Constellation Theatre Company is a non-profit theater company located in

Washington, D.C Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

., performing at the Source Theatre, a

black box theatre A black box theater is a performance space, typically a square or rectangular room, with black walls and a black, flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interact ...

. Since its founding in 2007, Constellation has received several

Helen Hayes Award The Helen Hayes Awards are theater awards recognizing excellence in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area since 1983. The awards are named in tribute of Helen Hayes, who is also known as the "First Lady of American Theatre." They are ...

s, including the John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company in 2009. Source Theater Washington D C 2013 02 1-

Artistic leadership

Constellation Theatre Company's founding artistic director is Allison Arkell Stockman. Stockman was a freelance director in Washington, D.C., and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In 2006, she quit her job as a teacher, and started the theater company in 2007. A.J. Guban has been managing director and designer on multiple productions since the founding of the company.

Productions

Current productions

:2024-2025 Season: Infinite Possiblities :* ''Constellations'' by

Nick Payne Nick Payne (born 1984) is a British playwright and screenwriter. Known for his work on the West End and Broadway stage as well as for his film and television work, he has received nominations for a Laurence Olivier Award and a Tony Award. P ...

:* ''Head Over Heels'' with songs by

The Go-Go's The Go-Go's are an American all-female Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1978. Except for short periods when other musicians joined briefly, the band has had a relatively stable lineup consisting of Charlotte Caffey on lead guitar ...

, based on ''The Arcadia'' by

Sir Philip Sidney Sir Philip Sidney (30 November 1554 – 17 October 1586) was an English poet, courtier, scholar and soldier who is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan age. His works include a sonnet sequence, '' Astrophil and ...

, conceived and original book by

Jeff Whitty Jeffrey Daniel Whitty (born September 30, 1971) is an American playwright, actor, and screenwriter. For the stage musical '' Avenue Q'', he won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. For his work on the Fox Searchlight film '' Can You Ever ...

and adapted by James Magruder

Production history

:2019-2020 Season :* ''Little Shop of Horrors'' with book and lyrics by

Howard Ashman Howard Elliott Ashman (May 17, 1950 – March 14, 1991) was an American playwright, lyricist and stage director. He is most widely known for his work on feature films for Walt Disney Animation Studios, for which Ashman wrote the lyrics and Alan M ...

and music by

Alan Menken Alan Irwin Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American composer and conductor. Over his career he has received List of awards and nominations received by Alan Menken, numerous accolades including winning eight Academy Awards, a Tony Awards, Tony ...

:* ''The 39 Steps'' adapted by

Patrick Barlow Evan George Patrick Barlow (born 18 March 1947) is an English actor, comedian and playwright. His comedic alter ego, ''Desmond Olivier Dingle'', is the founder, artistic director and chief executive of the two-man National Theatre of Brent, whic ...

from the

movie A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

and the

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

John Buchan John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, British Army officer, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. As a ...

:*''

Eurydice Eurydice (; Ancient Greek: Εὐρυδίκη 'wide justice', classical pronunciation: ) was a character in Greek mythology and the wife of Orpheus, whom Orpheus tried to bring back from the dead with his enchanting music. Etymology Several ...

'' by

Sarah Ruhl Sarah Ruhl (born January 24, 1974) is an American playwright, poet, professor, and essayist. Among her most popular plays are ''Eurydice'' (2003), '' The Clean House'' (2004), and '' In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play)'' (2009). She has been ...

:''Note:'' Eurydice ''was announced but cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

''. :2018–2019 Season: Epic Love :*'' Melancholy Play: A Contemporary Farce'' by Sarah Ruhl :* ''Aida'' with music by

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

, lyrics by

Tim Rice Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English songwriter. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, '' Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ''Jesus C ...

, and book by

Linda Woolverton Linda Woolverton (born December 19, 1952) is an American screenwriter, playwright, and novelist, whose most prominent works include the screenplays and books of several acclaimed Disney films and stage musicals. She is the first woman to have w ...

, Robert Falls, and

David Henry Hwang David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957) is an American playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and theater professor at Columbia University in New York City. He has won three Obie Awards for his plays '' FOB'', '' Golden Child'', and '' Yellow ...

:*''

The Master and Margarita ''The Master and Margarita'' () is a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, written in the Soviet Union between 1928 and 1940. A censored version, with several chapters cut by editors, was published posthumously in ''Moscow (magazine), Moscow'' magazine in ...

'' adapted by Edward Kemp :*''The White Snake'' by

Mary Zimmerman Mary Zimmerman (born August 23, 1960) is an American theatre and opera director and playwright from Nebraska. She is an ensemble member of the Lookingglass Theatre Company, the Manilow Resident Director at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinoi ...

, based on the Chinese legend of the white snake : :2017–2018 Season: Survival Instincts :*''

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' () is a 1920 German silent horror film directed by Robert Wiene and written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. The quintessential work of early German Expressionist cinema, it tells the story of an insane hypno ...

,'' the silent film with live music by Tom Teasley :*'' The Wild Party'' with book, lyrics, and music by

Andrew Lippa Andrew Lippa (born December 22, 1964) is an American composer, lyricist, libretto, book writer, performer, and theatrical producer, producer. He is a resident artist at the Ars Nova Theater in New York City. Early life Lippa was born in Leeds, E ...

:*''

The Skin of Our Teeth ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' is a play by Thornton Wilder that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It opened on October 15, 1942, at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, before moving to the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway on November 18, ...

'' by

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, for the novel ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and ''The Skin of Our Teeth'', and a U. ...

:*''

The Caucasian Chalk Circle ''The Caucasian Chalk Circle'' () is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. An example of Brecht's epic theatre, the play is a parable about a peasant girl who rescues a baby and becomes a better mother than the baby's wealthy b ...

'' by

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

: :2016–2017 Season :* ''Metropolis'', the silent film with live music by Tom Teasley :* ''

Urinetown ''Urinetown: The Musical'' is a satirical comedy musical that premiered in 2001, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bur ...

'' music and lyrics by

Mark Hollmann Mark Hollmann (born 1963) is an American composer and lyricist. Life and career Hollmann grew up in Fairview Heights, Illinois, where he graduated from Belleville Township High School East in 1981. He won a 2002 Tony Award and a 2001 Obie Awa ...

, book and lyrics by

Greg Kotis Greg Kotis (born 1965/1966) is an American playwright, best known for writing the book and co-writing the lyrics for the musical ''Urinetown''. Biography Career Kotis studied political science at the University of Chicago, where he was a memb ...

:* ''

Peter and the Starcatcher ''Peter and the Starcatcher'' is a play based on the 2004 novel ''Peter and the Starcatchers'' by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, adapted for the stage by Rick Elice. The play provides a backstory for the characters of Peter Pan, Mrs Darling, Tin ...

'' by

Rick Elice Rick Elice (born Eric S. Elice; November 17, 1956) is a writer and former stage actor. Life Elice was born in New York City, where he attended public elementary, junior high, and high schools. He was the salutatorian graduate of Francis Lewis Hig ...

:* ''The Arabian Nights'' by

: :2015–2016 Season: Playtime for Grownups :*''

The Adventures of Prince Achmed ''The Adventures of Prince Achmed'' () is a 1926 German animated fairytale film, written and directed by Lotte Reiniger. Since two earlier Quirino Cristiani films are lost, it is the oldest surviving animated feature film. The plot is based on ...

'' by

Lotte Reiniger Charlotte "Lotte" Reiniger (2 June 1899 – 19 June 1981) was a German film director and the foremost pioneer of silhouette animation. Her best known films are ''The Adventures of Prince Achmed'', from 1926, the oldest surviving feature-length a ...

with live music by Tom Teasley :*''

Avenue Q '' Avenue Q'' is a musical comedy featuring puppets and human actors with music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx and a book by Jeff Whitty. It won Best Musical, Book, and Score at the 2004 Tony Awards. The show's format is a parody ...

'' music and lyrics by

Robert Lopez Robert “Bobby” Lopez (born February 23, 1975) is an American songwriter for musicals and playwright, best known for co-creating '' The Book of Mormon'' and '' Avenue Q'', and for co-writing the songs featured in the Disney animated films '' ...

and

Jeff Marx Jeff Marx (born September 10, 1970) is an American composer and lyricist of musicals. He is best known for creating the Broadway musical '' Avenue Q'' with collaborator Robert Lopez. Early life Marx grew up in Hollywood, Florida. He atten ...

, book by

:*'' Equus'' by

Peter Shaffer Sir Peter Levin Shaffer (15 May 1926 – 6 June 2016) was an English playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is best known for the plays '' Equus'' and '' Amadeus'', the latter of which was adapted for the screen by Miloš Forman, with an ...

:*''Journey to the West'' by

, based on the 16th century Chinese novel

Journey to the West ''Journey to the West'' () is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is regarded as one of the Classic Chinese Novels, great Chinese novels, and has been described as arguably the ...

: :2014–2015 Season :*''

Right You Are (if you think so) ''Right You Are (if you think so)'' (, also translated as ''So It Is (If You Think So)'', is an Italian language, Italian drama by Luigi Pirandello. The play is based on Pirandello's short story ''La signora Frola e il signor Ponza, suo genero' ...

'' by

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; ; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italians, Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his bold and ...

, adapted by

Martin Sherman Martin Sherman may refer to: * Martin Sherman (dramatist) (born 1938), American dramatist and screenwriter * Martin Sherman (actor) (born 1971), American actor, director, writer and inventor {{hndis, Sherman, Martin ...

:*''

The Lieutenant of Inishmore ''The Lieutenant of Inishmore'' is a black comedy by Martin McDonagh, in which the 'mad' leader of an Irish National Liberation Army splinter group discovers that his cat has been killed. It has been produced twice in the West End and on Br ...

'' by

Martin McDonagh Martin Faranan McDonagh ( ; born 26 March 1970) is a British-Irish playwright and filmmaker. He is known for his Absurdism, absurdist Black comedy, dark humour which often challenges the modern theatre aesthetic. He has won List of awards and no ...

:*''The Fire and the Rain'', by

Girish Karnad Girish Karnad (19 May 1938 – 10 June 2019) was an Indian playwright, actor, film director, Kannada writer, and a Jnanpith awardee, who predominantly worked in Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi films. His rise as a playwr ...

and drawn from

The Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kurukshetra War, a war of succes ...

:2013–2014 Season :* ''36 Views'' by

Naomi Iizuka Naomi Iizuka (born April 22, 1965) is a Japanese-born American playwright. Iizuka's works often have a non-linear storyline and are influenced by her multicultural background. Early life and education Naomi Iizuka was born in Tokyo, April 22, 1 ...

:* ''Scapin'' by

Bill Irwin William Mills Irwin (born April 11, 1950) is an American actor, choreographer, clown, and comedian. He began as a vaudeville-style stage performer and has been noted for his contribution to the renaissance of American circus during the 1970s. ...

and

Mark O'Donnell Mark O'Donnell (July 19, 1954 – August 6, 2012) was an American writer and humorist. Early life Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College in 1976. He was a member of ''The Harvard Lampoon'', where ...

adapted from

Les Fourberies de Scapin ''Scapin the Schemer'' () is a three-act comedy of intrigue by the French playwright Molière. The title character Scapin is similar to the archetypical Scapino character. The play was first staged on 24 May 1671 in the theatre of the Palais- ...

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...

:* '' The Love of the Nightingale'', by

Timberlake Wertenbaker Timberlake Wertenbaker is a British-based playwright, screenplay writer, and translator who has written plays for the Royal Court, the Royal Shakespeare Company and others. She has been described in ''The Washington Post'' as "the doyenne of po ...

:2012–2013 Season :* ''

Taking Steps ''Taking Steps'' is a 1979 farce by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It is set on three floors of an old and reputedly haunted house, with the stage arranged so that the stairs are flat and all three floors are on a single level (hence the pl ...

'' by

Alan Ayckbourn Sir Alan Ayckbourn (born 12 April 1939) is a prolific British playwright and director. As of 2025, he has written and produced 90 full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen ...

:* ''Zorro''^* by Janet Allard and Eleanor Holdridge :* ''Gilgamesh'', Poetry by

Yusef Komunyakaa Yusef Komunyakaa (born James William Brown; April 29, 1941) is an American poet who teaches at New York University and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, for '' ...

, concept & dramaturgy by Chad Gracia :2011–2012 Season :*'' The Ramayana (remount)'' :*''

Arms and the Man ''Arms and the Man'' is a comedy by George Bernard Shaw, whose title comes from the opening words of Virgil's ''Aeneid'', in Latin: ''Arma virumque cano'' ("Of arms and the man I sing"). The play was first produced on 21 April 1894 at the Av ...

'' :*''

Blood Wedding ''Blood Wedding'' () is a tragedy by Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca. It was written in 1932 and first performed at Teatro Beatriz in Madrid in March 1933, then later that year in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The play is set in rural Spa ...

'' :*''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its Cre ...

'' :2010–2011 Season :*''

Women Beware Women ''Women Beware Women'' is a Jacobean tragedy written by Thomas Middleton, and first published in 1657. Date The date of authorship of the play is deeply uncertain. Scholars have estimated its origin anywhere from 1612 to 1627; 1623–24 has ...

'' :*'' On The Razzle'' :*''

The Green Bird ''The Green Bird'' (Italian: ''L'augellino belverde'') is a 1765 commedia dell'arte play by Carlo Gozzi. It is a sequel to '' The Love of Three Oranges''. The main plot of ''The Green Bird'' has several similarities with the widespread tale ''The ...

'' :2009–2010 Season :*''

A Flea in Her Ear ''A Flea in Her Ear'' () is a play by Georges Feydeau written in 1907, at the height of the Belle Époque. The author called it a vaudeville, but in Anglophone countries, where it is the most popular of Feydeau's plays, it is usually described ...

'' :*'' Three Sisters'' :*'' The Ramayana'' :2008–2009 Season :*''Temptation'' :*''The Marriage of Figaro'' :*''Crazyface'' :2007–2008 Season :*''

A Dream Play ''A Dream Play'' (), sometimes staged in English as ''The Dream Play'', is a fantasy play in 14 scenes written in 1901 by the Swedish playwright August Strindberg. It was published in Swedish in 1902 and first performed in Stockholm on 17 April ...

'' by

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (; ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than 60 pla ...

adapted by

Caryl Churchill Caryl Lesley Churchill (born 3 September 1938) is a British playwright known for dramatising the abuses of power, for her use of non- naturalistic techniques, and for her exploration of sexual politics and feminist themes.

:*''

The Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition () ...

'' by

:*''The Good Woman of Setzuan'' :*''The Oresteia'' :''^* denotes world premiere''

Grants

In September 2013, the

American Theatre Wing The American Theatre Wing (the Wing for short) is a New York City–based non-profit organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre", according to its mission statement. Originally known as the Stage Women's War Relief ...

(the founder of the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

s) awarded a National Theatre Company Grant to Constellation Theatre. The grant is for general operating support to companies that "have articulated a distinctive mission, cultivated an audience, and nurtured a community of artists in ways that strengthen and demonstrate the quality, diversity, and dynamism of American theatre".

Awards

In 2009, Constellation received the John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company. Constellation has received 90 competitive Helen Hayes Award nominations and has received 19 of these awards. The Constellation Theatre Company was nominated for the following Audience Choice Awards * 2008 ''Crazyface'' (Favorite Ensemble) * 2009 ''Three Sisters'' (Favorite Plays, Favorite Actress in a Play) * 2013 ''Taking Steps'' (Best Play, Best Actor in a Play), ''Zorro'' (Best Ensemble Cast, Best Actor in a Play) Costume Designer Kendra Rai was awarded a 2014 Princess Grace Foundation honorarium to be used for the company's 2014–2015 season costumes

References

{{authority control Theatre companies in Washington, D.C. Regional theatre in the United States Members of the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington League of Washington Theatres 2007 establishments in Washington, D.C. Arts organizations established in 2007

Artistic leadership

Productions

Current productions

Production history

Grants

Awards

See also

References