From Spain to Germantown: playing a pioneer seeing stars

Posted 3/22/18

Lauren Tripolitis plays Henrietta Leavitt, a woman who, despite the ubiquitous sexism at the time, ultimately changed the way we understand both the heavens and the earth. by Rita Charleston The …

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From Spain to Germantown: playing a pioneer seeing stars

Posted

Lauren Tripolitis plays Henrietta Leavitt, a woman who, despite the ubiquitous sexism at the time, ultimately changed the way we understand both the heavens and the earth.

by Rita Charleston

The Drama Group is currently presenting the Philadelphia area premiere of Lauren Gunderson's “Silent Sky.” Directed by Robert Bauer, the play continues through March 24 and tells the true story of Henrietta Leavitt, an American astronomer who started working at the Harvard College Observatory as a “computer” in the early 1900s. While Leavitt was excited by the prospect of having access to one of the largest telescopes in the world, it was only later when she learned that the telescope was used exclusively by men.

Instead, Leavitt joined a group of women charting stars for the chief male astronomer, who calculated their efforts in “girl hours.” In her free time, however, Leavitt continued to study the heavens, drawing conclusions that radically altered the future of astronomy.

Pennsylvania native Lauren Tripolitis makes her Philadelphia acting and Drama Group debut as Leavitt, a woman who, along with her peers, ultimately changed the way we understand both the heavens and the earth. A philosophy major who graduated from Boston College, maybe it is fitting that 29-year-old Tripolitis sees the philosophical implications in this work. She says, “I think this play is more philosophical than scientific, at least the way Gunderson portrays the women. Henrietta is a very curious person who really wanted to figure out why things work the way they do. I think it was her very philosophical search that led her to figure out things and led her to become an astronomer. And I believe people will think more about our place in the universe after seeing this play.”

Lauren Gunderson, who wrote “Silent Sky,” is the most produced playwright in the U.S., according to the New Yorker magazine.[/caption]

Unsure of what career path to follow, even though she enjoyed acting and spent three years in New York appearing in small productions, Tripolitis next moved to Spain, directing a theater group for adults learning English as a foreign language. “I always loved learning languages, and I did that for a couple of years. I enjoyed it so much that I eventually went on to receive a graduate degree in teaching Spanish as a foreign language at the University of Alcala. I realized if I was ever going to do something like that, I had to do it when I was young.”

Eventually, however, Tripolitis moved back to Philly in the summer of 2016. She got a job as an administrative assistant at Lantern Theatre and is just now getting back to performing. “I grew up in a musical/theatrical family. My uncle was an actor in New York, and an aunt of mine was an opera singer. Today, my younger sister Kristen is pursuing an acting career in New York. I was fortunate that I went to a liberal arts college, so I could try out many things, including acting. So now, starting out again, it's wonderful to be in a Gunderson play.”

Still, Tripolitis doesn't want to pigeonhole herself. “I'm not quite sure if I want to act full time,” she confesses. “I definitely would like theater to continue to play a part in my life – whether acting, directing or teaching. Actually, I really love it all, so we'll see.”

The Drama Group performs at the First United Methodist Church of Germantown, 6001 Germantown Ave. Tickets can be purchased at the door. More information at www.thedramagroup.org.

Ed.note: Lauren Gunderson, 36, is a prolific playwright who was born in Atlanta and now lives in San Francisco. Although she is by no means a household word, Gunderson has had 20 of her plays produced, and according to the New Yorker magazine, she is the most produced playwright in the U.S. She recently wrote a Tweet about gun control in which she said, “Imagine if cats were killing 90 Americans every day, like guns are. We’d have a cat control law because that’s what laws are for!”