Playwright Nick Payne & More Set for MTC's Sloan Panel for CONSTELLATIONS

Manhattan Theatre Club announces the upcoming Sloan Panel Discussion on Constellations, which will be held following the Thursday, January 15 performance of the play at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street), and is open to anyone attending the evening's performance. The panel, which will be presented in partnership with the World Science Festival, will focus on the role of science in the play and will feature playwright Nick Payne and Brian Greene, professor of Physics and Mathematics at Columbia University and co-founder of the World Science Festival. Social commentator Faith Salie will moderate.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has provided a grant to Manhattan Theatre Club to support the development of plays that address themes of math, science, and technology and that depict scientists, mathematicians, and engineers as major characters. The aim is to bridge the divide between the "two cultures," science and the arts. The foundation has provided production support for MTC's Broadway production of Constellations.

MTC first collaborated with the Sloan Foundation in 2000 with the production of David Auburn's Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Proof. MTC's partnership with the Sloan Foundation has expanded to include multiple annual commissions for emerging, mid-level, and established writers as well as a production grant to stage Sloan-related works. In addition to Proof, Sloan has supported MTC's productions of Charlotte Jones' Humble Boy in 2003, Rebecca Lenkiewicz's translation of An Enemy of the People in 2012, Sharr White's The Other Place in 2013, and Nell Benjamin's The Explorers Club in 2013.

Since partnering with the Sloan Foundation, MTC has commissioned over 40 writers: Jeff Augustin, Courtney Baron & Juliana Nash, Stephen Belber, Nell Benjamin, Steven Cosson, Glen Berger, April de Angelis, Lisa D'Amour, Charles Evered, Madeleine George, Melissa James Gibson, Daniel Goldfarb, Rinne Groff, Tom Holloway, Samuel Hunter, Ron Hutchinson, Nathan Jackson, Branden Jacob-Jenkins, Nick Jones, Lucy Kirkwood, Bryony Lavery, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Kenneth Lin, Craig Lucas, Michael Mitnick, Peter Morris, Hannah Moscovitch, Itamar Moses, Rona Munro, Brett Neveu, Nick Payne, Greg Pierce, Hannie Rayson, Melissa Ross, Heidi Schreck, Mark Schultz, Eric Simonson, Dava Sobel, Simon Stephens, Shelagh Stephenson, Sarah Treem, Catherine Trieschmann, John Walch, Anne Washburn, Jason Wells, Michael West, Beau Willimon, Bess Wohl, Alexandra Wood, and Anna Ziegler.

Constellations, the acclaimed new play by Nick Payne (If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet), directed by Michael Longhurst (If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet), and starring Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal (Golden Globe nominee for Nightcrawler; Brokeback Mountain) and two-time Olivier Award winner Ruth Wilson (Golden Globe winner for Showtime's "The Affair;" BBC's and PBS' Emmy nominated "Luther"), opens Tuesday, January 13 at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street). Both stars, the playwright, and the director are making their MTC and Broadway debuts.

This spellbinding, romantic journey begins with a simple encounter between a man and a woman (Gyllenhaal and Wilson). But what happens next defies the boundaries of the world we think we know - delving into the infinite possibilities of their relationship and raising questions about the difference between choice and destiny.

This American premiere is a strictly limited 13-week engagement presented by Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer) and the Royal Court Theatre, by special arrangement with Ambassador Theatre Group and the Dodgers.

The creative team for Constellations includes Tom Scutt (scenic and costume design), Lee Curran (lighting design), David McSeveney (sound design), Simon Slater (original music), Lucy Cullingford (movement direction), and Thomas Schall (fight direction).

Production support for Constellations is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation as part of the MTC/Sloan Science Theatre Initiative. For more information on the foundation, visit: www.sloan.org