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Constellation Theatre Company

Constellation Theatre Company Logo
Formation	2007
Type	Theatre group
Location	Washington, D.C.
Artistic director(s)	Allison Arkell Stockman (Founding Artistic Director)
Website	www.constellationtheatre.org

Constellation Theatre Company is a non-profit theater company located in Washington, D.C., performing at the Source Theatre, a black box theatre. Since its founding in 2007, Constellation has received several Helen Hayes Awards, including the John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company in 2009.

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. 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
• Head Over Heels with songs by The Go-Go's, based on The Arcadia by Sir Philip Sidney, conceived and original book by Jeff Whitty and adapted by James Magruder

Production history

2019-2020 Season

• Little Shop of Horrors with book and lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken
• The 39 Steps adapted by Patrick Barlow from the movie by Alfred Hitchcock and the novel by John Buchan
• Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl

Note: Eurydice was announced but cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2018–2019 Season: Epic Love

• Melancholy Play: A Contemporary Farce by Sarah Ruhl
• Aida with music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice, and book by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls, and David Henry Hwang
• The Master and Margarita adapted by Edward Kemp
• The White Snake by Mary Zimmerman, based on the Chinese legend of the white snake

2017–2018 Season: Survival Instincts

• The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the silent film with live music by Tom Teasley
• The Wild Party with book, lyrics, and music by Andrew Lippa
• The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder
• The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht

2016–2017 Season

• Metropolis, the silent film with live music by Tom Teasley
• Urinetown music and lyrics by Mark Hollmann, book and lyrics by Greg Kotis
• Peter and the Starcatcher by Rick Elice
• The Arabian Nights by Mary Zimmerman

2015–2016 Season: Playtime for Grownups

• The Adventures of Prince Achmed by Lotte Reiniger with live music by Tom Teasley
• Avenue Q music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, book by Jeff Whitty
• Equus by Peter Shaffer
• Journey to the West by Mary Zimmerman, based on the 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West

2014–2015 Season

• Right You Are (if you think so) by Luigi Pirandello, adapted by Martin Sherman
• The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh
• The Fire and the Rain, by Girish Karnad and drawn from The Mahabharata

2013–2014 Season

• 36 Views by Naomi Iizuka
• Scapin by Bill Irwin and Mark O'Donnell adapted from Les Fourberies de Scapin by Molière
• The Love of the Nightingale, by Timberlake Wertenbaker

2012–2013 Season

• Taking Steps by Alan Ayckbourn
• Zorro by Janet Allard and Eleanor Holdridge
• Gilgamesh, Poetry by Yusef Komunyakaa, concept & dramaturgy by Chad Gracia

2011–2012 Season

• The Ramayana (remount)
• Arms and the Man
• Blood Wedding
• Metamorphoses

2010–2011 Season

• Women Beware Women
• On The Razzle
• The Green Bird

2009–2010 Season

• A Flea in Her Ear
• Three Sisters
• The Ramayana

2008–2009 Season

• Temptation
• The Marriage of Figaro
• Crazyface

2007–2008 Season

• A Dream Play by August Strindberg adapted by Caryl Churchill
• The Arabian Nights by Mary Zimmerman
• The Good Woman of Setzuan
• The Oresteia

denotes world premiere

Grants

In September 2013, the American Theatre Wing (the founder of the Tony Awards) 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

See also

• Helen Hayes Award
• List of theaters in Washington, D.C.

References

1. "Source Rental". Cultural D.C. Archived from the original on 1 November 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
2. "Helen Hayes Awards: The John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company". www.abouttheartists.com. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
3. Jacobson, Louis (7 March 2012). "The D.C. theater scene". The Princeton Alumni Weekly. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
4. "Constellation Theatre announces 2024/25 season: 'Infinite Possibilities'". DC Theater Arts.
5. "Constellation Theatre Company Announces 2019-2020 Season". DC Theater Arts. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
6. Treanor, Lorraine. "Latest DC area theatre cancellations due to COVID-19". DCTheatreScene.com. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
7. Playtime for Grownups – 2015–2016 Season Mailing. Constellation Theatre Company. July 2015.
8. Treanor, Lorraine (21 June 2007). "A Dream Play". DCtheatrescene.com. Retrieved 7 May 2013.
9. Pressley, Nelson (6 October 2007). "Constellation Sparkles In 'Arabian Nights'". The Washington Post. Retrieved 7 May 2013.
10. Horwitz, Jane (April 9, 2008). "Bertolt Brecht's Human Touch Constellation's 'Good Woman of Setzuan' Isn't About Isms". The Washington Post. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
11. "AMERICAN THEATRE WING ANNOUNCES RECIPIENTS OF 2013 NATIONAL THEATRE COMPANY GRANTS". StageLight Magazine. 2013-09-03. Retrieved 2017-12-01.
12. "American Theatre Wing Reveals Recipients of 2013 National Theatre Company Grants". broadwayworld.com. 3 September 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
13. "Nominees & Recipients Database". Theatre Washington. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
14. Treanor, Loraine (2009-09-20). "Audience Choice Awards – 2008/09 Season". dctheatrescene.com. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
15. Treanor, Lorraine (2010-08-26). "Voting ends tonight for Audience Choice Awards". dctheatrescene. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
16. Treanor, Lorraine (2013-08-08). "Audience Choice Awards 2012–2013". DC Theatre Scene. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
17. "Theater Honoraria: Kendra Rai". pgfusa.com. Princess Grace Foundation-USA. Retrieved 21 August 2014.

• 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