Constellations Program
The show will run for approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes minutes.
*This show contains a depiction of violence*
Illuminating the Invisible
Born just a century ago, quantum mechanics has become one of the central pillars of modern science, shaping physics, chemistry, cosmology, and beyond. Our series Entangled Beauty: Conversations on Quantum Science invites us to contemplate—through art and dialogue—the beauty and wisdom of Creation revealed by quantum science, and to honor our responsibility to learn from this profound achievement and its far-reaching implications.
Art has the power to illuminate mystery even if not fully resolve it. Through the art it inspires, we can begin to glimpse what quantum mechanics tells us about the world. In this spirit, our production of Nick Payne’s award-winning two character play Constellations, staged by celebrated director J.R. Sullivan, takes the “quantum-implied” idea of multiverses as a springboard for drama and discovery.
At the Athenaeum Center, we are uniquely positioned to lead conversations that move beyond the technical to embrace the awe and wonder of quantum science. We believe beauty can shape culture, transform society, and change lives. We are proud to present Constellations as a featured artwork in Entangled Beauty: Conversations on Quantum Science, with exactly that hope in mind.
Mike Rogalski, Athenaeum Advisory Committee, Entangled Beauty Series Creator
Peggy Garvey, PhD, Associate Artistic Director
A Note from the Director
A meeting. Two people. Infi nite possibilities. What Nick Payne’s Constellations does in fi fty scenes over approximately 75 minutes is to tell a story of a love. It leaps about time and space, jumping backwards and forwards in a multiverse of those possibilities. Inspired by quantum mechanics and string theory, Payne embraces the thrilling in these theories. He jumps us from one possible path to another in the many threads of this wondrous weave.
I think every one of us, when refl ecting on our own journeys through life, wonder on those “what-ifs” that might have changed our paths, changed our course. As Marianne in the play will say, “all those decisions you’ve ever and never made”… Where might they have taken us, and what would have happened then? Constellations, in its beautiful and elegant way, takes that consideration and makes it the platform for this romance to dance and dazzle before our eyes across a multiverse of possibilities. Possibility is the key word for me. I think possibility is always the vital, the teeming, the multifarious in the theater—for artists and for audiences alike.
Possibility rings as well with the vital and beautiful in attraction, friendship, romance, rapture. Through the good days and bad, through the thick and thin, it resonates with the values we hold close. Love is the answer. In any of many universes, this play’s story—or my story, or yours—love is the ultimate matter and what matters most.
J. R. Sullivan, Director
About the Playwright
Nick Payne is the author of If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet (Bush Theatre, London, and Roundabout Theatre Company, New York; winner of the 2009 George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright), Wanderlust (Royal Court Theatre, London), an adaptation of Sophocles’ Electra (Gate Theatre, London), Lay Down Your Cross (Hampstead Theatre Downstairs, London), The Same Deep Water As Me (Donmar Warehouse, London; nominated for a 2014 Laurence Olivier Award as Best New Comedy), Blurred Lines (The Shed, National Theatre, London), and Incognito (Bush Theatre, London).
In London, Constellations was staged at the Royal Court Theatre and the Duke of York’s Theatre. It was the winner of the 2012 Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play and was nominated for a 2013 Laurence Olivier Award as a MasterCard Best New Play.
Nick Payne’s more recent works include Elegy for the Donmar Warehouse in London, and 2019’s Sea Wall / A Life on Broadway
About the Director
J. R. Sullivan is a director and producer, having worked in theaters nationwide as well as heading companies as artistic director. From 2009-2013, Sullivan was the Artistic Director of New York’s Pearl Theatre, whose resident acting company was presented with a Drama Desk Award recognition in 2011. For the Pearl, he directed productions of Hard Times, Playboy of the Western World, Widowers’ Houses, Biography, Richard II, A Moon for the Misbegotten, and the New York premiere of Wittenberg. His 2019 Off -Broadway Mint Theatre revival of Lillian Hellman’s Days to Come was named one of the best of the season by the Wall Street Journal. More recently Jim directed the world premiere of the musical Parcel from America at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. A New York Off -Broadway production is projected for November 2026.
The Director is a Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union.
“The reductionist worldview is chilling and impersonal. It has to be accepted as it is, not because we like it, but because that is the way the world works.”
“Why should the universe have a purpose? The question of the purpose of the universe is an invention of human minds, and has no significance, except for the way that it illuminates the psychology of scholarly pursuit and of the pursuing scholars themselves. We should not impose human-inspired attitudes and questions on material things. There is a considerable grandeur, I think, in the presence of our spectacularly majestic universe just hanging there, wholly without purpose.”
“Science continues to be a channel for magic – the belief that for the human will, empowered by knowledge, nothing is impossible. This confusion of science with magic is not an ailment of a kind that has a remedy. It goes with modern life. Death is a provocation to this way of living...”
CAST
Marianne: Kaylah Crosby
Roland: Christian Davis Aldridge
Roland Understudy: Brian Wiegand
Marianne Understudy: May Heinecke
J. R. Sullivan
Director
Kaylah Crosby
Marianne
Christian Davis Aldridge
Roland
May Heinecke
Marianne Understudy
Brian Wiegand
Roland Understudy
PRODUCTION TEAM
Production Manager: Mike Goebel
Lighting Supervisor: Angela Kvitek
Lighting Designer: Aria Morris
Sound Designer: Dylan Kinter
Scenic Designer: Olivia Volk
Scenic Designer: Shokie Tseumah
Costume Designer: Clara Schmidt
Deaf Artistic Sign Language Consultant: Peter Wujcik
Deaf Artistic Sign Language Consultant Interpreter: Jen Sproule
Intimacy Director: Paige Klopfenstein
Dialect Coach and Movement: Amy Lewis Montgomery
Fight Consultant: Nick Sandys
Speech Consultant: Cheryl Hamada
Master Carpenter: Kevin Scott Carpenters Darren Brown, David Carmargo
Electrician: Leah Donovan
Entangled Beauty: Conversations on Quantum Science
Audiences are invited to explore how art and discovery meet at the frontiers of human knowledge. Through theatre, fi lm, visual art, and live dialogue, this season-long series highlights the mystery, interconnection, and wonder revealed by quantum science. Featured events within Entangled Beauty include the play Constellations, art installations by Shanthi Chandrasekar and Julian Voss-Andreae, a screening of Oppenheimer, live dance, and conversations with leading scientists and thinkers.
Sheen Circle
Noel and Michele Moore
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St. Alphonsus Parish
James and Molly Perry
Ted and Sally Smith
Dante Circle
Sally Blount
Kenneth and Barbara Kaufman
Dennis and Laura Quaid
Michael Rios
Scruton Circle
Anonymous
Erwin and Nancy Aulis
Franz and Melia Berkemeier
Joe and Maggie Carrozza
Alietia Caughron
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Tom Brusstar and Susan Hasegawa
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Gabrielle Jastrebski
Brendan Jubulis
James J. and Mary F. Keil
Thomas and Emily Kelly
Taylor Luiso
Evan and Alex Lutomski
Neal and Susanne McNamara
Lauren and John Paul Mulhern
William and Melanie O’Hara
Neal J. and Jennifer A. Reenan
Mark and Eleanor Schneider
Brian and Lytle Smith
Joseph and Mary Clare Starshak
