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Welcome to Constellation Theatre Company!

Please take a moment to participate in tonight's show by filling out the slip of paper you received at the door.
 
Please drop your response into the brass bowl in the center of the house before the show begins.

Run time is 55 minutes without intermission.

Please remember to silence your cell phone and other electronic devices.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we ask audience members to please keep off the stage.

Enjoy the show!

About the Show

We are here to celebrate the power of community.   Since March 2020, we have experienced moments of loss and isolation, and we created this original piece to take a step towards healing, celebration and union.

We all know that music is a universal language with the power to stir deep emotions, and Tom and Chao create a unique fusion of cross-cultural traditions. “But what is mysticism?” you may ask. It’s a way of looking at the world and seeing a spark of the sacred in all people and all things. It’s the eye of Love gazing at divine realities, and understanding a true essence beyond appearances. It’s a belief in our union with the Absolute and the Infinite. It’s the realization that all our atoms vibrate with all the other atoms of the universe.

Ideas of Mysticism can be found in essentially all religions and spiritual traditions, from across the world and throughout time. The text in this show has been sourced from a wide range of sacred scriptures, as well as poems and books from many times and places. The ones we return to again and again are Hinduism’s The Bhagavad Gita; the Chinese Tao Te Ching, the Old and New Testaments and apocrypha from the time of Jesus, as well as the poems of Rumi, a poet from the Sufi branch of Islam. You’ll also hear words from Dante and Dr. King, from Mary Shelley and Maya Angelou.

As humans, we are united by a desire for meaning larger than ourselves and we are entranced by the promise of transformation. By drawing parallels, creating juxtapositions and layering these words with images, movement and music, we hope to illuminate and enhance the meaning of all the elements.

We are delighted that you have joined us for this experience.

Featuring

John Austin
Natalie Cutcher
Momo Nakamura
Nia Savoy-Dock
Deidre Staples
 Jacob Yeh

Music Performed Live By

Tom Teasley
Chao Tian

Creative Team

Director
Allison Arkell Stockman

Choreographer
Tony Thomas II

Scenic & Lighting Designer
A.J. Guban

Musician & Composer
Tom Teasley

Musician & Composer
Chao Tian

Costume, Fabric and Fan Designer
Frank Labovitz

Properties Designer
George "Tommy" Wang

Sound Engineer
Gordon Nimmo-Smith

Script Supervisor
Nick Martin

Production Stage Manager
Katie Moshier

Meet the Performers

John Austin Constellation: Melancholy Play (Helen Nomination, Best Ensemble; Helen Award, Outstanding Production); Arena Stage: Right to Be Forgotten, Kleptocracy; Round House: Oslo; Signature: Easy Women Smoking Loose Cigarettes; Olney: National Players, Tour 69: Othello, Alice in Wonderland, The Great Gatsby; Tutto Theatre Company: Zeus in Therapy (B. Iden Payne Award, Outstanding Young Performer); Austin Shakespeare: Pride and Prejudice. Education: Boston University, BFA Acting, Summa Cum Laude, Dean’s Award, Bette Davis Scholarship, Bette Davis Prize; LAMDA, Certificate in Classical Acting. Upcoming: National Tour: Me, Myself, and Shirley starring Cindy Williams of Laverne & Shirley. Website: johnaustinactor.com. Represented by Capital Talent Agency for TV/Film. 

Natalie Cutcher is a DMV theatre maker, teaching artist, and nature enthusiast. Previous Constellation credits: The Skin of Our Teeth, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and Journey to the West. Other local collaborators include: Folger, Synetic, Theater Alliance, Rorschach, Arts on the Horizon, Flying V, and Faction of Fools. She earned her MFA from the Academy for Classical Acting at GW right before the pandemic hit. Up next: Under the Sea with Dredgie McGee with 1st Stage. Ongoing podcast drama: EOS 10. 



Momo Nakamura is excited to be back on stage (and in person) with Constellation Theatre Company, where she last performed in The White Snake. Other credits include Flying V theatre: Crystal Creek Motel. The Welders: Hello my name is…. Spooky Action theater: Kwaidan. Discovery Theatre: Tigers, Dragons and Other Wise Tails, American Rice. Chesapeake Shakespeare Company: Tragedy of Coriolanus. Venus Theatre Company: Measure for Measure. Baltimore Shakespeare Festival: Midsummer Night's Dream. The American Century Theatre: A Piece of My Heart. Virtually, she performed with We Happy Few, Horticulture Playwright Workshop, Rorschach Theatre, and other artists/organizations in the past 18 months. 

Nia Savoy-Dock is thrilled to be back at Constellation Theatre Company. Native of Shreveport, Louisiana, she is a proud graduate of Howard University, BFA Musical Theatre. Recent credits: Constellation Theatre Company: Aida; Theatre Alliance:  Day of Absence; Toby’s Dinner Theatre: Grease; Riverside Center of the Performing Arts: The Color Purple. Savoy is a Michael Feinstein Great American Songbook Inspiration Award Winner and the one of the first place winners of the 2018 NextGen: Finding the Voices of Tomorrow Vocal Competition. She is grateful to her friends, family, and loving husband for their undying support. Proverbs 3:6  



Deidre Staples is excited to work with Constellation Theatre Company. REGIONAL: Theatre Prometheus: The Cassette Shop; Adventure Theatre MTC: From Cinders to Ella: Mosaic Theatre: Playwriting Contest Showcase; Sankofa Theatre Collective: The Vanguard: The Musical; Atlas Intersections Festival: White-ish; Theatre Alliance: Hothouse: Goddess; The Welders: LadyM: National Players: Twelfth Night, Around the World In 80 Days, The Crucible; Studio Theatre: The Wolves; Pointless Theatre Co.: Rite of Spring; Howard University: Eclipsed; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, African Americans, Insurrection: Holding History. EDUCATION: BFA in Acting from Howard University. 

Tom Teasley is delighted to return to Constellation after composing original scores for The Arabian Nights, The Good Woman of Setzuan, The Oresteia, Temptation, Crazyface, The Ramayana, The Green Bird, Metamorphoses, Gilgamesh, The Love of the Nightingale, The Fire and The Rain, and Journey to the West, and The White Snake. He received Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Sound Design for Constellation’s productions of Crazyface and The Ramayana. He also received nominations for The Green Bird, The Love of the Nightingale, The Fire and the Rain, Journey to the West, and The White Snake. A five-time recipient of a Fulbright-Hayes grant for performances in the Middle East, Tom collaborated with indigenous musicians and gave historic performances in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the West Bank and Jerusalem. He has been an artist-in-residence at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and has collaborated with the National Symphony as both a soloist and composer. Tom was awarded the 2016 Drum! Magazine Drummie Awards for “World Percussionist.” His CDs have been greeted with international airplay and acclaim, and his concepts on world/jazz percussion are published in a book/DVD set, An American Approach to World Percussion. Tom won the 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 Washington Area Music Award for “Best World Music Instrumentalist.” 

Chao Tian A leading performer on the Chinese dulcimer, Artistic Director of Chinese Music Society of Greater Washington, and an alumni of the Artist in Residence program at Strathmore Music Center. Chao has established a career as a soloist, educator, and composer in traditional Chinese music and other genres. Chao has broken through boundaries with music and she showcases the possibilities of creating music through improvisation and dialogue with musicians from the east to the west. 

Jacob Yeh is thrilled to be back at Constellation Theatre Company after having performed in The White Snake & Journey to the West.  Other local credits include: NextStop Theatre: East of Eden (Helen Hayes Nomination, Outstanding Supporting Actor), An Act of God, Pride & Prejudice, Studio Theatre: Vietgone, Chimerica, Shakespeare Theatre Company: Julius Caesar, Theater J: Yellowface, Folger Theatre: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, 1st Stage: The Farnsworth Invention (HH Nomination: Outstanding Ensemble), Proluge Theatre: Recent Tragic Events and other productions at Ford's Theatre, Washington Stage Guild, Synetic Theatre, Rorschach Theatre, The Welders, Imagination Stage and Adventure Theater MTC. Upcoming: Maple & Vine (Spooky Action Theatre).  EDUCATION: Theater Lab's Honor's Conservatory; BS & BA, Rice University.  www.jacob-yeh.com

Production Team

Technical Director
Mike Salmi

Master Electrician
Cassandra Saluski

Assistant Stage Manager
JJ Hersh

Assistant Stage Manager
Olivia Viola

Stage Manager Swing
Jenna Keefer

Scenic Charge Artist
Gray Walters

Light Board Programmer
Paul Callahan

Light Board Operator 
 Danielle Shaw

Audio 1
Delaney Bray

Audio 2
Alyssa Foy

Video Production
Blue Land Media

Carpenters
Alex Kozlov
Ben Harvey
David Phillip
James Raymond
Jeff Campbell
TJ Johns

Valarie McFatter

William Koehler

Electricians
Devin Kinch

Jerran Kowalski

Miguel Sarmiento

Sam Biuk

Front of House Manager
Lily Komarow

Front of House Associates
 Madalaina D'Angelo

Aryssa Damron
 
Filmed by Blue Land Media

Meet the Creative and Production Team

A.J. Guban (Scenic & Lighting Designer) see bio under leadership. 

Frank Labovitz (Costume Designer) is excited to return to Constellation (and live theatre!), where he has previously designed The Last Five Years, Little Shop of Horrors, The White Snake and The Skin of Our Teeth. His designs have appeared on many local stages, including Round House Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Shakespeare Theatre, Studio Theatre, Signature Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, and Pointless Theatre Company. His work has been recognized with multiple Helen Hayes Award nominations, and he received the 2020 award for his work on Little Shop with Constellation. Thank you Nick!

Mike Salmi (Technical Director) first worked with Constellation when he put up bamboo walls for The Fire and The Rain in Season 8. Starting with Season 9's Avenue Q, Mike has been the company's Technical Director, overseeing the construction of each set in addition to serving as Master Carpenter. Mike has also worked as a technical director, master carpenter, and carpenter for other area theatres, including GALA Hispanic Theatre, Pinky Swear Productions, Studio Theatre, Quotidian Theatre, and Flying V. Mike has a bachelor's degree in theatre from Northern Michigan University and is proud to call himself a Native Yooper.


Allison Arkell Stockman (Director) see bio under leadership.


Tony Thomas (Choreographer) is an independent artist working a wide range of mediums. Choreography credits include Arena Stage, Solas Nua, Studio Theatre, Mosaic Theatre, Constellation Theatre, as well as Imagination Stage. He was nominated for Outstanding Choreography by the Helen Hayes Awards in 2019 for P.Y.G at Studio Theatre and in 2016 for Word Becomes Flesh at Theatre Alliance. Performance credits include West Side Story (Tio) National Tour, Guys & Dolls, and A Chorus Line (2014 HH Award Outstanding Musical Production) at Olney Theatre Center. He was recently promoted to Conservatory Manager, Head of Dance, and Artistic Supervisor (Pre-Professional Program) at Adventure Theatre MTC, sits on the board and dance faculty with Ngoma Center for Dance, and actively leads numerous workshops and coaching circuits from East to West coast. Tony Thomas Designs was developed in 2004, featuring Tio Diaz Studio as a premiere creative firm in Interior Architecture and Creative Direction in the arts and entertainment industry.

George “Tommy” Wang (Properties Designer) has a Fine Arts degree in Interior Design from The George Washington University at Mount Vernon College. His theatre work includes props, costume and set design, scenic artistry and production stage management. He has worked with Round House Theatre, Signature Theatre, Folger Shakespeare Library, Woolly Mammoth, Theatre J, Washington Revels, and Montgomery College, among others. He has worked both behind the scenes assisting in construction, lighting and sound design, and on stage in musicals, plays, and an opera symposium at the Kennedy Center.

Mysticism & Music 
Text Sources

The language in this show has been sourced from a wide range of religious scriptures, as well as the words of poets and philosophers from the ancients to the current day. In creating this theatre piece we hope to spark your curiosity; we invite you to join us on this journey of exploration.  The list below is a, roughly show-order, breakdown of the different texts the show draws from. 

Constellation Theatre Company

Founding Artistic Director
Allison Arkell Stockman

Managing Director
A.J. Guban

Board of Directors

President
Scott Chatham

Vice President
Matt Haynie

Secretary
Lucinda Romberg

Treasurer
Ian Shuman

Michael Burke
Jennifer Eller
A.J. Guban
Scott Hahn
Gene Laporta
Allison Arkell Stockman
Debodhonyaa Sengupta
Keiko Takagi
Beverly With

 Staff

Artistic Associate
Nick Martin

Patron Services Manager
Julia Harris

Production Stage Manager
Katie Moshier

Meet The Leadership

Allison Arkell Stockman (Founding Artistic Director) won the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical (Helen Production) in 2016 for her work on Avenue Q. She has directed 29 Constellation productions including The White Snake, The Master and Margarita, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Wild Party, The Arabian Nights, Urinetown, Journey to the West, The Fire and The Rain, ABSOLUTELY! {perhaps}, The Love of the Nightingale, 36 Views, Gilgamesh, Taking Steps, Metamorphoses, The Ramayana, The Green Bird, Women Beware Women, Three Sisters, A Flea in Her Ear, A Dream Play.  Allison has directed readings and workshops for Theater J and the Kennedy Center.  A Drama League Directing Fellow and a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, Allison holds an MFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon School of Drama and a BA in Comparative Religion from Princeton.  She would like to thank the creative team, the cast and crew for their vision and dedication and her family and friends for their ongoing support. 

A.J. Guban (Managing Director)has created 43 scenic designs and 41 lighting designs for Constellation.  He has received seven Helen Hayes Nominations: Outstanding Lighting Design for The Wild Party, Avenue Q, 36 Views; Outstanding Set Design for The Little Shop of Horrors, The Arabian Nights, Journey to the West, 36 Views. Favorite scenic and/or lighting design credits for the company include: Equus, Avenue Q, Metamorphoses, 36 Views, The Ramayana (2011), On The Razzle, The Good Woman of Setzuan, and The Arabian Nights.  As a freelance designer, he has designed for such companies as The Washington National Opera, Opera Cleveland, Opera Vivente, The Maryland Opera Studio, The Kennedy Center, Imagination Stage, The Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the National Postal Museum, among others.  He has been the Lighting Director at the Washington National Opera for the past eleven seasons and is a proud member of USA Local 829.  A.J. holds an MFA in Lighting Design from the University of Maryland, College Park. 

Season 14 Sponsors

This season, our most passionate supporters have pledged to dream, create, and entertain with Constellation by sponsoring key components of our artistic process for Season 14: Electric Impulses.Thank you so much to everyone who supported us this season!

Visionaries
Daniel Boettcher & Roy Englert
Michael L. Burke & Carl W. Smith
Lucinda Romberg
Ian Shuman & Sarah Weiner
Peter & Dyson Stockman

Entertainers
Scott Chatham & Allan Badovinac
Scott Hahn
Meg & John Hauge
Matthew Haynie & Katie Halliday
Allison Arkell Stockman
Beverly & Christopher With

Creators
Nan Beckley
Ken & Sheila Berman
Jennifer Eller
Andrew Guban & Lindsey Ruehl
Holly Hassett
Judith Henderson
Gene & Cindy Laporta
Sophie Lynn & David Frederick
Debodhonyaa Sengupta
Keiko Takagi

Dreamers
Anonymous
Jeff & Carolyn Crooks
Elisabeth R. French
Frona Hall
Laura Hart
Lee Hollaar
Renee Klish
Barry Kropf
Wes MacAdam
William & Louisa Newlin
Stan Peabody
Carl & Margaret Pfeiffer
Nathan Rickard
Sally Sloan
Susan Talarico & Mike Sundermeyer

Foundation, Grant, & Corporate Support
Bernard Myers Fund for the Performing Arts
Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Arts Innovation and Management Program
The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities
The Entertainment Bridge Fund
Freddie Mac
International Monetary Fund
John R. & Dorothy D. Caples Fund
The Max and Victoria Drefyus Foundation, Inc.
Nora Roberts Foundation
Paul M. Angell Family Foundation
Picard Kentz & Rowe, LLP
Share Fund

Constellation Theatre Company wishes to thank  
Cultural DC
Kristi Maiselman
Crystal Hart
Pete Danelski

Washington Improv Theater
Mark Chalfant

The In Series
Timothy Nelson

Shakespeare Theatre Company

Filmed live at Source in Washington, D.C on Thursday, October 21, 2021.

© 2021 Constellation Theatre Company. All Rights Reserved.

The characters and events in this play are fictitious. 

No depiction of actual persons or events is intended.