Night Sky
by Susan Yankowitz

Name: Night Sky
Brand: Susan Yankowitz
SKU: 9780573693205
Rating: 4.06 (19 reviews)

Off-Broadway

Highlights

Small Cast

Female

Male

90 mins Present Day Ensemble Cast Unit Set/Multiple Settings Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes American

Synopsis

Drama / Cjharacters: 3m, 3f / Unit Set This extraordinary drama premiered to acclaim in a New York production directed by Joseph Chaikin and starring Joan MacIntosh.

It was subsequently produced Off-Broadway in a revised version directed by Daniella Topol and featuring Jordan Baker in the central role.

NIGHT SKY theatrically explores what Steven Hawking has called the two mysteries remaining to us: the brain and the cosmos.

When she is hit by a car, the brilliant and articulate astronomer Anna

Press Reviews

"Susan Yankowitz’s Night Sky is a rare thing: a play with a mind. It is also about the mind as universe, where language is internal astronomy. It shows us that more than hearts can be broken."
— Variety

"The enthralling Night Sky, running off-Broadway in Manhattan, may be the accomplished Susan Yankowitz’s best play yet. Her first-hand knowledge of aphasia and exemplary research into astronomy are breathtaking as she embraces an insight of Stephen Hawking’s that the two abiding unsolved mysteries are the brain and the cosmos. She makes a poetic and dramatic case for the resemblance or correspondence between the black holes of the universe and the dark recesses of the human brain, and unponderously enlightens us in her serious and humorous, wise and profoudly moving play."
— John Simon, Bloomberg News

"The most daring aspect of Night Sky is its willingness to contemplate the absence of speech as a benefit rather than a disability, the source of a renewed sense of wonder in minutiae, of personal achievement in every complete sentence, and of revelation in every verbal slip... The last word, the summing-up of Anna’s attempt to deliver her paper, conveys both her inability and her scientist’s sense of wonder at the universe – ‘speechless."
— Michael Feingold, Village Voice

"Bursting with wit, intelligence and energy, Night Sky is a sharp, multi-layered exploration of the cosmos and human beings’ place in it, using all the resources of theatre to address the limits of our understanding of physical and metaphysical universes. It’s an illuminating work, not least in its exploration of gender issues while bringing a human dimension to the other-worldly speculations of science."
— Peter Cudmore, The Scotsman

Characters

Character	Gender	Age	Description
ANNA 40s; an astronomer; intelligent and intense; moves from extreme self-confidence to extreme vulnerability in course of play. The role requires vocal and physical stylization plus the ability to convey a wide range of emotions.	—	40s	40s; an astronomer; intelligent and intense; moves from extreme self-confidence to extreme vulnerability in course of play. The role requires vocal and physical stylization plus the ability to convey a wide range of emotions.
DANIEL 30s; Anna’s live-in lover, younger than she by 5 years; opera singer, baritone (see note below*); warm, outgoing, playful, loving and sensual.	female	30s	30s; Anna’s live-in lover, younger than she by 5 years; opera singer, baritone (see note below*); warm, outgoing, playful, loving and sensual.
JENNIFER 16; Anna’s daughter; bright, sarcastic, self-dramatizing and tender-hearted – a very contemporary teenager.	female	—	16; Anna’s daughter; bright, sarcastic, self-dramatizing and tender-hearted – a very contemporary teenager.
BILL 45-60; Anna’s astronomer colleague; socially clumsy but imaginative and charismatic in the classroom.	—	60	45-60; Anna’s astronomer colleague; socially clumsy but imaginative and charismatic in the classroom.
SPEECH THERAPIST and other female roles – 30s-50s; Articulate; patient; empathic; skilled in active listening. Versatility and a flair for creating a variety of convincing characters are essential to the role.	female	30s	and other female roles – 30s-50s; Articulate; patient; empathic; skilled in active listening. Versatility and a flair for creating a variety of convincing characters are essential to the role.
APHASIC PATIENT and other male roles (including young man at dance) – 25-35; the role requires improvisatory skills, vocal calisthenics and ease with non-naturalistic performance styles. *Because DANIEL is an opera singer, it is ideal to cast an actor with a fine voice so that his career seems credible. However, it is even more important to have an excellent actor in the role, so if a choice is necessary, please consider the acting requirements over the vocal ones. Tapes can, if necessary, be used as support, enhancement or substitutes. And, except for the “Papageno” aria in Scene 9, all other music sung by DANIEL can be selected by the actor and director.	male	25-35	and other male roles (including young man at dance) – 25-35; the role requires improvisatory skills, vocal calisthenics and ease with non-naturalistic performance styles. *Because DANIEL is an opera singer, it is ideal to cast an actor with a fine voice so that his career seems credible. However, it is even more important to have an excellent actor in the role, so if a choice is necessary, please consider the acting requirements over the vocal ones. Tapes can, if necessary, be used as support, enhancement or substitutes. And, except for the “Papageno” aria in Scene 9, all other music sung by DANIEL can be selected by the actor and director.