Photos: Collaborative Artists Ensemble Presents CONSTELLATIONS By Nick Payne

Collaborative Artists Ensemble closes its 15th season with a fresh take on the popular Constellations by Nick Payne. See photos from the company.

The timeless themes of love, connection, loneliness and mortality are explored through the lens of the multiverse where every choice that is made (and not made) creates an infinite number of realities that exist alongside each other. After their first chance encounter at a barbecue, the lives of Marianne, a theoretical physicist, and Roland, a beekeeper, play out along a myriad of different paths. The audience witnesses the boundless potential for meaningful connection, heartbreaking sorrow and multiple possibilities in between. What makes this production unique is Collaborative Artists Ensemble seeks to enhance the audience experience by converting the theater lobby into an extension of the Multiversal Viewing Chamber in which they will witness the play. In this Multiversal Laboratory, audience members will be invited to interact with objects and artifacts depicting the various realities of the characters’ lives.

This production reunites Jason Sino, as Roland, and Meg Wallace, as Marianne. The two most recently appeared in The Eccentricities of a Nightingale and A Streetcar Named Desire with Collaborative Artists Ensemble. Collectively, they are designing and directing this production along with the technical assistance of Matt Steele and additional contributions from Sage Porter and Shannon Creedon Axtell.

Playwright Nick Payne is no stranger to introducing the multiverse to audiences, having written both Constellations as well as the upcoming film, We Live in Time starring Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield. Known for his work on the West End and Broadway stage, he has received nominations for a Laurence Olivier Award and a Tony Award. Payne studied at the University of York and the Central School of Speech and Drama before graduating from the Royal Court Young Writers Program. While working in the National Theatre Bookshop, he wrote his first play If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet, which premiered in 2009. It was followed by Wanderlust in 2010. He made his Broadway debut with Constellations (2015), for which he received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Play. For his play Elegy (2016) he received a Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play nomination. Payne returned to Broadway with A Sea/Life (2019) at the Hudson Theatre. For film and television, he created and wrote the BBC One series Wanderlust (2018) and wrote the screenplay for The Sense of an Ending (2016). He co-wrote the 2021 screen adaptation of The Last Letter To Your Lover from a book by Jo Jo Moyes. His film, We Live in Time, directed by John Crowley and starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh, will be released in 2024.

Constellations runs Nov. 1st-Nov 12th at the Sherry Theater, located at 11052 Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601.

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