When Nick Payne’s acclaimed play Constellations opens in Studio A at the Athenaeum Center in 2025, Chicago audiences will step into a love story that unfolds across infinite universes. At the center of this production is director J.R. Sullivan, a seasoned theatre director and producer whose career spans stages across the country and abroad.
From 2009 to 2013, J.R. Sullivan served as Artistic Director of New York’s Pearl Theatre, whose acting company received a Drama Desk Award recognition in 2011. His work there included productions ranging from Richard II to the New York premiere of Wittenberg. More recently, his Off-Broadway revival of Lillian Hellman’s Days to Come with Mint Theatre was named one of the best productions of 2019 by the Wall Street Journal. Sullivan has also staged the world premiere of Parcel from America in Dublin, with a New York production planned for 2026, and previously served as associate artistic director of the Utah Shakespeare Festival, directing works from Shakespeare to Tennessee Williams. Sullivan is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union.
For Sullivan, Payne’s play is both an artistic challenge and an exhilarating opportunity. He describes Constellations as “a tremendous opportunity for two fine actors” and “a roller coaster ride of turns to the story, rises and drops in the ride, that can make for exciting stuff in the fleet ride from start to finish.” We caught up with the director and discussed his perspective on the work to gain access to his creative process and plans for the finished production.
Love, Science, and Possibility
Though Payne’s script is rooted in ideas of quantum mechanics and string theory, Sullivan emphasizes that its foundation is love. “My attention is on the love story and every lane it takes in parallels down the road,” he explains. “We are all on this quantum ride together but it absolutely centers in the love story.”
The play requires its actors to replay the same scenes in multiple variations, shifting tone and emotion with each version. Sullivan sees this structure as something deeply relatable. “Every one of us likely replays scenes from our life experience in mind… running through a range of ‘what-ifs’ in recalling key moments in our lives,” he says. For the performers, the challenge is “playing each shift as a distinct and discrete reality” so that audiences can fully experience the breadth of possibility.
When asked which of the play’s themes resonates most strongly—fate, free will, or possibility—Sullivan is clear. “For me, I would say possibility looms largest. It is a word replete with potential and with drama, with hope and with energy.”
The intimacy of Studio A at Athenaeum Center will amplify this meditation on possibility. “The studio theatre at Athenaeum is marvelous for this play,” Sullivan notes. “Bringing the audience into the same rooms, so to speak, with the characters Marianne and Roland imparts enormous potential and possibility for the events of their lives to ring with authenticity and emotional truths.”
For all of its scientific backdrop and daring theatrical structure, Sullivan hopes audiences leave with something universal. “Life is precious but precarious and love is all.”
Art, Conversation, and a Director’s Journey
This Chicago production of Constellations will also coincide with the Entangled Beauty series, which explores the intersections of science and art. Sullivan embraces the connection. “I am firmly supportive of putting art in the middle of the conversation, this conversation, all conversations. A way of putting light on the matter from an imagistic perspective with a play that connects directly and compellingly to life as we know it now.” Entangled Beauty includes presentations by leading theologians and scientists, as well as a screening of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Tickets are available for purchase.
Reflecting on his own artistic journey, Sullivan connects personally with the play’s exploration of chance and choice. “So many times… so many people… so many circumstances. My journey, any journey is as multi-faceted as the star pitted sky in midsummer. We are surrounded and suffused in possibilities at every moment and that brings me back to my love for this play.”
With Sullivan’s direction, Constellations at Athenaeum Center becomes more than a love story told across parallel worlds. It is also an intimate meditation on possibility, reminding us that every moment contains fragility and wonder, and that in the end, as Sullivan says, love is all.
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Constellations is part of Athenaeum Center’s 2025-2026 theatrical season, subtitled The Search for Meaning. Explore the season’s themes and secure your subscription here. Single tickets for Constellations are now available for purchase.
