Wadley (10), said “Switching scenes in less than 30 seconds is very stressful.”

In the end, all of the work paid off because this was the first time Trojan Theater has been able to put on a show without COVID-19 restrictions in a couple of years.

Jensen said he appreciated getting back into the habit of putting on plays. “Because of COVID, it’s been like three years since I directed just a regular play that wasn’t a musical.”

Lilly Krohe (10) and Trysta Norton (9) onstage as their characters as Henrietta and Margaret Leavitt.

With every struggle, there is a reward in the end. For Jensen, it was showcasing talented actors. “We have a lot of really strong female performers, we’d kind of wanted to really give them a voice and outlet to grow as actors.”