Sci-Fi – RVArt Review

CONSTELLATIONS

Experience the Multiverse

Produced By: Yes, And! Theatrical Company in residency with New Theatre at Firehouse

At: The Firehouse Theatre, 1609 West Broad St., Richmond, RVA 23220

Performances: January 3 – February 8, 2025

Ticket Prices: $40 general admission; $15 for return visits; $100 for Season 3 Tickets [four shows]

Info: Email: yesandrva@gmail.com; Website: yesandrva.org; Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/yesandrva/

A Theater Review by Julinda D. Lewis

CONSTELLATIONS is, by design, a play of endless possibilities. Playwright Nick Payne has the two actors speak multiple versions of the same lines throughout the course of the play. Director Maggie Roop takes it a step further by having each actor learn both roles and rotating the pairings of partners throughout the run. (Do the math; that results in six possible pairs). Roop describes the resulting product as a Sci-Fi Rom-Com.

WARNING: It is impossible to talk about this play without touching on some spoilers, so if you want to retain your sense of awe and wonder, stop reading here, go see the play, and then come back to finish.

The gist of CONSTELLATIONS is the relationship between Marianne, a physicist who leaps enthusiastically into discourse on quantum mechanics and multiple universes, and Roland, a beekeeper. The two meet at a barbeque and begin a relationship that might be romantic or might not be. It might be rocky or smooth. It might be challenged by infidelity – or not, or it might be on her part, or may his. But after a time, they reconnect at a ballroom dance class – again, for assorted reasons, depending on which version of the story is told at any given time. Eventually they marry, and Marianne falls ill. For all her love of words, that is the first thing she begins to struggle with and, with Roland’s help, she embarks on a journey to seek assisted suicide (which reminded me of Ronan Carr’s The Barber of Moville, which I also saw here at the Firehouse Theatre, in June of 2022: https://jdldancesrva.com/2022/06/28/the-barber-of-moville/ Both plays came from “across the pond,” as Payne is British and Carr hails from Dublin).

I saw CONSTELLATIONS on opening night with John-Michael Jalonen in the role of Roland and Ashley Thompson playing Marianne. I am not familiar with either actor but based on their tightly woven performances in this delightfully quirky two-hander, I would enjoy seeing more of them. Jalonen initially portrays Roland as sort of an everyman but gradually adds more depth and texture to the character. Similarly, Thompson starts off playing Marianne as someone aloof and driven by some sort of mystical philosophical angst but gradually lets us in – as much as you can get close to someone who straddles the multiverse. Ultimately, it seems that the multiverse that most affected Marianne and Roland came from within, rather than from any external sources or forces.

The tragic circumstances are balanced with generous doses of wry humor – spoken in British accents. Director Maggie Roop has ensured that the timing is impeccable, especially when scenes are repeated or revised with alternate outcomes. At times, the two characters are transported into an alternate reality, signaled by changes in their voices, robotic stance, and otherworldly lighting.

Scenic Designer Alyssa Sutherland set CONSTELLATIONS on a multilevel series of wooden platforms with wire mesh sides; honeycombs adorn the walls, an alternative “universe” with two rows of audience seating was added to one side, near the bar, and Kelsey Cordrey filled the auditory space with a dull somewhat ominous rumble. Oh, and there was honey. A honey jalapeño moonshine cocktail at the bar, and straws of straight honey at the box office in the lobby. Sweet.

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Julinda D. Lewis is a dancer, minister of dance, teacher, and writer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and currently resides in Eastern Henrico County. When not writing about theater, she teaches dance history at VCU and low impact dance fitness classes to seasoned movers like herself and occasionally performs.

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CONSTELLATIONS

Written by Nick Payne

Directed by Maggie Roop

Cast

4 actors each portray both roles, Roland and Marianne, and the actor pairings change throughout the run:

John-Michael Jalonen

Marie Lucas

Ashley Thompson

Adam Turck

Production Team

Scenic Design – Alyssa Sutherland

Costume Design – Emily Atkins

Lighting Design – Michael Jarett

Sound Design – Kelsey Cordrey

Dialect Coach – Erica Hughes

Intimacy Coordinator – Michelle Greensmith

Fight Choreography – Axle Burtness

ASL Coordinator – Allison Polson

Production Stage Manager – Grace Labelle

Assistant Stage Manager – Kennedy Shahan

Director of Production & Scenic Painter – Todd Labelle

Technical Director – Emily Vial

YES, AND! THEATRICAL COMPANY

in residency with NEW THEATRE at FIREHOUSE

Artistic Director – Maggie Roop

Executive Director – Matt Shofner

Performance Schedule

Thursday, January 23, 2025 7:30PM Preview

Friday, January 24, 2025 7:30PM Opening Night

Saturday, January 25, 2025 7:30PM

Tuesday, January 28, 2025 7:30PM Pay What You Can*

Thursday, January 30, 2025 7:30PM

Friday, January 31, 2025 7:30PM

Saturday, February 1, 2025 7:30PM

Sunday, February 2, 2025 2:00PM Pay What You Can*

Tuesday, February 4, 2025 7:30PM Pay What You Can*

Thursday, February 6, 2025 7:30PM

Friday, February 7, 2025 7:30PM

Saturday, February 8, 2025 2:00PM

Saturday, February 8, 2025 7:30PM

Tickets

Ticket Prices: $40 general admission; $15 if you return to see a different actor pairing; $20 Rush Rickets at the Box Office one hour prior to all performances

*Pay What You Can: $5 suggested minimum at the door; $10 minimum in advance

Run Time

Approximately 70 minutes with no intermission

Photos N/A

CONSTELLATIONS was originally produced on Broadway by the Manhattan Theatre Club, Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director, Barry Grove Executive Producer, and The Royal Court Theatre by special arrangement with Ambassador Theatre Group and Dodges on December 16, 2014.

Marie Lucas, John-Michael Jalonen, Adam Turck, Ashley Thompson

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AFTER DECEMBER

You Don’t Know Because You Don’t Know

A Theater Review by Julinda D. Lewis

At: The November Theatre, 114 West Broad Street, RVA 23220

Performances: March 3 – 26, 2023

Ticket Prices: $39-$59. (Discounted group rates and rush tickets available)

Info: (804) 282-2620 or www.virginiarep.org

If you’re looking for something traditional and familiar, this ain’t it! If, on the other hand, you’re in the mood for something daringly different and astonishingly beautiful, then you’ve found your play. In Bo Wilson’s new sci-fi thriller fantasy, AFTER DECEMBER, particle collider meets poet. It’s big bang theory meets magic mushrooms. It’s fabulously refreshing. And, if you must relate it to something familiar, it makes allegorical statements about such topics as government and discrimination and the relative value of art versus science.

AFTER DECEMBER is an immersive theatrical experience. Set in a secret government facility that conducts experiments with particle reactors, the cave-like underground atmosphere created by Tennessee Dixon (Scenic and Projection Designer) extends from the stage to the audience. BJ Wilkinson’s phenomenal lighting includes tubes of lighting around the balcony and even above the very last rows of seats, and Dixon’s multi-screen projections accompanied by Joey Luck’s sound design virtually surround the audience. Dixon has really outdone herself yet all of this technology does not diminish Wilson’s story or the words, rather it enhances the play. (I’m almost certain that if Dixon had figured out a way to make us feel the earthquake tremors it would have been done.)

The function of this facility is so secretive that even the staff can’t explain what they do. So, a malfunction in the particle collider machinery precipitates a major crisis, resulting in a temporary shutdown, but even more concerning is the sudden appearance of a mysterious woman. She doesn’t remember anything other than her name, December, and that she is a poet. How she ended up, naked, in a secret government facility two miles underground is a bit of a problem for her and the manager of the facility, Evan Garth (Jeffrey Cole) and his Machiavellian superior, Maria Staslaw (Susan Sanford).

Bianca Bryan, as the mysterious December, speaks in an oddly cadenced almost robotic voice, The imperious voice, stiff posture, and sometimes flaccid stance with both arms hanging loosely at the sides, interrupted occasionally by a lotus petal hand gesture all support the proposition that December may be something less than – or more than – human. She does, after all, appear to have superpowers, not the least of which is that when she speaks her poems aloud, they “happen” – changes occur in the physical environment and in the people around her. As disturbing as her presence may be, it also seems to be an impetus for the physicists to explore their hidden creative sides.

The facility’s Physician’s Assistant, Christine Keeler (Patricia Austin) is the first to soften, seeming to find inspiration in December’s differentness. Next to develop a relationship with December is Garth; December seems to bring out repressed feelings and memories that bring balance to his scientific mind. Nat Carroll (Andrew Firda) wasn’t as hard a nut to crack; he was already starting to write a novel when we first meet him. His partner, Marten Root (Andrew Etheridge) is all about the business of math until he hears the poem December has created specifically for him. He then reveals unmined depths of emotion. The only one who seems unchanged by December is Staslaw (Sanford). Could it be that she knows more about this than she lets on?

One can only imagine the creative and collaborative process that occurred between director Rick Hammerly, designers Tennessee Dixon, BJ Wilkinson, and Joey Luck, and the cast members. Precise timing was needed to successfully execute the wrinkles in time and other effects. The result was one of the most amazing and delightfully surprising evenings I’ve spent in the theater – ever.

Kudos to the cast and design team – including Sue Griffin for her neutral tunics that straddled the line between primitive and futuristic and provided a blank palate for the colorful lighting effects. Etheridge and Firda provided most of the comedy, with Etheridge acting as straight man to Firda’s more lighthearted role. Bryan was a powerful presence who nonetheless elicited empathy which was freely offered by the characters played by Austin and Coles. Susan Sanford remained unmoved – unless you count a downward spiral with a singularly cruel act towards Etheridge’s gentle nerd.

Is the important stuff that matters what happens after December arrives, or after December leaves? Or is the important stuff that matters in the power of December’s (i.e., Wilson’s) words? See it and decide for yourself – I’d love to hear what you think about AFTER DECEMBER.

Julinda D. Lewis is a dancer, teacher, and writer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and now lives in Eastern Henrico County.

AFTER DECEMBER

A New Play By Bo Wilson

Directed by Rick Hammerly

Cast

Christine Keeler ……………….. Patricia Austin

December ………………………… Bianca Bryan

Evan Garth ……………………… Jeffrey Cole

Marten Root ……………………. Andrew Etheredge

Nat Carroll (Evan Garth u/s) Andrew Firda

Nat Carroll u/s …………………. Joshua Mullins

Maria Staslaw …………………. Susan Sanford

Direction & Design

Direction …………………………. Rick Hammerly

Scenic & Projection Design.. Tennessee Dixon

Costume Design ………………. Sue Griffin

Lighting Design ………………… BJ Wilkinson

Sound Design ………………….. Joey Luck

Stage Management….……….. Justin Janke

Assistant Stage Managers … MariaElisa Costa, Leica Long

Ticket Information

Box Office: (804) 282-2620

http://www.virginiarep.org

Tickets range from $39 – $59

Discounted Group Rates and Rush tickets are available.

Run Time

The play runs 1 hour 45 minutes, including one 15-minute intermission.

Discounted Group Rates and Rush tickets available.

Photo Credits: Aaron Sutten

VA-REP Covid Safety Statement

Virginia Rep encourages wearing masks for our patrons’ safety, but we do not require that you wear a mask in our lobbies or within the theatres. They are now optional.

We continue to follow CDC guidelines and local risk levels. All Virginia Rep staff will continue to wear masks while serving you.