Evelyn C. McDonald
Arts & Culture Reporter
November 16, 2017 10:17 a.m.
Ever wish you had said or done something different in a situation? Wonder what would have happened if you had spoken up or kept quiet? Wish you had or had not responded a particular way to someone? “Constellations,” the recent play from ACT’s Studio 209, explored these questions.
Someone suggested the play was about physics and parallel universes. I prefer to call it a braided narrative. In a half dozen situations, the play explores both the road taken and the one not taken between two people. Boy meets girl, boy moves in with girl, both parties cheat on each other, and girl has health issues are among the scenarios touched on in the play.
In each scenario, various outcomes are presented and examined. Throughout the play, we move back and forth in time. There isn’t exactly a happy ending but we arrive back at the initial boy meets girl and have some assurances that things will proceed favorably, whatever that means.
In a two person play, there has to be a good rapport between the actors. Katherine Herndon as Marianne and Zachary Martin as Roland achieved a solid and believable relationship to each other. Between scenes, the lights fade so we know we are going to another universe of possibilities. In these shifts, both actors easily (or so it seemed as a member of the audience) shifted emotions from scene to scene.
Marianne’s world is physics while Roland is a bee keeper so they are not the most likely of couples. Katherine had what seemed a difficult part as at one point she had to perform as someone who is losing the ability to remember words. Roland went through changes in mood, temperament, smoothly segueing from scene to scene.
“Constellations” was written by Nick Payne and had its Broadway debut in January 2015 with Ruth Wilson and Jake Gyllenhaal and was well-received. The ACT performance was directed by Tener Wade, with Missy Tremblay as the stage manager. It’s a short play presented with no intermission. It’s a tribute to the actors, director, and stage manager that the play moved quickly but clearly so we weren’t left wondering when it was going to end.
It’s good to see Studio 209 taking on thought provoking dramas and staging them so well. So far, the plays have seemed a perfect fit with the small theatre. There is an immediacy to the smaller space that makes you feel connected to the play.
Evelyn McDonald moved to Fernandina Beach from the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. in 2006. Evelyn is vice-chair on the Amelia Center for Lifelong Learning and is on the Dean’s Council for the Carpenter Library at the UNF. Ms. McDonald has MS in Technology Management from the University of Maryland’s University College and a BA in Spanish from the University of Michigan.