Want to get your culture on this weekend? Our top pick again this week is “Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet” by Tarell Alvin McCraney, onstage at Actor’s Express through April 26. Also of note: a world premiere at Fern Theatre by Atlanta playwright Theroun D’Arcy Patterson and Theater Emory’s “Marisol,” featuring a mix of students and Atlanta pros (Danielle Deadwyler, Veronika Duerr, Brandon Connor Partrick), directed by David Crowe.
RECOMMENDED
Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet. THROUGH APRIL 26. Multi-award-winner Tarell Alvin McCraney (Choir Boy, In the Red and Brown Water), a MacArthur “genius” fellow and Alliance/Kendeda alum, is one of the best playwrights working in America today. In Marcus, part of his Brothers/Sisters trilogy, a young African-American discovers his sexual identity in the Louisiana bayou. Terry Guest is Marcus. Kennesaw State’s Karen Robinson directs. ArtsATL review HERE. 8 p.m. $26-$45. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.607.7469. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com. See what’s happening at the Express in 2015-16 in this ENCORE FEATURE. (Pictured: Terry Guest. Photo by BreeAnne Clowdus)
OPENING THIS WEEKEND
Edward Foote. THROUGH APRIL 19. The Alliance Theatre stages the world premiere of this Gothic murder mystery set to Appalachian folk songs and Shape Note singing by award-winning Atlanta writer Phillip DePoy. The cast: Jeremy Aggers (The Whipping Man); Lowery Brown (The Wizard of Oz); Steve Coulter (Aurora’s Underneath the Lintel, among many other credits); Ann Marie Gideon (The Geller Girls); Trevor Goble; Bethany Anne Lind (Carapace); and Hayley Platt (The Tall Girls). Chris Coleman, artistic director of Portland [Ore.] Center Stage and co-founder of Atlanta’s Actor’s Express, directs. $25 and up. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2:30 + 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 + 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Hertz Stage, Alliance Theatre, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
The Marriage of Figaro. OPENS SATURDAY | THROUGH APRIL 12. Mozart’s famous upstairs-downstairs comedy chases love, infidelity and redemption with servants Figaro and Susanna in the central roles. Stage director Tara Faircloth is making her Atlanta Opera debut. Sung in Italian with English supertitles. $26-$140. 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday; and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Atlanta Opera at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, Atlanta. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.881.8885.
The Wilderness. OPENS FRIDAY | THROUGH APRIL 19. World premiere. Anytime actor-turned-playwright Theroun D’Arcy Patterson (A Thousand Circlets, That Uganda Play) has a new work onstage, it’s worth taking note. This piece takes place in the wake of a traumatic event, when three women tumble into a world where the shadows of the past have grown legs, arms and teeth. Note: Contains partial nudity and adult situations. $15; $10 students. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sundays (except Easter). The Fern Theatre at 7 Stages (black box), 1107 Euclid Ave. N.E. Details, tickets HERE. (Pictured: Mary Saville)
Marisol. OPENS TONIGHT | THROUGH APRIL 12. David Crowe (Theatrical Outfit’s recent Silent Sky) directs this comic play – not comedy – from Oscar nominee and Obie Award winner José Rivera. This urban fantasia, set in post-apocalyptic New York, introduces Marisol Perez, a young Puerto Rican whose world is upside down because of a senile, inattentive God. “It’s about the dangers of extreme conservatism and the healing power of acceptance,” says Crowe. The cast, Theater Emory’s usual mix of students and pros, includes Danielle Deadwyler, Veronika Duerr and Brandon Connor Partrick. $20; $6 students. Post-show conversation Friday with director Crowe, on April 8 with the playwright. 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. Theater Emory at Emory’s Munroe Theatre in the Dobbs University Center, 605 Asbury Circle. Parking details HERE. Tickets at 404.727.5050.
LAST CHANCE
Stellaluna. CLOSES SATURDAY. Tears of Joy Theatre from Portland, Ore., uses rod and kite puppets to tell a story of bats and birds, set off when a baby fruit bat falls into a bird’s nest. Adapted from Janell Cannon’s children’s book. Recommended for ages 4 and up. $16.50; $9.25 members. 10 a.m. + 11:30 a.m. today-Friday; 11 a.m., 1 p.m. + 3 p.m. Saturday. Center for Puppetry Arts 1404 Spring St. N.W. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.873.3391.
NOW PLAYING
The Explorer’s Club. THROUGH APRIL 19. Aurora Theatre goes madcap with this romp juxtaposing feminine ideals and the strait-laced backdrop of 19th-century Britain. Courtney Patterson, a Georgia Shakespeare and Alliance Theatre regular, plays Phyllida-Spotte Hume, leading a nine-person cast that includes Steve Hudson, Chris Kayser, Tony Larkin, Al Stilo and Jacob York. ArtsATL review HERE. AJC review HERE. $20-$40. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 2:30 + 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Additional show at 10 a.m. April 15 ($16). 128 E. Pike St., Lawrenceville. Free, covered, lighted parking in city deck at 153 E. Crogan St., Lawrenceville. Details, tickets HERE or at 678.226.6222.
Grand Concourse. THROUGH APRIL 26. At Horizon Theatre. This comic-drama, set in an urban soup kitchen, is described as “insightful, with a moving, even shocking epiphany” by the Huffington Post. The cast: Horizon regular Maria Rodriguez-Sager, Allan Edwards, Alexandra Ficken and Evan Cleaver. The playwright is Heidi Schreck (TV’s “Nurse Jackie”). $20-$30. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3 + 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and 5 p.m. Sunday. 1083 Austin Ave. N.E. Details, tickets at HERE or at 404.584.7450.
Man of La Mancha. THROUGH APRIL 11. Serenbe Playhouse tells the tale of Don Quixote, that famous fighter of windmills and defender of virtuous women. Performed outdoors. The Tony Award-winning 1965 musical features such songs as “I, Don Quixote,” “Knight of the Woeful Countenance” and “The Impossible Dream.” Bryant Smith (Oklahoma!) is Don Quixote. Laura Floyd Wood is Aldonza/Dulcinea. AJC review HERE. $30; $25 students. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday. 910 Selborne Lane in Chattahoochee Hills. Directions and parking HERE. Show details, tickets HERE or at 770.463.1110. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com. (Pictured: Floyd Wood, left, and Smith. Photo by BreeAnne Clowdus)
NEXT WEEK
Emanuel Ax Plays Mozart. APRIL 9, 11-12. Emanuel Ax, one of the world’s most sought-after soloists, joins the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 4. Also on the program: Weber’s Overture to Die Freischutz and Schumann’s Symphony No. 4. French conductor Lionel Bringuier is on the podium. $24-$99. Atlanta Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
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Kathy Janich, Encore Atlanta’s managing editor, has been seeing, working in or writing about the performing arts for most of her life. Please email: kathy@encoreatlanta.com.
