STAGE WEST: Chalk Circle Collective's "Constellations"

Megan Carmitchel and Nick Apostolina in "Constellations."    Photo courtesy of Chalk Circle Collective

            The first time I saw a production of Nick Payne’s “Constellations” a few years ago, I found it annoying: two characters before, during and after a romantic relationship replaying over and over, swiftly, moments in time with each other. This after a meet-cute between the physicist, Marianne, and a beekeeper, Roland. Underlying all the relationship drama were high-handed scientific concepts like quantum mechanics, cosmology and string theory.
            But now that I’ve seen “Constellations” again, this time a Chalk Circle Collective production co-starring Megan Carmitchel and Nick Apostolina, I think I understand the play: It’s about time. How it’s constant. How it’s inscrutable. How there is no past or present, there’s just time. Always there, always moving. Ever precious. The moments we pass together may seem mercurial but they are anything but, especially when you pass them with someone you care about. When you’re in a relationship, you have all the time in the world – until you don’t.
            One reason I appreciated “Constellations” this time around was the intimate setting that is Liberty Station’s Light Box Theater. It’s not an impressive space at all, but for an hourlong two-hander as focused and intimate as this play is, it just works. The lighting by Annelise Salazar and the sound effects from Steven Leffue are both subtle and unobtrusive.
            Mainly though it’s the performances of Carmitchel, the fledgling Chalk Circle’s co-founder, and Apostolina, most recently seen in a supporting role in North Coast Rep’s “Camelot,” that illuminate this “Constellations.”
            Carmitchel is one of the most giving, passionate actors in town and that’s on wondrous, affecting display in this production directed by Hannah Meade, who has associate-directed several superb shows at Backyard Renaissance. For all of the gimmickry of Payne’s script, Carmitchel succeeds throughout in making Marianne a very real human being, by turns strong and vulnerable and, as a physicist would be, keenly intelligent.
            Apostolina’s character is the more reactive of the two. His mien is very natural and Roland comes off as almost always likable, even at times when perhaps he shouldn’t be.
            As for the reinvention on the fly of lines and situations with which Payne’s play is peppered they are probably more entertaining for the actors themselves than for the audience. You’ve got to be patient with the construction of “Constellations.” Focus on the characters rather than on the repetitions.
            At the risk of giving away too much, “Constellations” does take a dark turn as it nears its denouement, one that to some extent feels at odds with the arc of the play. Carmitchel’s performance at this juncture, however, is particularly powerful.
            I may be wrong about Payne is trying to say with “Constellations,” but I’m sticking to it and holding fast to the idea that we are captives of time only if we allow ourselves to be.
            “Constellations” runs through Sept. 29 at Liberty Station’s Light Box Theater.