Theatre NOVA Announces CONSTELLATIONS

Theatre NOVA, Ann Arbor's professional theatre with an exclusive focus on new plays and playwrights, presents "Constellations" by Nick Payne.

This spellbinding, romantic journey begins with a simple encounter between a man and a woman. But what happens next defies the boundaries of the world we think we know - delving into the infinite possibilities of their relationship and raising questions about the difference between choice and destiny. "Who knew that higher physics could be so sexy, so accessible - and so emotionally devastating?" -New York Times. "A singular astonishment, at once eloquent and mysterious but which nonetheless articulates within its own idiosyncratic idiom something that touches an audience as real." -The New Yorker

"Constellations" features Meghan VanArsdalen and Forrest Hejkal and is directed by Carla Milarch. The production team includes Forrest Hejkal (scenic design), Daniel C. Walker (lighting design), Diane Hill (sound design), and Michelle Resnick (stage manager).

"Constellations" will run January 26 through February 18, 2018, at Theatre NOVA (410 W. Huron, Ann Arbor), a downtown performance space. Show times are 8:00 p.m. Thursdaythrough Saturday, and Sunday matinees start at 2:00 p.m. Theatre NOVA features free parking for patrons, as well as quick access to the city's restaurants, bars, bakeries, and coffee shops.

Tickets are $20, and Theatre NOVA continues its commitment to make theatre accessible by offering pay-what-you-can tickets for those who need them. For tickets, visit TheatreNOVA.org, call 734-635-8450 (Tuesdays through Fridays from noon until 3 p.m.), or buy them in person at the box office one hour before show time.

Theatre NOVA is Ann Arbor's resident professional theatre company. Its mission is to raise awareness of the value and excitement of new plays and playwrights and provide resources for playwrights to develop their craft by importing, exporting, and developing new work.

Nick Payne's (PLAYWRIGHT) plays include "If There is I haven't Found it Yet" (Bush Theatre and Roundabout Theatre Company, New York), "Wanderlust" (Royal Court Theatre), Sophocles' "Electra" (Gate Theatre), "One Day When We Were Young" (Paines Plough/Sheffield Theatres and Shoreditch Town Hall), "Lay Down Your Cross" (Hampstead Theatre), "Constellations" (Royal Court Theatre and Duke of York's), and "The Same Deep Water as Me" (Donmar Warehouse). He is the recipient of the 2009 George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright, 2012 Harold Pinter Playwright's Award, and the 2012 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play for "Constellations."

CARLA MILARCH (Director) is a former Artistic Director of the award-winning Performance Network Theatre, whose passion for new plays led her to found Theatre NOVA. As a dramaturg, director and artistic director, she has brought over 25 brand new plays to world premieres, as well as hundreds to staged readings, including those at the Michigan Playwrights Festival, the Fireside New Play Festival, the National New Play Network (NNPN) National Showcase of New Plays, and the Kennedy Center's MFA playwright's showcase. She served as a board member of the NNPN for 10 years and co-founded the Michigan Equity Theatre Alliance, on which she served as Board President from 2011-2014. Some awards include "Best Overall Season/Artistic Direction" from the Oakland Press, "Outstanding Contributions to an Ensemble" from The Detroit Free Press, "Most Valuable Performer" from the Oakland Press, and the Between the Lines "Angel" award for outstanding contributions to the LGBT community, as well as numerous awards for acting and direction. Carla started her career as an actress. By her early teens, Carla's love for the arts flourished and she was accepted to the world-famous Interlochen Arts Academy in the acting department. Attending high school with Jennifer Ehle and Elizabeth Marvel, and later college with Parker Posey, Seth Gilliam, and Reno Wilson at SUNY Purchase, Carla studied alongside some of today's most talented actors. Carla's love and experience for both sides of the stage have taken her from producing theatre at The Barn Theater in Port Sanilac Michigan, to co-founding a theatre in Amarillo, TX with her Purchase classmates, to working at Bob and Harvey Weinstein's Miramax Films in New York City, to helping establish Performance Network as an artistic leader in Michigan, to producing theatre in a barn again, this time in the middle of a world-class city, at Theatre NOVA. She is a proud resident of Ann Arbor, where she lives with her husband Phil Powers and son, William Tyrone, a proud producer of regional theatre, and a proud advocate of the American New Play.