Synopsis
Roland (a bee keeper) and Marianne (a theoretical physicist) meet at a party. In that single moment, an unfathomable multitude of possibilities unfold. Their chance meeting might blossom into a meaningful relationship or a brief affair: it might lead to nothing at all. Each step along those possible paths in turn offers a new series of potential outcomes: a marriage can exist alongside a breakup and a tragic illness can exist on a parallel plane to a happily ever after. In this clever, eloquent and moving story, Roland and Marianne’s romance plays out over a myriad of possible lifetimes, capturing the extraordinary richness of being alive in the universe.$35 tickets to the first two weekends of Constellations
To secure your seats now and claim this offer online, enter code 24373 when purchasing your tickets for May 26-May 31 & June 2-5Running Time
Running Time: 1 hour 20 minutes, including No Intermissions
Content Advisory
Steppenwolf does not offer advisories about subject matter, as sensitivities vary from person to person.If you have any questions about content, age-appropriateness or stage effects(such as strobe lights or theatrical fog) that might have a bearing on patron comfort, please contact the box office at 312-335-1650.
Additional Information
Special Performances
Preview Performances:
May 26 - 31, 2016
May 26 - 31, 2016
ASL interpretation:
Friday, June 17 at 7:30pm
Open-captioned:
Saturday, June 25 at 3pm
Audio-described and touch tour:
Sunday, June 26 (1:30 touch tour; audio-described performance at 3pm).
Watch & Listen
Cast & Artists
The Artists
- Assistant Stage Manager: Kathleen Barrett
- Directed by: Jonathan Berry
- Stage Manager: Christine D. Freeburg
- Lighting Design: Heather Gilbert
- Dramaturg: Polly Hubbard
- Costume Design: Izumi Inaba
- Sound Design: Christopher Kriz
- Author: Nick Payne
- Scenic Design: Joe Schermoly
- Artistic Producer: Hallie Gordon
- Casting: Tam Dickson
Featured Ensemble Members
The Cast
Reviews
“Who knew that higher physics could be so sexy, so accessible — and so emotionally devastating? Constellations, Nick Payne’s gorgeous two-character drama…may be the most sophisticated date play Broadway has seen. [Payne is] a wise and compassionate young playwright…And though Constellations is a supremely articulate play, it knows that words inevitably fail, that they are never enough to bind two people together forever. Time, it turns out, is a more effective breaker of hearts than human beings, with all their conflicted intentions, can ever be.
— The New York Times
“Nick Payne’s smart, slushy and pretty superb Constellations [is] about the progress of any ordinary life, which begins with seemingly endless possibilities and then dwindles until death forecloses further choice. …I wasn’t alone in sniffling into my Playbill.”
— The Guardian (UK)
“Short and sweet and strangely haunting. …The devilishly clever scribe is not playing games with either his characters or his audience, because with each iteration Roland and Marianne grow closer to one another — and become more important to us. And by the end of the play (has it really been only an hour?), we’re fully invested in their lives. All of them.”
— Variety
“…a singular astonishment, at once eloquent and mysterious but which nonetheless articulates within its own idiosyncratic idiom something that touches an audience as real. …only 70 minutes long, but a wholly satisfying and complete emotional journey. …The well-judged dialogue, at once terse and trenchant, finds its own characteristic poetry.”
—New Yorker
— The New York Times
“Nick Payne’s smart, slushy and pretty superb Constellations [is] about the progress of any ordinary life, which begins with seemingly endless possibilities and then dwindles until death forecloses further choice. …I wasn’t alone in sniffling into my Playbill.”
— The Guardian (UK)
“Short and sweet and strangely haunting. …The devilishly clever scribe is not playing games with either his characters or his audience, because with each iteration Roland and Marianne grow closer to one another — and become more important to us. And by the end of the play (has it really been only an hour?), we’re fully invested in their lives. All of them.”
— Variety
“…a singular astonishment, at once eloquent and mysterious but which nonetheless articulates within its own idiosyncratic idiom something that touches an audience as real. …only 70 minutes long, but a wholly satisfying and complete emotional journey. …The well-judged dialogue, at once terse and trenchant, finds its own characteristic poetry.”
—New Yorker
Program Articles
Under the Umbrella of Science
A conversation about Constellations with director Jonathan Berry and Audience Engagement Creative Producer Greta Honold.
Welcome to Constellations
Letter from Artistic Director Anna D. Shapiro