Constellation Theatre: Constellations

 My beloved Constellation Theatre is having a tough year--normally a three show season, here in its 18th year, it pared itself down to two; and this "Constellations" is its opening play.  I love this company because it offers a mix of opportunities for seasoned, equity actors and those who are still working their way toward that precious card.  With "Constellations" by Nick Payne it's just a two-actor cast and both members were well acquainted with both equity and the DMV.  Another great reason to love this company is the promise of an intimate experience, and "Constellations" was written to deliver.  

It is the story of a two people who's lives are spliced and re-spliced by cosmic string theory into permutation after permutation of their possible lives.  From banal to profound, from tragic to whimsical with each flicker from a star somewhere the moment shifts.  It is a dense, but doable story that ends where it existed: in one fleeting moment full of possibility in a universe where all that is is possible.  

The set-up was in the round with an immersive design that immediately suggested a cross between floating in space and being inside the belly of the whale.  Shout out to Sarah Reed for her scenic design and Alberto Segarra for lighting that really was dynamically intertwined with the sets.  Both actors: Dina Soltan and Tony Nam were captivating in their commitments to the moments, moments that turned on the face of a dime--like that liveliest of all coins spinning and falling heads, then tails, and then which ever way, again and again--they were there, as if each moment were being realized for the first and only time.  Overall, a delightful production with just one caveat.  Assuming that Nick Payne is British, for reasons that added absolutely no value at all to the production, the actors spoke with British accents.  It was the one choice that I questioned, the one component without value added.  

Tony Nam as Roland and Dina Soltan as Marianne