New Staging of 'Constellations' Features Jenny Jamora, Topper Fabregas, and Missy Maramara

Ten years after Red Turnip Theater's Manila production starring JC Santos and Cris Villonco, Nick Payne’s Constellations returns to the local stage—this time presented by Stages Production Specialists, Inc., in partnership with MusicArtes, Inc. Its limited two-weekend run opens on November 13 at The Mirror Studio Theater in Makati.

Constellations is a two-hander play by the British playwright Nick Payne. It follows the story of Marianne, a physicist, and Roland, a beekeeper—from meeting at a barbecue, to falling in love, moving in together, breaking up, bumping into each other again, and so on and so forth. Coming into play are questions about how cosmology, quantum mechanics, string theory, and multiple universes affect people's relationships.

While written for two performers portraying Marianne and Roland, this production, directed by Kiara Pipino, expands the material into a three-actor staging in which all three performers embody both characters across the play's parallel universes, further playing into the concept of infinite possibilities. The actors are also not assigned a single character as it experiments with physical presences and creates new relationships and new worlds. Pipino, whose directing credits include classics and new works staged across the U.S., Europe, and Southeast Asia, is known for an approach that's physical and visual and rooted in movement. She's consistently drawn toward classical work and new plays that center women rewriting their own stories and push for social change.

Essential to this exploration of two characters with three bodies is its award-winning cast: Jenny Jamora (Anthropology, In the Eyes of the People, The Nether), Topper Fabregas (Shrek the Musical, Ang Huling El Bimbo, Bar Boys A New Musical), and Missy Maramara (The Half Life of Marie Curie, Stop Kiss, The Kundiman Party).

Constellations runs from November 13 to 15 and from November 20 to 22 at 3/F Mirror Theater Studio, Kalayaan Avenue, Makati City. Tickets (P1,500) are available through a Google Form.

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