On paper, the romance between Marianne and Roland seems improbable, if not impossible: she’s a theoretical physicist; he’s a beekeeper. If there were only one universe, they might not be together. But in a quantum multiverse, unlimited versions of their relationship can unfold. Written by one of Britain’s most innovative playwrights, Constellations plays with choice and chance, and charts the limitless possibilities of one relationship.
Runtime: 1 hour and 10 minutes with no intermission.
Constellations is generously underwritten
by Bobbi and Ralph Terkowitz.
Studio Theatre is grateful to Bruce Cohen
for his additional support.
Nick Payne studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama and the University of York. He received the prestigious George Devine Award in 2009 for his play If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet, which was produced at the Bush Theatre, directed by Josie Rourke and starring Rafe Spall. In 2012, the play opened at the Roundabout Theatre Company, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and directed by Michael Longhurst.
Constellations opened at the Royal Court Upstairs in January 2012, starring Rafe Spall and Sally Hawkins and directed by Michael Longhurst. The production transferred to the West End in November 2012 and received the Evening Standard Best Play Award and an Olivier Award nomination for Best New Play. In 2015, Constellations opened on Broadway, directed by Michael Longhurst and starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Wilson.
Mr. Payne’s other works include Wanderlust (Royal Court Theatre), Sophocles’ Electra (Gate Theatre), Lay Down Your Cross (Hampstead Theatre Downstairs), The Same Deep Water As Me (Donmar Warehouse, London; 2014 Olivier Award nomination for Best New Comedy), Blurred Lines (The Shed, National Theatre), Incognito (Bush Theatre), and The Art of Dying (Royal Court Theatre).
Mr. Payne is currently under commission at Paines Plough, the Royal Court, and Manhattan Theatre Club/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, writing a new play about Nobel Prize-winning mathematician Paul Dirac. He is playwright in residence at the Donmar Warehouse. Mr. Payne also writes for film and television. He is currently adapting Julian Barnes’s The Sense of an Ending for BBC Films and working on projects with Objective, Drama Republic, and the BBC.
David Muse is in his ninth season as Artistic Director of Studio Theatre, where he has directed The Remains, The Effect, The Father, Constellations, Chimerica, Murder Ballad, Belleville, Cock, Tribes, The Real Thing, An Iliad, Dirt, Bachelorette, The Habit of Art, Venus in Fur, Circle Mirror Transformation, reasons to be pretty, Blackbird, Frozen, and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow. Previously, he was Associate Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, where he has directed nine productions, including Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, Coriolanus, and King Charles III (a co-production of ACT and Seattle Rep). Other directing projects include Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune at Arena Stage, The Bluest Eye at Theater Alliance, and Swansong for New York Summer Play Festival. He has helped to develop new work at numerous theatres, including New York Theatre Workshop, Geva Theatre Center, Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, and The Kennedy Center. David has taught acting and directing at Georgetown, Yale, and the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy of Classical Acting. A nine-time Helen Hayes Award nominee for Outstanding Direction, he is a recipient of the DC Mayor’s Arts Award for Outstanding Emerging Artist and the National Theatre Conference Emerging Artist Award. David is a graduate of Yale University and the Yale School of Drama.
(As of April 2019)
Tom Patterson is making his Studio Theatre debut in Constellations. In New York, he’s appeared in Greg Ayers’ Sick at Coyote REP Theatre Company and Streamers at 440 Studios. His regional theatre credits include The Hound of the Baskervilles and Shotgun at Florida Studio Theatre, Ether Dome at both Hartford Stage and Huntington Theatre Company, Ether Dome and Sideways at La Jolla Playhouse, Murder on the Nile and Bedroom Farce at Barnstormers Theatre, Arms and the Man at the Electric Theatre Company, and Of Mice and Men at Northern Stage. Mr.Patterson is a member of Actors’ Equity and has an MFA from the acting program at UC San Diego.
(As of February 2016)
Lily Balantincz makes her Studio Theatre debut in Constellations. She recently graduated with her MFA from the NYU Tisch Graduate Acting Program, where she appeared in The Seagull, the world premiere of Adam Rapp’s The Eggs, In The Next Room (or The Vibrator Play), Blithe Spirit, As You Like It, Summer & Smoke, and Ring Round The Moon. Her Sydney theatre credits include Stop The Virgens at the Sydney Opera House, where she worked alongside a team of artists including Academy Award nominees Karen O and K.K. Barrett, and A Man With Five Children at Sydney's Zenith Theatre.
(As of February 2016)
Debra Booth is Director of Design at Studio Theatre, where she has designed If I Forget, Translations, The Wolves, The Father, The Hard Problem, Moment, Constellations, The Apple Family Cycle, Jumpers for Goalposts, Belleville, Cock, Edgar & Annabel, Bachelorette, Moonlight, Blackbird, My Children! My Africa!, The Pillowman, and many others. Her international work includes premiere opera Marco Polo (Tan Dun/Martha Clarke) in Munich, Hong Kong, and New York. Regionally, Debra’s credits include Small Mouth Sounds at Round House Theatre; Richard III, The Collection, and The Lover at the Shakespeare Theatre Company; Marisol at Hartford Stage and The Public Theatre; Trying, The Illusion, and Happy Days at Portland Stage Company; the New York premiere of Angels in America at The Juilliard School; Broken Glass at Philadelphia Theatre Company (Barrymore Award nomination); and Moon for the Misbegotten at Yale Repertory Theatre. Debra is the recipient of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Artist Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts Design Grant, and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.
(As of October 2019)
Michael Lincoln has designed Constellations, The Night Watcher, The Adding Machine: A Musical, Bachelorette, Venus in Fur, The History Boys, Grey Gardens, Privates on Parade, Take Me Out, and Topdog/Underdog, among many productions for Studio since 2000. He was also the lighting consultant for Studio Theatre’s building expansion and renovation in 2002. His work in New York City includes Copenhagen, Skylight, and More to Love on Broadway and Off Broadway productions of Mr. Goldwyn, The Bubbly Black Girl…, If Love Were All, Defying Gravity, and Bunny Bunny. Mr. Lincoln was the Associate Designer for Broadway’s Guys and Dolls, Six Degrees of Separation, and City of Angels. He has designed over 300 productions with other long associations at Indiana Repertory Theatre, Alley Theatre, and Cleveland Play House. He is currently serving as the Artistic Director of the Theater Division at Ohio University.
(As of February 2016)
Brandee Mathies has been Studio’s Costume Shop Manager since 1994. He has designed MotherStruck, This Is Our Youth, The Year of Magical Thinking, Stoop Stories, Rimers of Eldritch, A Number, The Syringa Tree, and Comic Briefs for Studio Theatre, as well as Moth, Contractions, A Beautiful View, Crestfall, and Polaroid Stories for Studio 2ndStage. DC area credits include Satchmo at the Waldorf at Mosaic Theater Co (Costume Designer); Anything Goes and Spunk (Assistant Designer) at Howard University; The Wiz at Duke Ellington School of the Arts (Costume Designer); Blues for an Alabama Sky and Sunday in the Park with George (First Hand) at Arena Stage; and Black Nativity (Assistant Designer) at The Kennedy Center.
(As of September 2016)
Ryan Rumery is a musician, composer, and producer. His music is in the films Awake: A Dream from Standing Rock (Tribeca Film Festival 2017), How to Let Go of the World (And Love All the Things Climate Can't Change) (Sundance 2016, HBO), and City of Gold (Sundance, SXSW 2015). Recent theatrical scores include Fool For Love on Broadway, The End of Longing at MCC Theater, Emperor Jones at The Irish Repertory Theatre, and Between Riverside and Crazy at the Atlantic Theater Company and Second Stage Theater. Mr. Rumery, Christian Frederickson, and the late Jason Noble recently released their album The Painted Bird – Amidst. Mr. Rumery recently produced three albums for Jeremy Bass. Upcoming albums include Arlo Hannigan and The Walker Project. Mr. Rumery recently received the Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Sound Design and Composition, and was a selected composer for the Sundance Institute of Music and Sound Design Labs at Skywalker Sound.
(As of September 2017)
Adrien-Alice Hansel is the Literary Director at Studio, where she has dramaturged the world premieres of Queen of Basel, The Remains, No Sisters, I Wanna Fucking Tear You Apart, Animal, Laugh, Red Speedo, Dirt, Lungs, and The History of Kisses as well as productions of Cry It Out,Translations, Curve of Departure, The Effect, Wig Out!, Straight White Men, Cloud 9, Hedda Gabler, Constellations, Jumpers for Goalposts, Bad Jews (twice), The Apple Family Plays, Invisible Man, Sucker Punch, The Golden Dragon, and The New Electric Ballroom, among others. Prior to joining Studio, she spent eight seasons at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, where she headed the literary department and coordinated project scouting, selection, and development for the Humana Festival of New American Plays. She also served as production dramaturg on roughly 50 new, contemporary, and classic plays there, including premieres by Naomi Wallace, Gina Gionfriddo, Kirk Lynn and Rude Mechs, Rinne Groff, The Civilians, Anne Bogart and SITI Company, Jordan Harrison, and John Belluso. She is the co-editor of eight anthologies of plays from Actors Theatre and editor of eight editions of plays through Studio. Adrien-Alice holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
(As of April 2019)
Nancy Krebs returns to Studio Theatre, where she previously served as Dialect/Vocal Coach for Constellations (Helen Hayes Award-winning production), Animal (world premiere), The Habit of Art (American Premiere), and The Enda Walsh Festival: The New Electric Ballroom and The Walworth Farce. She has been the Resident Dialect/Vocal Coach for the Annapolis Shakespeare Company for the past five years, coaching over 35 productions during her tenure at ASC. Her most recent credits are The Glass Menagerie, Blithe Spirit, A Christmas Carol, Much Ado About Nothing, Alice and the Book of Wonderland, The Tempest, and Richard III. Ms. Krebs has served in this capacity for hundreds of professional productions in the region since 1994, working with other notable companies as Theater J, Baltimore Center Stage, Olney Theatre Center, Everyman Theatre, and Rep Stage in Columbia. Ms. Krebs teaches the Lessac Voice & Body Training at the Baltimore School for the Arts, operates her own voice studio The Voiceworks, is an accomplished musician/singer/songwriter, and belongs to AEA, AFTRA, SAG, and VASTA
(As of March 2018)
Christopher Tester is Deaf and is a consultant, educator, interpreter, and trainer. He is certified by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. Since 2006, Mr. Tester has been active in interpreted-theatre events, as an ASL consultant (Broadway’s Next to Normal and New York Deaf Theatre’s Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde), BSL consultant (Short film: Polyglot, Broadway's Constellations) and as an ASL interpreter (Off Broadway’s Melissa Arctic, Ain’t Misbehavin’; Broadway’s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying). His acting credits date over a decade and include leading roles in the New York Deaf Theatre’s productions of Sign Me Alice, Beyond Therapy, and Captive Audience. Constellations is his first production at Studio.
(As of February 2016)
Jonathan Ezra Rubin returns to Studio Theatre for Constellations after fight directing Animal for Studio X and Mary-Kate Olsen Is in Love for Studio 2ndStage. Choreography credits include Flying V Fights: Heroes & Monsters, The Pirate Laureate and the King of the Sea, Lobster Alice, Flying V Fights: Love is a Battlefield, The Best of Craigslist, and The Pirate Laureate of Port Town at Flying V; Macbeth at the Georgetown Gilbert & Sullivan Society; She Kills Monsters at Marshall High School; Shakes Alive! Tour and Romeo & Juliet at Maryland Shakespeare Company; Hamlet at Lumina Studio Theatre; Klecksography: Haunting Monsters — Wolfman at Rorschach Theatre; and Social Creatures at Single Carrot Theatre. Coming up in June, his choreography will also be seen in LiveArt DC's The Merry Death of Robin Hood, Cohesion Theatre Company's Neverwhere, and Flying V's Matt & Ben. Mr. Rubin is recognized as an Advanced Actor/Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors, and freelances as a fight choreographer.
(As of February 2016)
Nancy Bannon is a performer, writer, and director. She was the movement director for Constellations, Murder Ballad and Pas de Deux at Studio Theatre and Romeo and Juliet on Broadway. Recent original theater work in New York includes Cornfield, Puncture, and The Pod Project (all immersive events). She is currently enrolled in an MFA in Film (directing) program in New York City with Christine Vachon from Killer Films. She has written and directed several short films. Her original feature screenplays have been recognized by the Sundance Screenwriters Lab (second round qualifier 2013, 2015), Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios (quarterfinalist), and the Slamdance Film Festival (grand prize finalist), among others. She has had a script optioned by Forrest Whitaker's production company and one is currently featured in WIFV's published catalogue, "Spotlight on the Screenwriter". As an actor, she was recently seen as the lead in Occupied Territories at Theater Alliance in DC and will continue with that production in its upcoming incarnations. Ms. Bannon is the recipient of three Princess Grace Awards, a New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Award, and is a graduate of The Juilliard School. She has served on the faculties of SUNY Purchase and Rutgers University and teaches Actor’s Process at the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory.
(As of February 2016)
Sarah Elizabeth Ford returns to Studio after Constellations with The Father. Ms. Ford works primarily out of New York City, but spent 2013-2014 in Southeast Asia working with the Singapore Repertory Theatre. Recent New York credits include Ugly Lies the Bone at Roundabout Underground; As You Like It and The Tempest with The Bridge Project; Lightning At Our Feet, Persephone, and Shelter at Ridge Theatre; Paul Simon’s American Tunes & Songs from the Capeman at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; and various productions with the 24 Hour Play Company. Touring and regional credits include the Foundry Theatre’s How Much is Enough? at St. Ann’s Warehouse and ArtsEmerson in Boston, Much Ado About Nothing with Shakespeare on the Sound, Fires Are Confusing and Loving v. Virginia with New York Stage and Film, Traveling Lady at the french institute : alliance française NYC & Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, Fela! The Concert at the Adelaide & Auckland Arts Festivals, Venus in Fur with Singapore Repertory Theatre, and Voices of Strength with MAPP International Productions. Ms. Ford studied with the Compagnie Théâtrale F’Âme in Dakar, Senegal.
(As of April 2017)
