San Marcos Academy Places First At District One-Act Play Contest

San Marcos Academy’s Theatre Department has not participated in the TAPPS One-Act Play Competition in several years, and director Daryl Fleming decided it was time to change that.

His timing, it turns out, was as flawless as his cast, who turned in a district championship performance Oct. 29, qualifying them for the state contest on Nov. 7.

Competing against four other schools in TAPPS Division 2-District 4, the Academy’s five-member cast and five-member crew performed scenes from Silent Sky, written by Lauren Gunderson for the contest, held at McGregor High School, just outside Waco.

“They just blew me away with this performance,” Fleming said of his troupe’s efforts. “The judges were very complimentary, and even members of the other companies told us how impressed they were.”

Each of the cast members received All-Star honors. Cortlyn Haresnape was named Best Actress, while Addy Cianciotto, Lillian Facille and Mac Daniel Howard were named to the All-Star Cast. Iliamna Sommerlatte received Honorable Mention All-Star honors. Also recognized was Carter Pruitt as a member of the All-Star Crew.

The company will hit the road again on Nov. 7 for the state competition at the Cailloux Theater in Kerrville, where SMA will be one of eight schools vying for the title of State Champion.

Two public performances of the play have also been scheduled on the Academy campus at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 8-9 at the San Marcos Academy Robinson Christian Center. Admission is free.

Silent Sky is based on the true story of Henrietta Leavitt, credited as the first person to create a system to measure the universe. When Leavitt begins work at the Harvard Observatory in the early 1900s, she isn’t allowed to touch a telescope or express an original idea.

Instead, she joins a group of women “computers,” charting the stars for a renowned astronomer who calculates projects in “girl hours” and has no time for the women’s probing theories.

As Leavitt, in her free time, attempts to measure the light and distance of stars, she must also take measure of her life on Earth, trying to balance her dedication to science with family obligations and the possibility of love.

The true story of 19th-century astronomer Henrietta Leavitt explores a woman’s place in society during a time of immense scientific discoveries, when women’s ideas were dismissed until men claimed credit for them. Social progress, like scientific progress, can be hard to see when one is trapped among earthly complications; Henrietta Leavitt and her female peers believe in both, and their dedication changed the way we understand both the heavens and Earth.

Cast members include Cortlyn Haresnape as Henrietta Leavitt; Mac Daniel Howard as Peter Shaw; Illiamna Sommerlatte as Margaret Leavitt; Addy Cianciotto as Annie Cannon; and Lillian Facile as Williamina Flemings.

Carter Pruitt serves as stage manager, with Caleb Guenther on lights and sound. Other crew members are Maria DeCarlo, Anna Kerwin and Charlotte Ballou.