Stage Review - Constellations (SecondStory Rep)

Stage Review - Constellations
Presented By: SecondStory Rep - Redmond, WA
Show Run: August 22 - September 07, 2025
Date Reviewed: Thursday, August 28, 2025
Run Time: 80 minutes (no intermission)
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman

The opening play of SecondStory Rep’s 2025-26 season schedule brings together all of the components that make the theatre’s shows work so well. Nick Payne’s Constellations is a play about choices, about the countless paths our lives might take depending on what we say, what we do, and how we love, and SecondStory Rep has put together a production that makes it feel like Constellations was made for the venue. Directed by Doug Fahl and running on stage in Redmond through September 7, this version of Payne’s 2012 play is as emotionally nimble as it is technically precise, anchored by two strong performances from BJ Smyth and Leah Shannon, as characters Roland and Marianne.

The script is structured as a series of repeated moments — the same scenes played again and again with different outcomes — and as a result the demands on the actors are enormous. BJ and Leah not only meet those demands, they thrive on them, and they excel in these roles. BJ displays such an impressive emotional range as Roland, from the tentative humor of Roland’s awkward marriage proposal to a brilliant flash of real fury in a scene that represents all that is wonderful about these two performances when his character learns Marianne has strayed. At the same time, Shannon matches him beat for beat, her emotional agility on full display in the shifting “infidelity” sequence in that scene where guilt passes fluidly between them.

What really makes this pairing so effective, though, is how well they transmit their combined feelings outward. When Roland and Marianne share joy, the theatre seems to glow with it; when they collapse into grief, the weight is unmistakable. Perhaps the best example of how good they are at bringing the audience into their emotional journey comes in a scene late in the play that is performed entirely in sign language. Stripped of words, BJ and Leah still communicate everything, their bodies carrying the force of love, fear, and loss. Whether or not the audience knows ASL, the emotional intent of these characters in this scene is crystal clear.

One other aspect to these performances that needs to be called out is with regard to the accents — Leah’s clipped English and BJ’s gentler lilt — are maintained with impressive consistency across the play’s whirlwind of timelines and emotions, a testament to dialect coach Grace Helmcke’s work.

On the technical side, production designer Mark Chenovick crafts a deceptively simple world. Platforms in layered levels allow director Doug Fahl’s staging to flow cleanly, while sound and lighting shift seamlessly with each change in the universe. A piece that is especially well done is the rewinding effect — light and sound snapping backward as a scene resets — which is particularly effective, making it feel as if the play itself is spooling back through time. Mark’s work with projections carries much of the load in establishing setting, and though one scene, in which both Roland and Marianne find themselves learning ballroom-dancing together, contains a backdrop that seemed to bounce a bit, distractingly contrasting the movement on stage during Thursday’s performance, Mark’s choices are strong, with mirrors and spotlights used to amplify key emotional beats in striking ways.

It seems there is no way to look around within the current zeitgeist without coming across any mention of a multiverse, a concept in which every choice we make, or don’t make, results in a new and different timeline, the result of which is a collection of universes, a multiverse, each with a unique combination of realities. Perhaps the best example of this being depicted on stage is with Nick Payne’s Constellations, and what emerges with the SecondStory Rep production of his play is a version that captures both the vastness of Payne’s multiverse and the intimacy of a two-person love story. Exceptional performances by actors BJ Smyth and Leah Shannon, under the direction of Doug Fahl, succeed in showing us how endless the possibilities are — and how precious each choice can be.

Constellations runs on stage at SecondStory Rep in Redmond through September 7. For more information, including ticket availability and sales, visit https://www.secondstoryrep.org.

Photo credit: Michael Brunk