Theatrical Outfit Stages Lauren Gunderson's SILENT SKY, Now thru 3/1

Theatrical Outfit continues its "Season of Compassion" with the awe-inspiring regional premiere of Lauren Gunderson's Silent Sky, which reveals the astonishing personal and professional discoveries awaiting real-life female American astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868-1921). SILENT SKY will be directed by David Crowe DAVID CROWE and stars Elizabeth Diane Wells*, Carolyn Cook*, Deadra Moore*, Cynthia Barrett* and Brandon Partrick.

* member of Actors' Equity, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

Lauren Gunderson's riveting exploration of the life and career of real-life celebrated astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868-1921) takes us on a humorous, heartwarming and motivating journey as this one-of-a-kind superstar fearlessly asserts herself in the turn-of-the-century world of Harvard's male-driven observatory, ultimately touching the wondrous outer reaches of our very universe -- proof that the human mind and heart truly knows no limits! Theatrical Outfit very proudly presents the regional premiere of Silent Sky.

SILENT SKY RUN DATES: February 14 - March 1, 2015:

- Previews at 7:30 p.m. February 12 and 13

- Opening night performance is at 7:30 p.m. February 14 (women receive a Valentine's surprise)

- Remainder of run is 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday; and 2:30 Saturday and Sunday. (Saturday matinee not available opening week.)

Tickets: $20-$50. Call 678.528.1500 or visit www.theatricaloutfit.org. Run time: approximately 2 hours with one intermission.

DID YOU KNOW? Theatrical Outfit is committed to using the best Atlanta talent onstage and behind the scenes. You'll rarely see a New York or Los Angeles-based actor on our stage.

ABOUT THE CAST OF SILENT SKY:

- Elizabeth Diane Wells (Henrietta Leavitt) was last seen at Theatrical Outfit as Pauline in Dividing the Estate, Alma in Summer and Smoke, and Belle in Ah! Wilderness. Recent Atlanta roles include The Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol at the Alliance, and Daisy in The Great Gatsby at Georgia Ensemble Theatre. Elizabeth has also worked with Gainesville Theatre Alliance, Theatre in the Square, True Colors Theatre Company, Horizon Theatre Company, Aurora Theatre, and the Atlanta Shakespeare Tavern. Regional: Jar the Floor, The Last Night of Ballyhoo and Barefoot in the Park (Charlotte Repertory Theatre); Private Lives (Riverside Theatre); Hamlet and Midwives (North Carolina Stage Company); Crimes of the Heart (Blowing Rock Playhouse). Film/TV: Selma, "The Game," "Being Mary Jane," The Campaign, Madea Goes to Jail, and Major League 3. Education: Wheaton College (Illinois); La Jolla Playhouse Conservatory/UCSD.

- Carolyn Cook (Annie Cannon) has performed in Brownie Points, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Magician's Nephew, and The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Carolyn recently completed a run of Detroit at Horizon Theatre and a workshop of Celles d'en Haut with Atlanta's French-English theatre company, Theatre du Reve. She's a twenty-season veteran of Georgia Shakespeare (King Lear, Metamorphoses, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, A Streetcar Named Desire, and others). Other Atlanta credits include Lombardi (Aurora Theatre), August: Osage County (Alliance Theatre), One Hundred Saints You Should Know(Actor's Express), and Time Stands Still, Nine Parts of Desire, The Syringa Tree, Homebody/Kabul, and Madame Melville (Horizon).

- Deadra Moore (Williamina Fleming) returns to the stage after a "mom hiatus" of twelve years. Favorite Atlanta credits include All My Sons and The Bald Soprano at 7 Stages, La Bête and James and the Giant Peach at the Alliance, The Good Times Are Killing Me at Horizon, Killer Diller at ART Station, and numerous roles with Theatre in the Square. Deadra is a proud member of both Actors' Equity and SAG-AFTRA. Look for her in the movie biography of Hank Williams, to be released in 2015.

- Cynthia Barrett (Margaret Leavitt) was last seen on T.O.'s stage in Godspell and Horton Foote's The Chase. Other credits include: Black Pearl Sings (Horizon), Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest and Pinterfest (Theatre Emory), Crimes of the Heart (Springer Opera House) as well as productions at Jewish Theatre of the South, Actor's Express, Triad Stage, Charlotte Rep, Georgia Shakespeare, and North Carolina Shakespeare. You can currently catch her on ABC's Resurrection, Sony Playstation's Powers, and the upcoming film Insurgent.

- Brandon Connor Partrick (Peter Shaw) joins Theatrical Outfit onstage for the first time. Most recently he was in Lyle the Crocodile with Synchronicity, Philadelphia Here I Come with Aris and Terminus with SAIAH.

ATTENDEE PERK: During the entire run of Silent Sky, visitors to downtown Atlanta may ride the new Atlanta Streetcar (passing in front of Theatrical Outfit and stopping a block away) FREE of charge as part of the city's "first three months free" initiative (ending March 30).

SPECIAL EVENT: Silent Sky Night at Fernbank Planetarium, featuring local female astronomers and the cast of Silent Sky. Wednesday, January 21, 2015. 6-8 p.m. Limited entry passes available to the public. Please call Theatrical Outfit's Development Office at 678.528.1506 for details and reservations. Sponsored by MailChimp.

SILENT SKY PLAYWRIGHT: Lauren Gunderson is the 2014 winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play award and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for I and You. She studied Southern Literature and Drama at Emory University and Dramatic Writing at NYU's Tisch School where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. Her work has been commissioned, produced and developed at companies across the U.S. including South Cost Rep. (Emilie, Silent Sky), The Kennedy Center (The Amazing Adventures of Dr. Wonderful And Her Dog!), The O'Neill, Denver Center, Berkeley Rep., Shotgun Players, TheatreWorks, Crowded Fire, San Francisco Playhouse, Marin Theatre, Synchronicity, Olney Theatre, Geva and more. Her work is published at Playscripts (I and You, Exit, Pursued By A Bear, and Toil And Trouble) and Samuel French (Emilie). She is a Playwright in Residence at The Playwrights Foundation, and a proud Dramatists Guild member. She is from Atlanta, GA and lives in San Francisco.

ABOUT OUR 38th SEASON OF COMPASSION: Following Silent Sky (February 12 - March 1) we will feature Storefront Church (April 9-26), which concludes John Patrick Shanley's Church and State trilogy of plays that began with Doubt and Defiance and is a compassionate morality tale that explores the often thorny relationship between spiritual experience and social action. The further examination of class, education, faith, the stars and our place in the world will lead us to a place of better understanding compassion in our own lives, in our own community, and in the world. The season closes with the founder of Dad's Garage Theatre Company, Sean Daniels', hilarious autobiography The White Chip (June 11-28).

ABOUT THEATRICAL OUTFIT: Atlanta's second-oldest professional theater company was founded in 1976 and has been led by Executive Artistic Director Tom Key since fall 1995. Key led the company through the creation of its award-winning downtown home, the Balzer Theater at Herren's, the first U.S. theater to achieve LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The theater is on the historical site of Herren's, the first Atlanta restaurant to voluntarily desegregate (in 1963). Theatrical Outfit tells consistently high-quality, soul-stirring stories, often from great classics and contemporary literature that feature many of the best writers of the American South: Carlyle Brown, Truman Capote, Evan Davis, Horton Foote, Harper Lee, Cormac McCarthy, Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy, Sherry Shepard-Massat, Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder, Hank Williams and Tennessee Williams. All shows are performed at the Balzer Theater at Herren's, 84 Luckie Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30303.

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