Review: 'CONSTELLATIONS' at Chalk Circle Collective

Chalk Circle Collective brings an extraordinary production of “Constellations” to the stage, asking how many ways a life can be lived or a story can be told.  This one act follows a central romance between two characters and ponders the nearly endless possibilities for the couple as they play out throughout parallel universes.  Touching, smart, funny, and heartbreaking, the play is extraordinarily done with clear and compelling performances that go straight to the heart.   “Constellations” plays September 29th at Liberty Station.

“Constellations” by Nick Payne is a play with a high degree of difficulty - as it follows Marianne (Megan Carmitchel), a string theorist, and Roland (Nick Apostolina), a beekeeper.  They meet at a mutual friends event, and their relationship develops (or doesn’t sometimes) from there. How many ways can a story be told?  If quantum physics has anything to say about it, the number is countless.

The many stories of Marianne and Roland are told forward, backward, and sideways through many of the nearly endless possibilities. It is not straightforward and linear “A to B” but through multiple realities, exploring time and dimension through scenes as their parallel lives unfold. As Marianne explains to Roland, “Every choice, every decision you’ve ever and never made exists in an unimaginably vast ensemble of parallel universes.”

Some scenes repeat dialogue multiple times and in different ways, showing variations of how even two sentences can change the couple's trajectory. In the hands of less capable actors, this could become tiresome and repetitive, but Carmitchel and Apostolina both nimbly and seamlessly adjust accents, physicality, tones, and actions. Some differences are large, some subtle, but they always feel in control, intentional, and distinct.

They have easy chemistry and lots of humor and lightness, which makes the turns to melancholy even more impactful. Carmitchel’s Marianne is smart, articulate, heartbreaking, and hilarious. Apostolina is equally as strong and has impressively subtle but significant shifts in accent, physicality, and tone that can change a scene instantly.

The teamwork between the cast and director Hannah Meade is evident in the pacing and how the show feels alive and nuanced, with ideas and action balanced by quiet moments and stillness. The difficulty setting of the play is increased by making sure the science of the play feels organic to the story and not like something in the script simply to make the play work.  It is reflected in Marianne’s explanation of time and the play’s non-linear formatting - creating parallels between physics and life.  The play asks questions about love, life, existence, and death, but it doesn’t leave you feeling heavy when it’s over.

The scenic design by Reiko Huffman feels otherworldly and out of time as the audience watches the many forms of this couple play out in front of us.  The lighting design by Annelise Salazar is lovely and used to great effect on Huffman’s elevated stage to help highlight every scene and the change to the audience. The sound design by Steven Leffue helps complete the atmosphere.

There might be infinite timelines, and we all have as much time as we ever did, but Chalk Circle Collective’s “Constellations”  is only playing through September 29th in this universe. I guarantee you will not find a better version of this play in any of those parallel universes.

How To Get Tickets

“Constellations” plays through September 29th at Liberty Station.  For ticket and showtime information, go to chalkcirclecollective.com

Photo Credit: Nick Apostolina and Megan Carmitchel in Chalk Circle Collective’s “Constellations” photo by Sophie McPhail

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