Traci Manning makes her living sharing true stories from the past as director of education with the Mahoning Valley Historical Society.

She’ll share some history in a different venue by directing Lauren Gunderson’s “Silent Sky,” which opens Friday at Hopewell Theatre in Youngstown for a two-weekend run.

Gunderson’s play is based on the true story of a group of female Harvard Observatory astronomers that included Henrietta Leavitt (1868-1921), who discovered methods for measuring astronomical distance at a time when women weren’t allowed to vote.

Manning grew up doing theater and has served on the community theater’s board for several years, but this is her first time directing a play.

“For me, it’s another way of telling stories,” Manning said. “In my professional life, that’s what I do as a historian, and I’ve always considered myself a storyteller, and this is just another artistic way to do that. I’ve been around the administrative side of theater here in Youngstown for several years with the board at Hopewell. I’ve kind of seen a lot of productions happen from the sidelines, and I wanted to be more directly involved, I guess, no pun intended.”

“Silent Sky” is one of several plays Gunderson has written about women of prominence, including Supreme Court justices Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor (“Justices’), and tennis star Billie Jean King (“Billie Jean”).

Gunderson has been one of the most-produced playwrights nationally for several years. Youngstown State University staged her play “The Revolutionists” in 2022, Hopewell presented “Exit, Pursued by a Bear” in 2023 and Kent State University at Trumbull Theatre did “I and You” in 2024. While viewers may learn something about the subjects she focuses on in her biographical plays, Manning stressed that Gunderson’s work is very entertaining.

“I think she writes very relatable characters,” Manning said. “People have asked me, ‘Is it a drama? Is it a comedy?’ And I have to tell them it’s everything. It’s both. It’s human. We’re not only one thing. That’s one of the things I really like about this. There’s serious depth to the work, but there’s also incredibly light, funny moments. And I think she’s kind of brilliant at blending all of that in a really human way that feels very natural.”

That said, Manning also believes there is value in sharing these unexplored stories from the past.

“We are surrounded by so much that we know nothing about,” Manning said. “When you think about someone mapping the universe, that seems so grand and big, and it is. It’s massive, and it was done by a team of women. When we think about astronomers and scientists, we have the big male names, but we don’t tend to have a lot of female names.

“Yes, this story highlights gender. It celebrates women but, going back to that human angle, we’re all human. This is a human achievement. Yes, it’s a woman’s achievement, but it’s a human achievement. We have all benefited from it. And I think that a really beautiful way to tell history is to not separate it into categories, but history is history. We all want to be very inclusive and tell as many stories as we can with as many voices as we can, and that’s what’s going to give us the full picture.”

Considering her profession, it’s no surprise Manning was a stickler for historical detail in telling the story. The star charts the actors are holding are identical to the ones astronomers would have seen 120 years ago. The suffrage pamphlet used as a prop is a copy of a pamphlet from that era.

The audience might not notice, Manning said, “But for the actors, it puts something very real and tangible in their hands that they connect with their characters. We have an amazing team that has come together. These are all veterans of the stage, not only at Hopewell, but throughout the community, and each one of them has just become their character. I know that’s really cliche to say, but watching the work that they’ve done together, the chemistry that they all have together, has been a real joy to just be a part of.. They’re an incredible team.”

The cast features Casey Murphy, McKenna Lago, Emily Royer, Rhonny Dam and Shawn Lockaton.

Just as important has been the team offstage, especially lighting designer Adam Dominick.

“It is unbelievable what he has done with our very limited lighting system,” Manning said. “One of the big things we did was really just come up with some creative solutions to making different types of stars happen in the (theater) space. I don’t want to give too much away, because there’s a couple of really big surprise moments in the show when these stars happen, but we’ve got three or four different elements that are making these stars come together.

“When you look at the night sky, not everything is the same. There are stars that are really bright and big, there are stars that are really small and dim and you struggle to see them. We wanted to give that dimension to it, so we really layered the lighting to look like different types of stars. That’s been so much fun every night to see it come to life.”

WHAT: “Silent Sky”

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday through April 11 and 2 p.m. April 12

WHERE: Hopewell Theatre, 702 Mahoning Ave., Youngstown

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $22.50 adults and $17.30 students and senior citizens and are available online at hopwelltheatre.org and by calling 330-746-5455.