Lights Up, Darling

By Nick Payne
Co-directed by Jay Españo and Amber Mandley
November 13 – December 13, 2026
Hoover-Leppen Theatre at Center on Halsted

The multiverse just got more queer.

For more than a decade, this love story has been told one way, a man and a woman. PrideArts has permission to tell it another way: as a same-sex love story, performed twice, by a male-male cast and a female-female cast, alternating performances under a male-female directing team.

The Play

What if you could live your love story again and again, and every version was different?

Marianne is a physicist who spends her days thinking about the structure of the universe. Roland is a beekeeper who trusts what he can see and touch. They meet at a barbecue. Or they meet and it goes nowhere. Or they meet and it goes everywhere.

That's the engine of Nick Payne's CONSTELLATIONS. The same scenes return again and again, each time with a small change: a different word, a different mood, a different choice. Same two people. Infinite first dates. Sometimes it's instant chemistry. Sometimes it's an awkward flop. Sometimes it's a betrayal, a diagnosis, a door closing for good.

Layer by layer, the play builds a portrait of one relationship across every way it could have gone. Along the way it asks the questions we all ask about our own lives. How much is chance? How much is choice? One tiny shift can mean the difference between a lifetime and a goodbye.

Playful, brainy, and deeply moving, CONSTELLATIONS is a love story told the way love feels: replayed, rewritten, and impossible to pin down.

A Bigger Universe

Payne wrote CONSTELLATIONS for a man and a woman. That is how it premiered in London in 2012, how it reached Broadway in 2015, and how most audiences have seen it since.

PrideArts is taking the idea of the multiverse literally. In this production, the love story plays out in two parallel versions:

• A male-male cast: Jay Españo as Manuel and Skyler Tipton as Roland

• A female-female cast: Shannon Bachelder as Marianne and Hannah Green as Rona

The two casts alternate performances, so no two audiences see exactly the same show. The production is co-directed by a male-female team: PrideArts Artistic Director Jay Españo and Managing Director Amber Mandley. It builds on a 2021 London revival that paired an all-male cast with male-female casts, and goes a step further with two same-sex casts and a mixed-gender directing team.

Because the play is about how many versions of a love story can exist, this version belongs on stage. Come see one cast, or come back and see the other.

REGULAR PERFORMANCES
Dates: November 13- December 13, 2026
Location: Hoover-Leppen Theatre at Center on Halsted
3656 N. Halsted, Chicago, IL

Tickets: $35 regular performances
$5 off for seniors and students

The Company

The Male Cast

Jay Españo (Manuel; Co-Director) is PrideArts' Artistic Director. His many directing credits with PrideArts include A NEW BRAIN and [TITLE OF SHOW]. His acting credits include the King in THE KING AND I, Felicia in PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT, and a three-week run in Lonnie Carter's THE ROMANCE OF MAGNO RUBIO for Theater Alaska in Juneau, AK.

Skyler Tipton (Roland) played Peter Bell in CHANGING CHANNELS for City Lit Theater and Conor in ADVANCE MAN with Strawdog Theatre Company in 2026.

The Female Cast

Shannon Bachelder (Marianne) has been seen on Chicago stages in POTUS, OR BEHIND EVERY GREAT DUMBASS ARE SEVEN WOMEN TRYING TO KEEP HIM ALIVE with Towle Theatre and A BRIGHT ROOM CALLED DAY with Blank Theatre Company.

Hannah Green (Rona) recently appeared in FIVE WOMEN WEARING THE SAME DRESS for St Sebastian Players.

Co-Director

Amber Mandley is PrideArts' Managing Director.

Understudies

Myles Mathews (Manuel), Brenden Zwiebel (Roland), Elyssa Treviño (Marianne), Maren Rosenberg (Rona)

Production Team

Scenic Designer: Devin Meseke
Costume Designer: Molly Marie McBride
Lighting Designer: Emma Berry
Sound Designer: Ian Zempel
Projections Designer: Jason Woodworth-Hou
Intimacy Coordinator: Paulina Martz
Technical Director: Hailey Blakckstone
Dialect Coach: Nilufar Zaifi
ASL Consultant: Abigail Vogeler
Lead Electrician: Jay Sanders
Stage Manager: Claire McLewin