Christian Coulson and Victoria Frings Lead CONSTELLATIONS, Opening Tonight at The Old Globe

The Old Globe presents Nick Payne's Broadway hit play CONSTELLATIONS, directed by the Globe's own Richard Seer. Christian Coulson and Victoria Frings lead the two-person play, which runs now through May 8, 2016, in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Opening night is tonight, April 14 at 8:00 p.m.

Physicist Marianne meets beekeeper Roland at a party. They hit it off ... or perhaps they don't. One of them is married ... or maybe they're both single. Nick Payne's CONSTELLATIONS takes this chance encounter between two lost souls and opens the door to the infinite possibilities of their relationship. Breathlessly navigating through the spellbinding and romantic journey of being in love, CONSTELLATIONS looks at how the tiniest change in the details of our lives can lead us on completely different paths. The Old Globe favorite Richard Seer returns to direct this exciting new play that The New York Times called "Sexy. Sophisticated. Gorgeous. This story of parallel universes is universal in every sense of the word."

The cast of the two-hander includes Christian Coulson (Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Journey's End on the West End) as Roland and Victoria Frings (Broadway's An Enemy of the People, Off Broadway's Tales from Red Vienna and Martin Luther on Trial) as Marianne.

The creative team includes David Israel Reynoso (Scenic Design), Elisa Benzoni (Costume Design), Bradley King (Lighting Design), Fitz Patton (Sound Design), David Huber (Vocal Coach), Caparelliotis Casting (Casting), and Annette Elena Nixon (Production Stage Manager).

"Whenever Rick Seer directs at the Globe, it's a cause for celebration," said Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. "That he's directing this smart, absorbing, and moving play is an extra special delight. CONSTELLATIONS is a remarkably sophisticated work about time, destiny, and the happenstances that accumulate to define our lives. It's the kind of insightful, beautifully written work that exemplifies the state-of-the-art in contemporary playwriting, and the kind of play I am proud to share with San Diego audiences. Christian Coulson and Victoria Frings are tremendous talents, and together with Rick, they are sure to make a memorable night in the theatre."

Nick Payne (Playwright) is the playwright of CONSTELLATIONS (Royal Court Theatre, Duke of York's Theatre), If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet (Bush Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company), Wanderlust (Royal Court Theatre), an adaptation of Sophocles' Electra (Gate Theatre), One Day When We Were Young (Paines Plough/Sheffield Theatres, Shoreditch Town Hall), Lay Down Your Cross (Hampstead Downstairs), The Same Deep Water As Me (Donmar Warehouse; 2014 Olivier Award nomination for Best New Comedy), Blurred Lines (The Shed and the National Theatre), Incognito (Bush Theatre), and The Art of Dying (Royal Court Theatre). His film credits include The Sense of an Ending, an adaptation of Julian Barnes's Man Booker Prize-winning novel (BBC Films/Origin Pictures). His television credits include "The Secrets" (Working Title TV for BBC One). Payne has received the 2009 George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright, 2012 Harold Pinter Playwright's Award, and 2012 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play for CONSTELLATIONS.

Richard Seer (Director) is an award-winning director and actor who has directed and/or performed on Broadway, Off Broadway, on film and television, and in over 70 productions at regional theatres in this country and Great Britain, including The Kennedy Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Goodman and Huntington Theatre Companies. He originated the role of Young Charlie in the 1978 Tony Award-winning Broadway production of Hugh Leonard's Da and received the Theatre World Award for his performance. At The Old Globe, he has directed productions of Quartet, Other Desert Cities, God of Carnage, Life of Riley, The Last Romance, The Price, Romeo and Juliet, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Trying, Fiction, Blue/Orange, All My Sons, Da, and Old Wicked Songs. He received his M.F.A. in directing from Boston University, where he was awarded the prestigious Kahn Directing Award. In 1990, Seer was invited to return to Boston University's School for the Arts as an Associate Professor of Acting and Directing. He has been Director of the Old Globe/University of San Diego Graduate Theatre Program since 1993 and is the University's current Chair of Theatre. In 2010, he was awarded the Craig Noel Distinguished Professorship.

Additional events taking place during the run of CONSTELLATIONS include:

INSIGHTS SEMINAR: Tuesday April 12, at 5:30 p.m.

The seminar series features a panel selected from the current show. Reception at 5:00 p.m. FREE

SUBJECT MATTERS: Saturday, April 16

Following the 2:00 p.m. performance, explore the ideas and issues raised by the production through brief, illuminating post-show discussions with local experts. FREE

POST-SHOW FORUMS: Tuesdays, April 19 and 26, and Wednesday, May 4

Discuss the play with members of the cast and crew following the performance. FREE

Tickets to CONSTELLATIONS start at $29 and are on sale to the general public now. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. Performances begin on April 9 and continue through May 8. Performance times: Previews: Saturday, April 9 at 8:00 p.m., Sunday, April 10 at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 12 at 7:00 p.m., and Wednesday, April 13 at 7:00 p.m. Opening Night is Thursday, April 14 at 8:00 p.m. Regular Performances: Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m., and Sunday evenings at 7:00 p.m. There will be a Wednesday matinee performance on April 27 at 2:00 p.m. and no matinee performance on Saturday, April 30. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 29 years of age and under, seniors, military members, and groups of 10 or more.

ABOUT THE CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM:

Christian Coulson (Roland) has appeared Off Broadway in The Changeling (Red Bull Theater), Everything You Touch (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater), and A Picture of Autumn (Mint Theater Company). His American regional credits include Travesties (McCarter Theatre Center) and Dutch Masters (Berkshire Theatre Festival). Coulson's U.K. credits include Hedda Gabler (Palimpsest), Ghosts (Gate Theatre), Festen (national tour), Journey's End (West End), and Romeo and Juliet (Liverpool Playhouse). He has appeared in the films Peter and John, Love is Strange, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him, Gayby, Leaving Circadia, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, The Hours, and Four Feathers. His television credits include "Eye Candy," "Nurse Jackie," "The Good Wife," "Gossip Girl," "Agatha Christie's Marple," "Charles II," "Little Britain," "Hornblower," "The Forsyte Saga," and "Love in a Cold Climate." Coulson also directed Shorts in the Summer (The Tank in New York) and assistant directed the Off Broadway production of The Effect (Barrow Street Theatre). He is Co-Artistic Director of the theatre company {Your Name Here}.

Victoria Frings (Marianne) makes her Globe debut. She has appeared on Broadway in An Enemy of the People and Off Broadway in Tales from Red Vienna (Manhattan Theatre Club) and Martin Luther on Trial (The Pearl Theatre Company). Her regional credits include, but are not limited to, The Kennedy Center, Center Stage, The Wilma Theater, Arden Theatre Company, and People's Light & Theatre Company. She appeared in the recent Leslye Headland film Sleeping with Other People and the less-publicized but no less-loved projects Lucy, 4:57 PM and the "After Ever After" web series. Frings is the proud founder of To-By-For Productions, dedicated to producing and promoting work by and about women for all audiences. To-By-For produced the world premiere of Stitches at TheaterLab in New York last summer and later this year is slated to produce Marie, Marie, Marlene, a cabaret about Marlene Dietrich, and the New York premiere of Mechanics of Love.

David Israel Reynoso (Scenic Design) is a scenic and costume designer who recently designed the Globe's productions of Twelfth Night, Arms and the Man, Water by the Spoonful, Time and the Conways, Double Indemnity, and Be a Good Little Widow. He also designed As You Like It for The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program. Reynoso is the Obie Award-winning costume designer of the Off Broadway hit Sleep No More (Punchdrunk/Emursive), and he is also a Helen Hayes Award nominee for Healing Wars (Arena Stage). He is also recognized locally for his designs of Healing Wars, The Darrell Hammond Project, Kingdom City, and the DNA New Work Series presentation of Chasing the Song (La Jolla Playhouse). His other work includes Futurity, Cabaret, The Snow Queen, Alice vs. Wonderland, Trojan Barbie, Copenhagen, No Man's Land, Hamletmachine, Ajax in Iraq, and Abigail's Party (American Repertory Theater), The Comedy of Errors and Othello (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company), The Woman in Black (Gloucester Stage Company), and Dead Man's Cell Phone (The Lyric Stage Company). Reynoso is also the recipient of the Elliot Norton Award, a Craig Noel Award nomination, and multiple IRNE and BroadwayWorld Award nominations.

Elisa Benzoni (Costume Design) previously designed Reckless, Much Ado About Nothing, Measure for Measure, and Pericles, Prince of Tyre for The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program. Her select credits include Sex with Strangers (Geffen Playhouse), The Who and The What, Our Town, Tall Girls, Brahaman/i, and Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir (La Jolla Playhouse), The Fox on the Fairway (Craig Noel Award nomination), Chapatti, and Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Great Nome Gold Rush (North Coast Repertory Theatre), Emilie: La Marquise Du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight, Sylvia, and Much Ado About Nothing (New Village Arts), Snakeskin, Lifeblood Harmony, Chagall, and A Man Found Wanting (Malashock Dance), and The Storm, The Threepenny Opera, and A Man, his Wife, and his Hat (UC San Diego). Benzoni's assistant costume credits include Les Dialogues des Carmélites (Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Italy), Paradise Found (Menier Chocolate Factory, London), Milk Like Sugar (La Jolla Playhouse), and As You Like It and A Midsummer Night's Dream (The Old Globe).

Bradley King (Lighting Design) is a lighting designer whose work includes The Last Match (The Old Globe), Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (American Repertory Theater, Kazino, Ars Nova), The Way West, Empanada Loca, Sucker Emcee, and Ninth and Joanie (LAByrinth Theater Company), Elijah Green (The Kitchen), A Winter's Tale (The Pearl Theatre Company), Jacuzzi (Ars Nova), And I and Silence (Signature Theatre Company), and Women or Nothing (Atlantic Theater Company). His other work has been seen at American Repertory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, McCarter Theatre Center, Penobscot Theatre Company, South Coast Repertory, Virginia Stage Company, Yale Repertory Theatre, and Williamstown Theatre Festival. His opera work includes Bard SummerScape, Boston Early Music Festival, Kentucky Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Omaha, Vancouver Opera, and Virginia Opera.

Fitz Patton (Sound Design) previously sound designed the Globe productions of The Winter's Tale, Good People, and August: Osage County and provided original music for The Two Gentlemen of Verona. He is currently represented on Broadway with The Father, The Humans, and Blackbird. His other Broadway credits include It's Only a Play, An Act of God, Airline Highway, The Other Place, I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers, Outside Mullingar, Casa Valentina, The House of Blue Leaves, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and Broadway Bound. Patton's many Off Broadway credits include this season's Prodigal Son (New York City Center), When the Rain Stops Falling (Lincoln Center Theater, Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk Awards), and The Other Place (MCC Theater, Lortel nomination). His symphony credits include The Holy Land. Patton is the founder of Chance Magazine, a theatre design magazine.

David Huber (Vocal Coach) previously worked on the Globe productions of Rain, The Last Match, The Metromaniacs, Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, Arms and the Man, Buyer & Cellar, The Royale, Bright Star, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona. His previous Old Globe acting credits include The Winter's Tale directed by Jack O'Brien, The Tempest, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and The Merchant of Venice, among several others. He has studied voice with Master Linklater Voice teacher David Smukler, Eric Armstrong, and Kate Burke. He is a graduate of the Graduate Voice Teacher Diploma Program at York University in Toronto. His regional theatre credits include Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Pittsburgh Playhouse, PCPA Theaterfest, Texas Shakespeare Festival, Center REP Theatre, and Centennial Theater Festival, among many others.

Caparelliotis Casting (Casting) has cast the Globe productions of The Last Match, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, Rich Girl, Arms and the Man, Buyer & Cellar, The White Snake, The Twenty-seventh Man, The Royale, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Water by the Spoonful, and more. Their Broadway casting credits include Blackbird, An Act of God, Airline Highway, Fish in the Dark, It's Only a Play, Disgraced, The Country House, Holler If Ya Hear Me, Casa Valentina, The Snow Geese, Lyle Kessler's Orphans, The Trip to Bountiful, Grace, Dead Accounts, The Other Place, Seminar, The Columnist, Stick Fly, Good People, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, The House of Blue Leaves, Fences, Lend Me a Tenor, and The Royal Family. They also cast for Manhattan Theatre Club, Second Stage Theatre, Atlantic Theater Company, LCT3, Ars Nova, Goodman Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center, Arena Stage, and three seasons with Williamstown Theatre Festival. Their recent film and television credits include HairBrained with Brendan Fraser, "American Odyssey" (NBC), "How to Get Away with Murder" (ABC pilot), "Ironside" (NBC), and Steel Magnolias (Sony for Lifetime).

Annette Elena Nixon (Production Stage Manager) served as stage manager for The Old Globe productions of Full Gallop, Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, Arms and the Man, The Royale, Quartet, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, The Few, Pygmalion, God of Carnage, Anna Christie, Groundswell, and the 2010 production of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Her other Globe credits include A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2011-2014), Boeing-Boeing, The First Wives Club, Opus, Dancing in the Dark, Hay Fever, and the Summer Shakespeare Festivals 2008 and 2010-2013.

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe is one of the country's leading professional regional theatres and has stood as San Diego's flagship arts institution for over 80 years. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and Managing Director Michael G. Murphy, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 15 productions of classic, contemporary, and new works on its three Balboa Park stages: the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the 600-seat Old Globe Theatre and the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, both part of The Old Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, and the 605-seat outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, home of its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually and participate in the theatre's education and community programs. Numerous world premieres such as the 2014 Tony Award winner for Best Musical, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Bright Star, Allegiance, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and the annual holiday musical Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to enjoy highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theatres across the country.

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