Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/1077063
Seeing Stars e upper school Advanced Acting Company class performed the play "Silent Sky" by Lauren Gunderson in November. is true story of 19th-century astronomer Henrietta Leavitt explores a woman's place in both the scientific community and the world at large at a time when women's ideas were often dismissed until men claimed credit for them. Leavitt's quest to measure the distance of stars begins at Harvard Observatory and ends up changing our understanding of the universe. Advanced Acting Company is made up of juniors and seniors who have taken classes in the upper school acting curriculum. e course culminates in a production fully produced and managed by students. With the rehearsal process embedded into class time throughout the semester, it allows the cast and crew to delve deeper into the play, spending more time on script and character analysis, ensemble building and dramaturgy, while also providing students opportunities to oversee behind-the-scenes work like costume and makeup design. As a way of immersing themselves in all aspects of the subject matter, students took a crash course in astronomy with upper school science teacher Steven Coberly. ey also helped lead discussions with the upper and middle school Women in STEM clubs, and created a lobby display charting the real-life people, history and science behind the show. rough the process of putting on this play, the students were challenged as actors, designers, and stage technicians, while also being immersed in the complicated history and science of our world at the time. In past years, the Advanced Acting Company has put on such varied shows as "e Laramie Project," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "e Diary of Anne Frank," "e Comedy of Errors" and "e Odd Couple." Go behind the scenes with students from the Advanced Acting Company to see how they prepared for the production at latinschool.org/latinmagazine AROUND SCHOOL 8