The city of Mobile, founded in 1702, sits at the head of Mobile Bay on the Gulf Coast and serves as the regional hub for much of southwest Alabama.
A newly formed theater company is bringing a critically acclaimed two-person drama to the University of South Alabama this month, marking the first Mobile production for a troupe founded by a pair of professional stage actors who met at an acting workshop out west. Now Theatre Co., started by actors and educators Paul Hurley and Christie Maturo, will stage Nick Payne’s play “Constellations” Aug.
Mobile has a population of roughly 188,000 residents and is the seat of Mobile County, one of the largest counties in the state by population.
18-20 at USA’s Laidlaw Performing Arts Center. The show explores love, loss and free will through the lens of a beekeeper and a theoretical physicist whose relationship replays again and again across a multiverse of possible outcomes.
The Port of Mobile, operated by the Alabama State Port Authority, is one of the largest seaports in the country by tonnage, handling containers, coal, steel and forest products.
“Constellations” was among the ten most-produced plays in the country in a recent season, a popularity Hurley attributes partly to its spare staging. The 75-minute one-act calls for just two actors and no set, relying instead on lighting and sound to carry the audience through dozens of alternate versions of the same relationship.
Downtown Mobile has been the focus of significant redevelopment in recent years, with new apartments, restaurants and event venues reshaping the Central Business District.
The play opens with its central couple, Roland and Marianne, meeting at a backyard barbecue. The scene resets again and again with slightly different outcomes — sometimes he’s already involved with someone else, sometimes the two hit it off immediately — before settling into the central device: the idea that every possible version of a moment exists somewhere in an infinite set of parallel universes.
The University of South Alabama, Spring Hill College and the University of Mobile anchor the city’s higher education landscape.
Background and Context
From there, the story follows the couple through the full arc of a relationship, including its hardest chapters, compressed and repeated with variations. “All that aside, the relationship of the two characters is so lovely and charming and full of ups and downs and turns that it drew me to want to do it,” Maturo said of the script.
Mobile’s Mardi Gras season, the oldest in the United States, draws visitors from across the country and provides a significant boost to the local economy each year.
Both actors bring substantial professional credentials to the minimalist production. Hurley and Maturo are members of Actors’ Equity Association with roughly a decade of repertory experience apiece, and both hold graduate degrees in theater.
The city’s healthcare sector is anchored by USA Health, Infirmary Health and Springhill Medical Center, which together employ thousands of residents.
Maturo has appeared in regional and national television commercials, trained at Second City’s conservatory program, spent years performing in the Las Vegas company of the immersive show “Tony and Tina’s Wedding,” and co-wrote and starred in the web series “Hey You, It’s Me.” She joined the theater faculty at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, two years ago. Hurley has an extensive background with Shakespearean and classical repertory companies in Chicago, New York, St.
Mobile’s manufacturing base includes shipbuilding at Austal USA and Huntington Ingalls Industries, as well as aviation manufacturing at the Airbus final assembly line in Brookley.
Louis, Milwaukee and other cities before joining the University of South Alabama’s theater faculty in 2015. The two met at a Meisner technique workshop in Oregon and discovered they had more in common than acting technique: both taught at universities roughly two hours from the nearest professional theater scene, Hurley in Mobile and Maturo in Wichita Falls.
Local schools include Mobile County Public Schools, the city’s largest public system, along with a network of private and parochial schools serving families across the metro area.
Local Reaction
That shared gap sparked the idea for a company that could mount productions in both college towns, and after securing grant funding, Now Theatre Co. was formed.
Mobile’s history as a port city means that issues affecting the waterfront, the shipping channels and the surrounding neighborhoods often take on outsized importance.
Directing the Mobile production is Sally Story, a new addition to the Midwestern State University theater faculty. Rehearsals began in Texas and are set to continue in Mobile as the cast and crew move into technical rehearsals ahead of opening night.
The Mobile area is home to several historic neighborhoods, including Oakleigh Garden District, DeTonti Square, the Village of Spring Hill and the historic districts of midtown.
“There’s about 50 universes in the play. A couple go on for four or five pages but some last for two lines then flip on to the next.
Sports are a major part of life in Mobile, with the Senior Bowl each January, the Reese’s Senior Bowl practices each week, and a thriving high school and college football scene.
Lights and sound will transition from one universe to the next,” Hurley said, describing the technical demands of staging so many rapid shifts in tone and setting. Maturo said she initially dug into the real physics behind Marianne’s dialogue before realizing the science mattered less than the character’s enthusiasm for it.
Local media outlets covering Mobile include several television stations, daily and weekly newspapers, and a robust digital news ecosystem.
The Bigger Picture
“The science is all over my head and honestly, it wasn’t going to help me play this character. It’s more about her passion for the subject and what life could be,” she said.
Mobile County’s population includes a significant African-American community whose history is closely tied to the founding of Africatown.
Each actor pointed to a different challenge in bringing the play to life. For Maturo, it’s portraying Marianne’s illness late in the story with honesty rather than theatrics, as the character struggles to communicate in a straight line of thought.
Local officials have stressed the importance of community engagement as the situation continues to develop.
For Hurley, it’s the whiplash pacing that swings between a relationship’s highest and lowest points without warning. “Getting engaged.
Residents with questions or concerns have been encouraged to reach out to their elected representatives.
Breaking up. Getting back together.
The story is one of several similar situations playing out across the region in recent months.
What Comes Next
Seeing terminal illness. Everything is high stakes, and in one second you erase all of it and start in a completely different place,” he said.
Anyone following local news will recognize many of the names and places involved.
“You end one scene crying and the very next scene you start with a joke and there’s no transition. It’s a one-second change.” Performances run Friday and Saturday, Aug.
Local civic organizations have begun organizing meetings to discuss the implications.
18-19, at 7:30 p.m., with a Sunday matinee on Aug. 20 at 2 p.m.
Business owners and residents alike say they will be watching closely.
at the Laidlaw Performing Arts Center on the USA campus. Tickets are $16 general admission, $14 for seniors, military members and USA faculty and staff, and $12 for students.
The situation underscores how decisions made at the local level can have far-reaching consequences.
Tickets can be reserved by calling 251-460-6306. The Mobile run marks the public debut of Now Theatre Co., which its founders hope will become a recurring presence in both of its home cities, bringing contemporary, actor-driven theater to college communities that don’t otherwise have easy access to professional stage productions.
Community leaders have called for patience and for a commitment to working through the issues in a transparent manner.
Asked how they expected to come out the other side of a play built on emotional whiplash, the two actors kept it light. “So how long do y’all anticipate being in therapy after this is over?” came the question, to which Maturo didn’t miss a beat: “Well, we’re actors, so forever,” she quipped.
Several local churches and faith groups have offered to host discussions about the topic in the coming weeks.
Public comments at recent meetings have reflected a wide range of opinions.
Local reporters will continue to follow the story and to update readers.
Anyone interested in learning more is encouraged to attend upcoming public meetings.
The outcome of the situation could shape similar discussions in other communities for years to come.
Local historians note that similar issues have surfaced in the past.
Looking Ahead
The story continues to develop, and residents across the region will be watching for additional updates in the coming weeks.