Falcon Stage Company (FCS) held auditions on Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 10-11, to cast their fall show, Silent Sky, as a pilgrimage to the 100th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage.

Silent Sky‘s story line highlights independent women breaking the mold in their workforce, showcasing the true story of Henrietta Leavitt and her contribution to astronomy.

Leavitt was first hired at Harvard University to map stars, offered no pay and no credit hours. Dismissing her instructions from the university’s astronomy department head Dr. Edward Pickering and his apprentice Peter Shaw, Leavitt began to map the progress and changes of the Cepheid Stars, which today, has had a long-lasting and profound effect on the field of astronomy.

Auditions resulted in a talented 14 person cast including senior Danika Castleberry and junior Sydney Strickland. Actual rehearsals began Thursday, Sept. 12 in preparation for show nights that will take place in the school’s auditorium Thursday, Nov. 14 – Saturday, Nov. 16.

“I’ve always loved astronomy. Getting to play one of the women who laid down the lines for the maps of our sky is an ethereal feeling,” Strickland said. “I’m super excited to work with the rest of our amazing cast of tech and actors to put Silent Sky on for everyone.”

Silent Sky also offers junior Joshua Bryan’s a directorial debut, alongside of (FCS) director and teacher Michelle Machay; accompanied by senior Stage Manager Hannah Wroton and junior Co-Tech Directors Dylan Edwards and Abbey Brown.

“I’m really excited to produce a show that has such an inspiring and extravagant story. I’m looking forward to teach the actors and crew members lessons that I learned of the summer. We haven’t done a show like this before and I’m excited to see how great it’ll be,” Bryan said.