ABSOLUTE BRIGHTNESS
Absolute Brightness is a puppet/physical theatre performance
about the limitations space, the distance between two very
precarious points, and the all-but-forgotten Miss Henrietta
Swan Leavitt, one of Harvard Observatory's "human calculators"
and the first contemporary astronomer to devise a mathematical
equation to measure the vastness of the Universe beyond the
Milky Way. Before Hubble, there was Henrietta—Absolute Brightness
is a story made of living objects, light, memory and the race for space.
30 cents an hour, six days a week, seven hours a day, the
“human computers” of Harvard Observatory in Cambridge, MA
counted blizzards of stars on photographic glass plates, to
create the most comprehensive chart of the night (the year was
1893). At least it paid more than the local mill.
In a tiny room in the Harvard University science wing was
filled with, “unskilled (and therefore inexpensive) labor” only
required to count specks of frozen light on glass—nothing more.
Henrietta Swan Leavitt, battling hearing loss and ill health,
arrived at an equation that changed the science of Astronomy.
Ms. Leavitt’s law provided a “cosmic yardstick” by which to
measure the known Universe. Until arriving at her theory,
popular scientific suggested that the skies ended with the
Milky Way! Ms. Leavitt died before she could see her equation
put to full use, even before she could vote. Our memory of her
fades daily, like the distant stars she counted.
Absolute Brightness is an exploration of light and imagination.
Using puppetry and physical theatre Absolute Brightness aims
to honor the life of an all but forgotten pioneer in the field of
astronomy, and to remind us of the unfathomable benefits of looking up.
I started working on Absolute Brightness in the fall of 2004.
I thank Mat Arruda, Peter Deffet, and Sarah Reiter for their
creative contributions to this work.
Performance History:
RAPT residency program, Perishable Theatre, Winter 2007
HERE arts center, The American Livingroom Festival, Summer 2007
Tap-it/New Works, 2007
Support:
RAPT (Resident Artist at Perishable Theatre) 2006-2008
Jim Henson Foundation Grant
RICH (Rhode Island Council for the Humanities)
UP SOUTH
Up South! A tragic yet hysterical tale of time travel, immigration, The Federal Theatre Project and Orson Welles‘ “Voodoo Macbeth."
Performance history:
Sandia Theatre and Out’ch Yonda, Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 2003.
Dell’Arte International, Mad River Festival, Blue Lake California, July 2003.
Under the Radar, Oakland, California, July 2003 June 2003.
Wise Fool Performance Space, Santa Fe, New Mexico, May 2003.
Winning Coffee House, Albuquerque, New Mexico, May 2003.
Magdelena Festival, Providence, Rhode Island, 2006.
9 Round Steps, 2001. A librarian falls in love with a book. A strange mixture of
commedia dell’Arte, melodrama, and object/puppet theatre. Text based on a cluster
of dreams recorded in the winter of 2000.
Performance history:
Dell’Arte International, Mad River Festival, Blue Lake, California, July 2002.
The Riverside Theatre, Albuquerque, New Mexico,
April, 2002. Wise Fool Stage, Penasco, New Mexico, March 2002
Propaganda, Moon, 2000. A laborer joins the fight against Fascism in Spain.
Collaged text from Federico Garcia Lorca and George Orwell, and original song.
A melodrama/musical, if you will.
Performance History:
The Riverside Theatre, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2000.
Liquid, 1999. To avoid being deflowered by a god, a nymph transforms into a river.
Performance History:
The Riverside Theatre, Albuquerque, New Mexico September, 1999.
© Marya Errin Jones. All Rights Reserved.