Looking for something cultural to do this weekend and beyond? Here are Encore Atlanta’s recommendations (in alphabetical order). Pictured: Theatre du Reve’s “The Red Balloon.”
Avenue Q. See it! This 2004 Tony Award-winning best musical is back at Horizon Theatre by popular demand. Ten hard-working actors sing funny songs and say dirty words. Adults only. Winner of seven 2011-12 Suzi Bass Atlanta theater awards. Through March 11. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3 and 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and 5 p.m. Sunday. $20-$50. tickets.horizontheatre.com. 404.584.7450.
A Body of Water. Reviews have been mixed but any time Tess Malis Kincaid is onstage, I’m there. This 2005 mystery by Lee Blessing (A Walk in the Woods, Eleemosynary) is at Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville. Through Feb. 12. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. $20-$30. Selling well, so please call ahead. 678.226.6222.
God of Carnage. Final three performances. This dark Tony Award-winning comedy by Yasmina Reza has folks talking. Jasmine Guy leads the Alliance Theatre’s four-actor cast battling it out in a wildly emotional 80-minute sprint about parenting and personal responsibility. 8 p.m. Friday; 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday. $20-$50. alliancetheatre.org, 404.733.5000.
Memphis. Final five performances. Good notices have accompanied this musical, the 2010 Tony Award winner now at the Fox Theatre. The story, played out to a rock ‘n’ roll backbeat, concerns a white radio DJ who wants to change the world, and the black club singer ready for her big break. 8 tonight; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. $39-$77. Ticketmaster.
Next Fall. Religion and relationships clash in this Gregory Nauffts drama onstage at Actor’s Express. The New York Times called it “smart, sensitive and utterly contemporary.” Mitchell Anderson and Joe Sykes play the couple in conflict. Through Feb. 11. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. $25-$30. www.actors-express.com, 404.607.7469. Visit
Ravel, Beethoven & Dvorak. Soloist Gabriela Montero, an “extraordinary improviser,” according to The New York Times, makes her Atlanta Symphony Orchestra debut with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Also on the program: Ravel’s “Mother Goose Suite” and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8. At 8 tonight and Saturday. Symphony Hall at the Woodruff Arts Center. $21-$79. www.atlantasymphony.org. 404.733.4900.
Red. Opening weekend. Another Tony winner, in 2010 for best play. Step inside the world of enigmatic painter Mark Rothko, a 1960s modernist who turned the art world on its ear with his attitude and talent. Early buzz on this Theatrical Outfit two-hander with Tom Key and Jimi Kocina, is rave-ish. Through March 11. $15 – $35. For tickets: theatricaloutfit.org or 877.725.8849. Visit POSHdealz.com for ticket discounts.
The Red Balloon. This story of magic, childhood and friendship (pictured above) is back by popular demand at Theatre du Reve, Atlanta’s small but fierce French-language company. Based on the 1956 movie many of us saw in grade school. Told in French and English with human actors, puppets and live music. Appropriate for families. At 7 Stages Backstage Theatre in Little Five Points. 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday; 8 p.m. Feb. 10; 3 and 8 p.m. Feb. 11; and 3 p.m. Feb. 12. $30; discounts for students and senior citizens. Selling well, so please call ahead. $20-$30. 678.226.6222. Info: TdRcontact@gmail.com, 404.875.3829.
The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls. By Meg Miroshnik. This year’s winner of the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, tells the story of 20-year-old Annie, an American in Moscow in search of her roots. The trip is a fairy tale come true — in more than one way, hint, hint. Recommended for ninth-graders and up. Through Feb. 26 on the Alliance Theatre’s Hertz Stage. In previews: 8 tonight and Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday; and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Opens at 8 p.m. Wednesday. $30. Visit the website for half-price tickets to the Super Bowl Sunday show. alliancetheatre.org, 404.733.5000. Related story: How Kendeda works.
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Kathy Janich has been seeing, writing about or working in theatre and the performing arts for most of her life. She spent 25 years in daily newspapers and was most recently on staff at Atlanta’s smart, bold and gutsy Synchronicity Theatre.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, or at least in the Top 5. And we’re not talking about the Super Bowl.
February means Kendeda season at the Alliance Theatre, when five newly minted playwrights share their work with the rest of the world. It’s exciting, nerve-racking, wondrous and mostly free.
Officially, it’s called the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition. The program, one of Alliance Artistic Director Susan V. Booth’s brightest ideas, began in 2003 as a way to showcase young talent and bridge the often decade-long gap between the time playwrights leave graduate school and the time they land their first productions on a national stage.
Each year students from 30 or so graduate playwriting programs submit a piece for consideration. Alliance readers select a pool of finalists. These plays are then read by three theater artists with national reputations. A winner and three runners-up are named.
The winner’s play goes into the Alliance season, gets the full complement of professional actors, designers and director, and a three-week run on the 200-seat Hertz Stage. The runners-up each receive a staged reading.
This year’s winner, The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls by Meg Miroshnik (Yale School of Drama), is a fable for adults featuring 20-year-old Annie, an American in Moscow in search of her roots. The trip is a fairy tale — until the lines between Russian folk stories and Annie’s reality start to blur. (Recommended for ninth-graders and up. Previews Feb. 3-5 and 7. Opens Feb. 8. Runs through Feb. 26. $30. Visit the website for $15 seats on Super Bowl Sunday. alliancetheatre.org, 404.733.5000.)
The rest of the fun starts Monday afternoon with the first of the four readings. All are free and in the Black Box Theatre on the third floor of the Woodruff Arts Center. The acting pool is generally top-notch, pulling from among the best in Atlanta. Dessert is even served at afternoon sessions. Reservations required via the Alliance box office or at 404.733.5000.
Why should you go? It’s a chance to see exciting new work before anyone else does, and it’s amazing to see how polished actors can be with just a few hours of rehearsal. Your opinion counts, too. Stay for the post-show discussions; the playwrights — American theater’s best and brightest — take your feedback seriously when they go back to polish their plays. And if you hit the afternoon sessions, there’s always the free dessert. The lineup:
Monday
2:30 p.m.: Reading of Shoe Story by Ben Snyder (University of Texas at Austin and a Juilliard Graduate Playwriting Fellow). An urban fairy tale about love, loss and the metaphysical significance of a free pair of kicks. Directed by Kate Warner, formerly of Atlanta’s Dad’s Garage Theatre Company and the New Repertory Theatre in Massachusetts. Dessert provided. Discussion follows.
5:30 p.m.: A conversation with playwright Meg Miroshnik, this year’s winner. No reservation needed.
7 p.m.: Reading of We Fight to Die by Tim Guillot (Catholic University in Washington, D.C.). A pack of urban poets, echoing the worlds of hip-hop, spoken word and Greek myth, tell the story of graffiti artist Q, who has transfixed the city with his work. When caught by the police, he must license his talents to the government to avoid jail. Directed by Adam Fristoe, co-artistic director of Out of Hand Theater. Discussion follows.
Tuesday
2:30 p.m.: Reading of Whales by Bob Bartlett (Catholic University). Owen — a typical urban14-year-old — isn’t interested in getting to know his estranged gay father and even less interested in the secluded Outer Banks beach where Dad lives. Then an injured whale awakens his forgotten connection with the sea. Directed by Lisa Adler, co-artistic producing director at Horizon Theatre. Dessert provided. Discussion follows.
7 p.m.: Reading of Lost Cause by Alexander Maggio (UCLA). A Dartmouth freshman named Shawn has a crush on Gillian, his debate partner. Gillian is into Conor, a hard-core Confederate re-enactor. She convinces Shawn to accompany her to the Battle of Bentonville State Historic Site. There’s just one problem: Shawn is black. Directed by David DeVries. Discussion follows with the playwright and director, Alliance Theatre Artistic Director Susan Booth, Alliance Theatre Artist in Dialogue Pearl Cleage and others.
Kathy Janich, Encore Atlanta’s managing editor, has seen, edited or written about, or worked in the performing arts for most of her life. She spent 25 years in daily newspapers and was most recently on staff at Atlanta’s smart, bold and gutsy Synchronicity Theatre. She can be reached at kathy@encoreatlanta.com.
Real-life husband and wife Tess Malis Kincaid and Mark Kincaid in "A Body of Water" at Aurora Theatre. (Photo by Chris Bartelski)
Looking for something cultural to do this weekend (and beyond)? Here are Encore Atlanta’s recommendations, in alphabetical order. Compiled by Managing Editor Kathy Janich.
Avenue Q. Extended at Horizon Theatre! This 2004 Tony Award winner asks “What Do You Do With a B.A. in English?” and unabashedly asserts that “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” and “The Internet Is for Porn.” All with puppets, video and 10 actors with Energizer Bunny stamina. Winner of seven 2011-12 Suzi Bass Awards (Atlanta’s Tonys) including best musical. Be warned: It’s definitely adults-only fare and still might not be to everyone’s taste (their loss). Extended, for a second time, through March 11. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3 and 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and 5 p.m. Sunday. $20-$50. tickets.horizontheatre.com. 404.584.7450.
A Body of Water. Reviews have been mixed but you should decide for yourself. Anytime Suzi Award winner Tess Malis Kincaid is onstage, it’s time to see some theater! Her husband, Mark Kincaid, and Cara Mantella complete the cast of this three-hander, a 2005 mystery by Lee Blessing (A Walk in the Woods, Eleemosynary) now at Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville. Through Feb. 12. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Some performances are already sold out, so please call ahead. $20-$30. 678.226.6222.
God of Carnage. Plenty of folks are crazy about this Tony Award-winning black comedy by Yasmina Reza, now at the Alliance Theatre. Jasmine Guy, Keith Randolph Smith, Crystal Fox and Geoffrey Darnell Williams battle it out in this wildly emotional 80-minute sprint about parenting and personal responsibility. Of note: This is the first Carnage production in the country to be done with African-American actors. Through Feb. 4 at the Alliance. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. $20-$50. alliancetheatre.org. 404.733.5000.
The Ladies Man. Over-the-top, chaotic and funny. It’s farce, after all. Charles Morey adapts a Georges Feydeau piece about a husband’s efforts to deny himself a visit to the Moulin Rouge. And the shenanigans begin. Recommendable on the strength of its cast alone, including Andrew Benator, Veronika Duerr, Andrea Frye, Chris Kayser and Enoch King. Through Feb. 26 at Theatre in the Square in Marietta. 8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; 2:30 and 7 p.m. Sunday (no evening show Feb. 19). Also 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 15. $24-$33. 770.422.8369, Ext.10.
Mahler’s “Resurrection.” Only one performance left. Considered, along with Symphony No. 8, to be the composer’s most popular and successful works during his lifetime. It was inspired by the death of his friend and colleague Hans von Bulow and became the first major work to mark Mahler’s lifelong view of the beauty of the afterlife. Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles leads the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in the 90-minute piece, with soprano Nicole Cabell and mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor as soloists. 8 p.m. Saturday. Symphony Hall at the Woodruff Arts Center. $21-$79. www.atlantasymphony.org. 404.733.4900.
Next Fall. A drama about religion and relationships with a first-rate cast of Atlanta actors: Mitchell Anderson, John Benzinger, Patricia French, Jennifer Levison, William S. Murphey and Joe Sykes. The 2009 off-Broadway play moved to Broadway in 2010 and is now at Actor’s Express. The New York Times called it “smart, sensitive and utterly contemporary.” Through Feb. 11. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. $25-$30. www.actors-express.com, 404.607.7469. Visit POSHdealz.com for ticket discounts.
Opening Jan. 31: Memphis at the Fox Theatre. The 2010 Tony Award-winning best musical runs through Feb. 5. The story, played out to a rock ‘n’ roll backbeat, concerns a white radio DJ who wants to change the world, and the black club singer ready for her big break. $39-$77.
In previews: Red, the story of 1960s modernist painter Mark Rothko, at Theatrical Outfit. Opens Feb. 4 and already extended through March 11. Tom Key plays Rothko, Jimi Kocina is his young assistant. Tickets. 877.725.8849. Visit POSHdealz.com for ticket discounts.
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Kathy Janich has been seeing, editing and writing about or working in the performing arts for most of her life. She spent 25 years in daily newspapers and was most recently on staff at Atlanta’s smart, bold and gutsy Synchronicity Theatre.
This feature is new to Encore Atlanta. Let us know how you like it.
In brief: Nick, 26, won the 2011 Suzi Award (Atlanta’s version of Broadway’s Tonys) as best actor in a musical for his performance as Princeton in the irreverent Avenue Q at Horizon Theatre. He and the rest of the Q‘ers are back onstage by popular demand through March 11. Horizon Theatre. 404.584.7450.
It’s pronounced: Air-ah-POE-glue.
Hometown: Huntington, Long Island, N.Y.
Where you’ve seen him: Onstage as the Elvis-loving Nelson in End Days at Horizon; Spring Awakening at Actor’s Express; and Academy the Musical and The Storytelling Ability of a Boy (Suzi nomination) at Aurora Theatre. He’s also performed at Theatre in the Square, Theatrical Outfit, Synchronicity Theatre and the Alliance Theatre. Also, on television as Fashion School Kid in VH1’s “Single Ladies.”
Commercially speaking: His face is everywhere. He’s done TV spots for Gas South (Thank You Man), SunTrust Bank (Coffee Cashier), Moe’s (Guacamole Victim) as well as Ford College Football, NASCAR, Duke Energy, Chick-fil-A, Georgia Coffee, Blackberry and Fed Ex.
First time onstage: Third grade. As the Big Bad Wolf in Little Red Riding Hood.
Why theater: A bone disease in middle school made sports, his passion then, off limits. He’d never done any organized singing or theater, but a friend suggested he audition for the musical Peter Pan. He was cast as Captain Hook because, he says, he was the only guy whose voice had dropped.
Dream role: Tony in West Side Story. “I don’t think I will ever possess the dance skills for it.”
Parting shot: Through his stage and film work, he’s been able to become a full-time actor. No more “would you like that triple grande mocha hot or iced?”
Kathy Janich, Encore Atlanta’s managing editor, has been seeing, editing, writing about or working in the performing arts for most of her life. She spent 25 years in daily newspapers and was most recently on staff at Atlanta’s smart, bold and gutsy Synchronicity Theatre. To suggest someone for this column, please email kathy@encoreatlanta.com.
The cast of "Avenue Q" at Horizon Theatre (from left) Spencer G. Stephens, Matt Nitchie, Mary Nye Bennett, Leslie W. Bellair, Nick Arapoglou.
Looking for something cultural to do this weekend? Here are Encore Atlanta’s recommendations, compiled by Managing Editor Kathy Janich.
Annie. Final weekend. Take the kids for the orphans and the dog, then settle in and watch the grown-ups go to work. Sally Struthers, who was singing and dancing long before she played Archie Bunker’s cutie-pie daughter on “All in the Family,” lets loose her comic timing as Miss Hannigan. Broadway regular Brad Oscar (The Producers, Spamalot, The Addams Family) balds it up as Daddy Warbucks. At 35, Annie simply works. It’s timeless, timely, tuneful and well-written. Fox Theatre. 8 p.m. Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 1:30 p.m. Sunday. $25-$65. www.ticketmaster.com.
Avenue Q. They’re ba-a-a-a-ck!! Those politically incorrect, hilarious slackers from the wrong part of New York City return to Horizon Theatre with their songs, sad stories and puppetry high jinks. This Tony Award-winning musical, first seen at Horizon last summer, won seven 2011-12 Suzi Bass Awards (Atlanta’s version of the Tony Awards) including best musical, lead actor (Nick Arapoglou) and featured actress (Leslie W. Bellair). Performances are selling out, so don’t delay — and don’t bring the kids. Even though Q has puppets, it’s strictly for adults. Through Feb. 26. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3 and 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and 5 p.m. Sunday. $20-$50. tickets.horizontheatre.com, 404.584.7450.
Beethoven and Britten. Donald Runnicles, who just re-upped for another two years as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s principal guest conductor, makes his season debut. The program: “Eroica,” aka Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Opus 55, and Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto, Opus 15. Britten, a central figure in 20th-century British classical music, composed orchestral, choral, solo vocal, chamber, instrumental and film music. The Britten Concerto spotlights Canadian violinist James Ehnes, described by The Guardian as “hair-raisingly virtuosic.” 8 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Symphony Hall at the Woodruff Arts Center. $21-$79. www.atlantasymphony.org. 404.733.4900.
A Body of Water. Opening weekend. There are two big reasons to see this 2005 Lee Blessing mystery at Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville: Tess Malis Kincaid and Mark Kincaid. Yes, they’re married. Yes, to each other. And both are terrific actors. She won the 2011-12 Suzi Bass Award for lead actress in a play for her searing performance as a put-upon daughter/wife in August: Osage County at the Alliance Theatre. He’s been seen locally at the Alliance, Theatre in the Square, Actor’s Express and at some of the top regional theaters in the country. Last summer, he played the title role in SHIPWRECKED! The Amazing Adventures of Louis De Rougement at upstart Serenbe Playhouse. Through Feb. 12. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Some performances are already sold out, so call ahead. Tickets: $20-$30. 678.226.6222.
God of Carnage. Plenty of folks are wild about this Tony Award-winning comedy, now at the Alliance Theatre. It’s already been extended — and it just opened! Jasmine Guy (in the role that brought Marcia Gay Harden a Tony Award), Keith Randolph Smith, Crystal Fox and Geoffrey Darnell Williams battle it out in Yasmina Reza’s wildly emotional 80-minute sprint about the ongoing adventure of parenting and taking responsibility for our actions. The movie version, titled Carnage, is in theaters now with Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly and Christoph Waltz. Have yourself a weekend and do a double dip. Through Feb. 4 at the Alliance. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. $20-$50. alliancetheatre.org, 404.733.5000.
Next Fall. A drama about religion and relationships with a first-rate cast of Atlanta actors: Mitchell Anderson, John Benzinger, Patricia French, Jennifer Levison, William S. Murphey and Joe Sykes. The 2009 off-Broadway play moved to Broadway in 2010 and is now at Actor’s Express. The New York Times called the Geoffrey Nauffts piece “smart, sensitive and utterly contemporary.” Through Feb. 11. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. $25-$30. www.actors-express.com, 404.607.7469
Kathy Janich has been seeing, editing, writing about or working in the theater and performing arts for most of her life. She spent 25 years in daily newspapers and was most recently on staff at Atlanta’s smart, bold and gutsy Synchronicity Theatre.
Playwright Megan Gogerty intended to have a very serious writing career.
Her controversial musical Love Jerry, which dealt with a pattern of child abuse within a family, was produced at Atlanta’s Actor’s Express and the New York Musical Theatre Festival to critical acclaim. She’s written other full-length plays that have received honors and workshops, too.
But she’s always had a goofy side, as illustrated by the tribute albums she’s made, dedicated to defunct TV shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Firefly.”
It’s that blend of quirky humor backed up with serious writing chops displayed in December in Synchronicity Theatre’s Feet First in the Water With a Baby in My Teeth, recently named one of the Top 10 shows of 2011 by Creative Loafing’s Curt Holman. Gogerty wrote and acted in the one-woman show about the intense emotional highs and occasional humiliations women endure in the name of motherhood.
“In college, I did a lot of monologue stuff, but I got away from it in my 20s,” Gogerty says, “because I was going to focus on more serious plays.” But when her hometown theater, Iowa City’s Riverside Theatre, asked if she had a monologue she’d like to perform in a short-works festival, she jumped at the chance.
The only problem was they wanted her to perform in February, the same month she was due to give birth. “They said, ‘It’ll be fine,’” she says, laughing. “So I got onstage for the first time in 10 years 11 days after giving birth.”
Her husband, with sleeping baby in tow, would drop her off at the stage door at 9 p.m. and then start driving around the block. By 9:15 p.m., she was onstage. At 9:30, she was taking her curtain call. Then she would race from the stage door to the car and head home, exhausted but exhilarated. Her piece about Hillary Clinton killed every night. “It went over like gangbusters because the Iowa caucus had happened the week prior and everyone had a Hillary Clinton story,” Gogerty says.
It was so popular that the theater asked her to create a one-woman show around it for their upcoming season. Gogerty remembers: “They said, ‘What do you have?’ I said, ‘I have a drawer full of monologues.’ They said, ‘Give us a title, and we’ll give you two weeks.’” She took some material about her post-Sept. 11 political awakening, mixed in some stories about getting pregnant and poof: Hillary Clinton Got Me Pregnant was birthed.
It was a phenomenal success. “It was the first show in their 30-year history that sold out before it opened,” Gogerty says. “Their marketing was basically: ‘Remember that woman who did that thing about Hillary Clinton? Well the whole play is basically that.’ ”
Despite the enthusiastic response, Gogerty still felt she should spend her time writing more “serious” plays. Then she went to Atlanta to perform Hillary Clinton with Synchronicity Theatre and realized that what she was experiencing might not be a fluke.
“I started thinking that maybe I should be doing monologue plays,” Gogerty says. She knew the other plays were OK and that people liked them, but people loved the monologue plays. And she enjoyed performing again. “It allows me to cut out the middle man and connect directly with the audience,” she explains.
She asked her mentor, playwright Sherry Kramer, if it would be crazy for her to focus more on solo work. Kramer, who’s known Gogerty for nearly 20 years, replied: “Look, you’re a fine playwright. But there are a lot of fine playwrights in the world. Not everybody can do this, but you can — really well. So why don’t you play to your strengths?”
For Gogerty, that was a revelation. She started work on another one-woman show and pitched it to Riverside Theatre. They told her they’d like to open their season with it. When she asked if they’d like to read it first, they said “No.” “No other theater supports me like they do,” she says. “I’m very lucky.”
Because she felt Hillary Clinton was kind of “slapdash,” she called in longtime collaborator Alexis Chamow to help direct and shape the piece. They workshopped the play, Feet First in the Water With a Baby in My Teeth, at the Pasadena Playhouse. This year, Synchronicity and Riverside joined forces to give the show a joint world premiere.
Here’s some audience reactions from the opening night in Atlanta earlier this month.
And here’s Gogerty’s review of the show.
“The play is semi-autobiographical, which means that everything is true and some of the things actually happened,” Gogerty says, laughing again. “And I have no idea what I’ll write next.”
For more information or to purchase tickets, go to synchrotheatre.com.
If you enjoy Broadway Across America – Atlanta shows, you should thank Fifth Third Bank. The financial services company is the title sponsor for the 2011-2012 Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Atlanta season, which kicked off with last month’s Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical and included special showings of Wicked and Mamma Mia! this fall.
“We are thrilled to partner with Broadway Across America,” said Randy Koporc, Fifth Third Georgia president. “We are committed to supporting our communities and look forward to helping bring such a strong cultural asset to Atlanta and the surrounding areas.”
The season continues in January with a combination of new musicals, classic shows and crowd favorites. Upcoming shows at the Fox Theatre include:
- Memphis: Jan. 31-Feb. 5
- Billy Elliot the Musical: March 13-18
- Les Misérables: April 24-29
- Jersey Boys: May 22-June 10
For more information about Fifth Third Bank, visit 53.com. To purchase tickets or read more about the Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Atlanta shows, go to BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com.
A Southern child who blossomed during the civil rights era, Hoy Kersh always had rebellious tendencies. That’s why her parents encouraged her to move North when she was just a teenager in the 1950s. “I was too vocal,” she explains. “They had begun to burn houses.”
The 70-year-old grandmother recently wrote an autobiography, A Suitcase Full of Dreams, about the Jim Crow South of the 1940s and 50s. She planned to immediately write a sequel called The Bus Ride about her political awakening, the beauty of nonviolent protests and the end of segregation.
Then Occupy Wall Street began. The spontaneous uprisings that followed reminded her of the protests of her youth. “The politics of today really jumped into my book,” Kersh says. She began interviewing Vietnam vets and inner-city gangmembers. She grabbed a film camera and started documenting Occupy protests happening around the country. She talked with a lot of people who don’t feel like they have options or a future. And that reminded her a lot of the people she knew, growing up.
“That’s why I say slavery’s not dead yet,” Kersh says. “We’ve gained a lot materially and lost a lot spiritually. Back then, there was a chance that if you went to college, you’d get a job. That’s not the case now.” And, she points out, modern slavery is not dictated by skin color, it’s about who has the money.
A Suitcase Full of Dreams begins with a lynch mob scene, one that drove Kersh and her family out of their home. By the time the slender novel ends, she’s been kicked out of school, has survived a rough home life and is 16, headed to a big city in the North to become, she hopes, a great writer like Langston Hughes.
Of course, her life didn’t end there. She discovered that segregation existed even in Chicago (this was, after all, the 1950s). She married (badly, she says), had three kids, two jobs and led a kind of dead-end life. Then she had a random encounter with a couple of white hippies, who introduced her to pot and Bob Dylan. Listening to him sing, “I’m not going to work on Maggie’s farm no more,” she had an awakening.
“I saw there was another way to live,” she explains. She moved to California with a friend and never looked back. She owned an organic farm in Jamaica for a little while. She started a reggae band with her kids, putting her poems to music and performing around the country. They traveled like gypsies for several years.
Then her children grew up. They married, had their own children and didn’t want to tour anymore. “I was stuck with 100 songs and no band,” she says with a laugh. So she started writing about her life. She kept it short and honest and wrote about what it was like growing up black in the South at that time.
“I remember at the movie theater, we had to go up the stairs to sit in the back of the balcony and the white kids sat downstairs,” Kersh says. “When we’d pass each other, we would look at each other and think, ‘Awww… I wish I could know you.’ There wasn’t any hatred, we were just kids.”
She didn’t realize how deep the scars went from living that way until she started hearing from her readers.
“I got a letter from a woman who was about the same age I was,” Kersh says. “She went to school in Mobile. And she told me that when she was a child, she thought there was a black heaven and a white heaven.”
She also heard from an 81-year-old white woman who was touched by her writing. “She sent me a letter … it was beautiful,” Kersh says.
The book hasn’t found major distribution. It hasn’t been reviewed by Oprah. But Kersh doesn’t care.
“As long as I can reach hearts, that’s what I want to do,” she says.
To learn more about the author or to purchase Suitcase Full of Dreams, visit hoykersh.com. The novel also is available from amazon.com.
American music tells the stories of people who came together — some by choice, others by force — to form a diverse nation bound by a common idea: freedom. Whether sacred or secular, their songs weave tales of awe and wonder at the wide open spaces around them, of thankfulness for God’s bounty, of mourning for homelands they may never see again, of the sheer joy of life, and a thousand other emotions. The melodies reflect a range of traditions and cultures from indigenous peoples to European, African and others, blending together to create new forms that are distinctly American.
These stories, cultures, traditions and the music they inspired are the subject of “New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music,” a traveling exhibition that explores the early traditions of American music. The exhibit will visit 12 Georgia towns beginning in April 2012 and continuing through November 2013.
“New Harmonies” is part of the Museum on Main Street collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and state humanities councils nationwide. The program brings quality museum exhibitions, organized and curated by Smithsonian staff, to small town museums and rural Americans. Exhibitions focus on broad topics of national history, and have included the World War II homefront experience, the historic significance of barns and American farm families, and America’s regional food traditions, among others.
Each exhibit includes information panels and photos as well as objects from the Smithsonian’s collection and interactive displays. “New Harmonies,” for example, will include musical instruments, a radio that plays broadcasts from the past, and a listening station where visitors can experience various types of music.
As part of the Museums on Main Street program, participating communities are encouraged to supplement the exhibition, through programs and activities that celebrate their own local heritage and culture. These might include scavenger hunts, performances or lectures by local experts, oral history programs and more.
“When Smithsonian assembles an exhibit, they do it in a very general way to reflect the entire nation,” explains Arden Williams, senior program officer for the Georgia Humanities Council. “It’s then up to the participating communities to tailor the exhibit to their own regions. Each of the 12 participating communities had to submit ideas for programs, and each has a strong tie to roots music.”
“New Harmonies” is the latest Smithsonian exhibit to visit Georgia. In 2009-10, Georgia Humanities Council co-sponsored “Key Ingredients,” which focused on America’s regional food traditions. The exhibit was a great success, not only for the Council, but for the participating communities.
“The impact of having a Smithsonian exhibit extends well beyond the six weeks that it is in a small town,” Williams says. “In addition to bringing positive attention to a community, the experience tends to generate changes and improvements.
“Hapeville now has its own cultural arts center as a result of hosting the food exhibit. Buchanan started a farmers market. Indian Springs began their program with two sponsors and ended up with more than 20, including many of the town’s small businesses. It’s a perfect example of communities working together to build success.”
Georgia is well known as the home to many successful musicians, in every genre from gospel to rhythm and blues, pop, rock, country and classical. Through the “New Harmonies” exhibit, Williams hopes Georgians will learn about the history and traditions that made their success possible.
“We hope visitors will learn more about the wonderful musical traditions that exist in Georgia – not just the music, but the stories behind it,” she says. “There are many, many people out there who are just amazing talents but are unknown outside their communities. This will be a great opportunity to recognize them and capture their stories for eternity.”
“New Harmonies” is sponsored by the Georgia Humanities Council, Smithsonian Institution, Center for Public History at the University of West Georgia, Georgia Dept. of Economic Development and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. For information about the exhibit, please visit the Georgia Humanities Council at georgiahumanities.org.
Despite being called the “cultural capital of the South,” people still think there’s nothing to do in Atlanta.
“We’ve done research with residents and potential visitors, with MAACC (the Metro Atlanta Arts and Culture Coalition) and the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, and found that people don’t consider us a cultural destination,” says Nicole Jones, editor of AtlantaPlanIt.com, a free online guide to arts and culture events, organizations and venues that is a service of Public Broadcasting Atlanta. “We had a need to let people know that Atlanta has a vast arts and culture community.”
To give Atlanta’s arts scene greater visibility, AtlantaPlanIt.com has launched a marketing campaign called Atlanta Art Lives Here in partnership with several local nonprofit organizations, including the Michael C. Carlos Museum, Theatrical Outfit, True Colors Theatre Company, High Museum of Art, Center for Puppetry Arts, National Black Arts Festival and the Atlanta Ballet, to name a few.
The organizations, which are of varying sizes and artistic disciplines, have contributed to a collective marketing fund that will cover the costs of creating and buying radio and print advertising. Costs that would be impossible to absorb on an individual basis, due to decreases in state and private funding.
“Our hope is that this campaign will remind Atlantans just how crucial the arts are to the vitality of the city and energize them to support the arts in their community,” Jones says.
Feb. 3: This weekend’s best bets
Looking for something cultural to do this weekend and beyond? Here are Encore Atlanta’s recommendations (in alphabetical order). Pictured: Theatre du Reve’s “The Red Balloon.”
Avenue Q. See it! This 2004 Tony Award-winning best musical is back at Horizon Theatre by popular demand. Ten hard-working actors sing funny songs and say dirty words. Adults only. Winner of seven 2011-12 Suzi Bass Atlanta theater awards. Through March 11. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3 and 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and 5 p.m. Sunday. $20-$50. tickets.horizontheatre.com. 404.584.7450.
A Body of Water. Reviews have been mixed but any time Tess Malis Kincaid is onstage, I’m there. This 2005 mystery by Lee Blessing (A Walk in the Woods, Eleemosynary) is at Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville. Through Feb. 12. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. $20-$30. Selling well, so please call ahead. 678.226.6222.
God of Carnage. Final three performances. This dark Tony Award-winning comedy by Yasmina Reza has folks talking. Jasmine Guy leads the Alliance Theatre’s four-actor cast battling it out in a wildly emotional 80-minute sprint about parenting and personal responsibility. 8 p.m. Friday; 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday. $20-$50. alliancetheatre.org, 404.733.5000.
Memphis. Final five performances. Good notices have accompanied this musical, the 2010 Tony Award winner now at the Fox Theatre. The story, played out to a rock ‘n’ roll backbeat, concerns a white radio DJ who wants to change the world, and the black club singer ready for her big break. 8 tonight; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. $39-$77. Ticketmaster.
Next Fall. Religion and relationships clash in this Gregory Nauffts drama onstage at Actor’s Express. The New York Times called it “smart, sensitive and utterly contemporary.” Mitchell Anderson and Joe Sykes play the couple in conflict. Through Feb. 11. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. $25-$30. www.actors-express.com, 404.607.7469. Visit
Ravel, Beethoven & Dvorak. Soloist Gabriela Montero, an “extraordinary improviser,” according to The New York Times, makes her Atlanta Symphony Orchestra debut with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Also on the program: Ravel’s “Mother Goose Suite” and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8. At 8 tonight and Saturday. Symphony Hall at the Woodruff Arts Center. $21-$79. www.atlantasymphony.org. 404.733.4900.
Red. Opening weekend. Another Tony winner, in 2010 for best play. Step inside the world of enigmatic painter Mark Rothko, a 1960s modernist who turned the art world on its ear with his attitude and talent. Early buzz on this Theatrical Outfit two-hander with Tom Key and Jimi Kocina, is rave-ish. Through March 11. $15 – $35. For tickets: theatricaloutfit.org or 877.725.8849. Visit POSHdealz.com for ticket discounts.
The Red Balloon. This story of magic, childhood and friendship (pictured above) is back by popular demand at Theatre du Reve, Atlanta’s small but fierce French-language company. Based on the 1956 movie many of us saw in grade school. Told in French and English with human actors, puppets and live music. Appropriate for families. At 7 Stages Backstage Theatre in Little Five Points. 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday; 8 p.m. Feb. 10; 3 and 8 p.m. Feb. 11; and 3 p.m. Feb. 12. $30; discounts for students and senior citizens. Selling well, so please call ahead. $20-$30. 678.226.6222. Info: TdRcontact@gmail.com, 404.875.3829.
The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls. By Meg Miroshnik. This year’s winner of the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, tells the story of 20-year-old Annie, an American in Moscow in search of her roots. The trip is a fairy tale come true — in more than one way, hint, hint. Recommended for ninth-graders and up. Through Feb. 26 on the Alliance Theatre’s Hertz Stage. In previews: 8 tonight and Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday; and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Opens at 8 p.m. Wednesday. $30. Visit the website for half-price tickets to the Super Bowl Sunday show. alliancetheatre.org, 404.733.5000. Related story: How Kendeda works.
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Kathy Janich has been seeing, writing about or working in theatre and the performing arts for most of her life. She spent 25 years in daily newspapers and was most recently on staff at Atlanta’s smart, bold and gutsy Synchronicity Theatre.
Kendeda season: Super Bowl of new plays
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, or at least in the Top 5. And we’re not talking about the Super Bowl.
February means Kendeda season at the Alliance Theatre, when five newly minted playwrights share their work with the rest of the world. It’s exciting, nerve-racking, wondrous and mostly free.
Officially, it’s called the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition. The program, one of Alliance Artistic Director Susan V. Booth’s brightest ideas, began in 2003 as a way to showcase young talent and bridge the often decade-long gap between the time playwrights leave graduate school and the time they land their first productions on a national stage.
Each year students from 30 or so graduate playwriting programs submit a piece for consideration. Alliance readers select a pool of finalists. These plays are then read by three theater artists with national reputations. A winner and three runners-up are named.
The winner’s play goes into the Alliance season, gets the full complement of professional actors, designers and director, and a three-week run on the 200-seat Hertz Stage. The runners-up each receive a staged reading.
This year’s winner, The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls by Meg Miroshnik (Yale School of Drama), is a fable for adults featuring 20-year-old Annie, an American in Moscow in search of her roots. The trip is a fairy tale — until the lines between Russian folk stories and Annie’s reality start to blur. (Recommended for ninth-graders and up. Previews Feb. 3-5 and 7. Opens Feb. 8. Runs through Feb. 26. $30. Visit the website for $15 seats on Super Bowl Sunday. alliancetheatre.org, 404.733.5000.)
The rest of the fun starts Monday afternoon with the first of the four readings. All are free and in the Black Box Theatre on the third floor of the Woodruff Arts Center. The acting pool is generally top-notch, pulling from among the best in Atlanta. Dessert is even served at afternoon sessions. Reservations required via the Alliance box office or at 404.733.5000.
Why should you go? It’s a chance to see exciting new work before anyone else does, and it’s amazing to see how polished actors can be with just a few hours of rehearsal. Your opinion counts, too. Stay for the post-show discussions; the playwrights — American theater’s best and brightest — take your feedback seriously when they go back to polish their plays. And if you hit the afternoon sessions, there’s always the free dessert. The lineup:
Monday
2:30 p.m.: Reading of Shoe Story by Ben Snyder (University of Texas at Austin and a Juilliard Graduate Playwriting Fellow). An urban fairy tale about love, loss and the metaphysical significance of a free pair of kicks. Directed by Kate Warner, formerly of Atlanta’s Dad’s Garage Theatre Company and the New Repertory Theatre in Massachusetts. Dessert provided. Discussion follows.
5:30 p.m.: A conversation with playwright Meg Miroshnik, this year’s winner. No reservation needed.
7 p.m.: Reading of We Fight to Die by Tim Guillot (Catholic University in Washington, D.C.). A pack of urban poets, echoing the worlds of hip-hop, spoken word and Greek myth, tell the story of graffiti artist Q, who has transfixed the city with his work. When caught by the police, he must license his talents to the government to avoid jail. Directed by Adam Fristoe, co-artistic director of Out of Hand Theater. Discussion follows.
Tuesday
2:30 p.m.: Reading of Whales by Bob Bartlett (Catholic University). Owen — a typical urban14-year-old — isn’t interested in getting to know his estranged gay father and even less interested in the secluded Outer Banks beach where Dad lives. Then an injured whale awakens his forgotten connection with the sea. Directed by Lisa Adler, co-artistic producing director at Horizon Theatre. Dessert provided. Discussion follows.
7 p.m.: Reading of Lost Cause by Alexander Maggio (UCLA). A Dartmouth freshman named Shawn has a crush on Gillian, his debate partner. Gillian is into Conor, a hard-core Confederate re-enactor. She convinces Shawn to accompany her to the Battle of Bentonville State Historic Site. There’s just one problem: Shawn is black. Directed by David DeVries. Discussion follows with the playwright and director, Alliance Theatre Artistic Director Susan Booth, Alliance Theatre Artist in Dialogue Pearl Cleage and others.
Kathy Janich, Encore Atlanta’s managing editor, has seen, edited or written about, or worked in the performing arts for most of her life. She spent 25 years in daily newspapers and was most recently on staff at Atlanta’s smart, bold and gutsy Synchronicity Theatre. She can be reached at kathy@encoreatlanta.com.
Jan. 27: This weekend’s best bets
Real-life husband and wife Tess Malis Kincaid and Mark Kincaid in "A Body of Water" at Aurora Theatre. (Photo by Chris Bartelski)
Looking for something cultural to do this weekend (and beyond)? Here are Encore Atlanta’s recommendations, in alphabetical order. Compiled by Managing Editor Kathy Janich.
Avenue Q. Extended at Horizon Theatre! This 2004 Tony Award winner asks “What Do You Do With a B.A. in English?” and unabashedly asserts that “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” and “The Internet Is for Porn.” All with puppets, video and 10 actors with Energizer Bunny stamina. Winner of seven 2011-12 Suzi Bass Awards (Atlanta’s Tonys) including best musical. Be warned: It’s definitely adults-only fare and still might not be to everyone’s taste (their loss). Extended, for a second time, through March 11. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3 and 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and 5 p.m. Sunday. $20-$50. tickets.horizontheatre.com. 404.584.7450.
A Body of Water. Reviews have been mixed but you should decide for yourself. Anytime Suzi Award winner Tess Malis Kincaid is onstage, it’s time to see some theater! Her husband, Mark Kincaid, and Cara Mantella complete the cast of this three-hander, a 2005 mystery by Lee Blessing (A Walk in the Woods, Eleemosynary) now at Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville. Through Feb. 12. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Some performances are already sold out, so please call ahead. $20-$30. 678.226.6222.
God of Carnage. Plenty of folks are crazy about this Tony Award-winning black comedy by Yasmina Reza, now at the Alliance Theatre. Jasmine Guy, Keith Randolph Smith, Crystal Fox and Geoffrey Darnell Williams battle it out in this wildly emotional 80-minute sprint about parenting and personal responsibility. Of note: This is the first Carnage production in the country to be done with African-American actors. Through Feb. 4 at the Alliance. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. $20-$50. alliancetheatre.org. 404.733.5000.
The Ladies Man. Over-the-top, chaotic and funny. It’s farce, after all. Charles Morey adapts a Georges Feydeau piece about a husband’s efforts to deny himself a visit to the Moulin Rouge. And the shenanigans begin. Recommendable on the strength of its cast alone, including Andrew Benator, Veronika Duerr, Andrea Frye, Chris Kayser and Enoch King. Through Feb. 26 at Theatre in the Square in Marietta. 8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; 2:30 and 7 p.m. Sunday (no evening show Feb. 19). Also 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 15. $24-$33. 770.422.8369, Ext.10.
Mahler’s “Resurrection.” Only one performance left. Considered, along with Symphony No. 8, to be the composer’s most popular and successful works during his lifetime. It was inspired by the death of his friend and colleague Hans von Bulow and became the first major work to mark Mahler’s lifelong view of the beauty of the afterlife. Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles leads the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in the 90-minute piece, with soprano Nicole Cabell and mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor as soloists. 8 p.m. Saturday. Symphony Hall at the Woodruff Arts Center. $21-$79. www.atlantasymphony.org. 404.733.4900.
Next Fall. A drama about religion and relationships with a first-rate cast of Atlanta actors: Mitchell Anderson, John Benzinger, Patricia French, Jennifer Levison, William S. Murphey and Joe Sykes. The 2009 off-Broadway play moved to Broadway in 2010 and is now at Actor’s Express. The New York Times called it “smart, sensitive and utterly contemporary.” Through Feb. 11. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. $25-$30. www.actors-express.com, 404.607.7469. Visit POSHdealz.com for ticket discounts.
Opening Jan. 31: Memphis at the Fox Theatre. The 2010 Tony Award-winning best musical runs through Feb. 5. The story, played out to a rock ‘n’ roll backbeat, concerns a white radio DJ who wants to change the world, and the black club singer ready for her big break. $39-$77.
In previews: Red, the story of 1960s modernist painter Mark Rothko, at Theatrical Outfit. Opens Feb. 4 and already extended through March 11. Tom Key plays Rothko, Jimi Kocina is his young assistant. Tickets. 877.725.8849. Visit POSHdealz.com for ticket discounts.
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Kathy Janich has been seeing, editing and writing about or working in the performing arts for most of her life. She spent 25 years in daily newspapers and was most recently on staff at Atlanta’s smart, bold and gutsy Synchronicity Theatre.
SNAPSHOT | Nick Arapoglou
This feature is new to Encore Atlanta. Let us know how you like it.
In brief: Nick, 26, won the 2011 Suzi Award (Atlanta’s version of Broadway’s Tonys) as best actor in a musical for his performance as Princeton in the irreverent Avenue Q at Horizon Theatre. He and the rest of the Q‘ers are back onstage by popular demand through March 11. Horizon Theatre. 404.584.7450.
It’s pronounced: Air-ah-POE-glue.
Hometown: Huntington, Long Island, N.Y.
Where you’ve seen him: Onstage as the Elvis-loving Nelson in End Days at Horizon; Spring Awakening at Actor’s Express; and Academy the Musical and The Storytelling Ability of a Boy (Suzi nomination) at Aurora Theatre. He’s also performed at Theatre in the Square, Theatrical Outfit, Synchronicity Theatre and the Alliance Theatre. Also, on television as Fashion School Kid in VH1’s “Single Ladies.”
Commercially speaking: His face is everywhere. He’s done TV spots for Gas South (Thank You Man), SunTrust Bank (Coffee Cashier), Moe’s (Guacamole Victim) as well as Ford College Football, NASCAR, Duke Energy, Chick-fil-A, Georgia Coffee, Blackberry and Fed Ex.
First time onstage: Third grade. As the Big Bad Wolf in Little Red Riding Hood.
Why theater: A bone disease in middle school made sports, his passion then, off limits. He’d never done any organized singing or theater, but a friend suggested he audition for the musical Peter Pan. He was cast as Captain Hook because, he says, he was the only guy whose voice had dropped.
Dream role: Tony in West Side Story. “I don’t think I will ever possess the dance skills for it.”
Parting shot: Through his stage and film work, he’s been able to become a full-time actor. No more “would you like that triple grande mocha hot or iced?”
Kathy Janich, Encore Atlanta’s managing editor, has been seeing, editing, writing about or working in the performing arts for most of her life. She spent 25 years in daily newspapers and was most recently on staff at Atlanta’s smart, bold and gutsy Synchronicity Theatre. To suggest someone for this column, please email kathy@encoreatlanta.com.
Jan. 20: This weekend’s best bets
The cast of "Avenue Q" at Horizon Theatre (from left) Spencer G. Stephens, Matt Nitchie, Mary Nye Bennett, Leslie W. Bellair, Nick Arapoglou.
Looking for something cultural to do this weekend? Here are Encore Atlanta’s recommendations, compiled by Managing Editor Kathy Janich.
Annie. Final weekend. Take the kids for the orphans and the dog, then settle in and watch the grown-ups go to work. Sally Struthers, who was singing and dancing long before she played Archie Bunker’s cutie-pie daughter on “All in the Family,” lets loose her comic timing as Miss Hannigan. Broadway regular Brad Oscar (The Producers, Spamalot, The Addams Family) balds it up as Daddy Warbucks. At 35, Annie simply works. It’s timeless, timely, tuneful and well-written. Fox Theatre. 8 p.m. Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 1:30 p.m. Sunday. $25-$65. www.ticketmaster.com.
Avenue Q. They’re ba-a-a-a-ck!! Those politically incorrect, hilarious slackers from the wrong part of New York City return to Horizon Theatre with their songs, sad stories and puppetry high jinks. This Tony Award-winning musical, first seen at Horizon last summer, won seven 2011-12 Suzi Bass Awards (Atlanta’s version of the Tony Awards) including best musical, lead actor (Nick Arapoglou) and featured actress (Leslie W. Bellair). Performances are selling out, so don’t delay — and don’t bring the kids. Even though Q has puppets, it’s strictly for adults. Through Feb. 26. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3 and 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and 5 p.m. Sunday. $20-$50. tickets.horizontheatre.com, 404.584.7450.
Beethoven and Britten. Donald Runnicles, who just re-upped for another two years as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s principal guest conductor, makes his season debut. The program: “Eroica,” aka Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Opus 55, and Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto, Opus 15. Britten, a central figure in 20th-century British classical music, composed orchestral, choral, solo vocal, chamber, instrumental and film music. The Britten Concerto spotlights Canadian violinist James Ehnes, described by The Guardian as “hair-raisingly virtuosic.” 8 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Symphony Hall at the Woodruff Arts Center. $21-$79. www.atlantasymphony.org. 404.733.4900.
A Body of Water. Opening weekend. There are two big reasons to see this 2005 Lee Blessing mystery at Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville: Tess Malis Kincaid and Mark Kincaid. Yes, they’re married. Yes, to each other. And both are terrific actors. She won the 2011-12 Suzi Bass Award for lead actress in a play for her searing performance as a put-upon daughter/wife in August: Osage County at the Alliance Theatre. He’s been seen locally at the Alliance, Theatre in the Square, Actor’s Express and at some of the top regional theaters in the country. Last summer, he played the title role in SHIPWRECKED! The Amazing Adventures of Louis De Rougement at upstart Serenbe Playhouse. Through Feb. 12. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Some performances are already sold out, so call ahead. Tickets: $20-$30. 678.226.6222.
God of Carnage. Plenty of folks are wild about this Tony Award-winning comedy, now at the Alliance Theatre. It’s already been extended — and it just opened! Jasmine Guy (in the role that brought Marcia Gay Harden a Tony Award), Keith Randolph Smith, Crystal Fox and Geoffrey Darnell Williams battle it out in Yasmina Reza’s wildly emotional 80-minute sprint about the ongoing adventure of parenting and taking responsibility for our actions. The movie version, titled Carnage, is in theaters now with Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly and Christoph Waltz. Have yourself a weekend and do a double dip. Through Feb. 4 at the Alliance. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. $20-$50. alliancetheatre.org, 404.733.5000.
Next Fall. A drama about religion and relationships with a first-rate cast of Atlanta actors: Mitchell Anderson, John Benzinger, Patricia French, Jennifer Levison, William S. Murphey and Joe Sykes. The 2009 off-Broadway play moved to Broadway in 2010 and is now at Actor’s Express. The New York Times called the Geoffrey Nauffts piece “smart, sensitive and utterly contemporary.” Through Feb. 11. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. $25-$30. www.actors-express.com, 404.607.7469
Kathy Janich has been seeing, editing, writing about or working in the theater and performing arts for most of her life. She spent 25 years in daily newspapers and was most recently on staff at Atlanta’s smart, bold and gutsy Synchronicity Theatre.
Jumping feet first into the funny (VIDEO)
Playwright Megan Gogerty intended to have a very serious writing career.
Her controversial musical Love Jerry, which dealt with a pattern of child abuse within a family, was produced at Atlanta’s Actor’s Express and the New York Musical Theatre Festival to critical acclaim. She’s written other full-length plays that have received honors and workshops, too.
But she’s always had a goofy side, as illustrated by the tribute albums she’s made, dedicated to defunct TV shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Firefly.”
It’s that blend of quirky humor backed up with serious writing chops displayed in December in Synchronicity Theatre’s Feet First in the Water With a Baby in My Teeth, recently named one of the Top 10 shows of 2011 by Creative Loafing’s Curt Holman. Gogerty wrote and acted in the one-woman show about the intense emotional highs and occasional humiliations women endure in the name of motherhood.
“In college, I did a lot of monologue stuff, but I got away from it in my 20s,” Gogerty says, “because I was going to focus on more serious plays.” But when her hometown theater, Iowa City’s Riverside Theatre, asked if she had a monologue she’d like to perform in a short-works festival, she jumped at the chance.
The only problem was they wanted her to perform in February, the same month she was due to give birth. “They said, ‘It’ll be fine,’” she says, laughing. “So I got onstage for the first time in 10 years 11 days after giving birth.”
Her husband, with sleeping baby in tow, would drop her off at the stage door at 9 p.m. and then start driving around the block. By 9:15 p.m., she was onstage. At 9:30, she was taking her curtain call. Then she would race from the stage door to the car and head home, exhausted but exhilarated. Her piece about Hillary Clinton killed every night. “It went over like gangbusters because the Iowa caucus had happened the week prior and everyone had a Hillary Clinton story,” Gogerty says.
It was so popular that the theater asked her to create a one-woman show around it for their upcoming season. Gogerty remembers: “They said, ‘What do you have?’ I said, ‘I have a drawer full of monologues.’ They said, ‘Give us a title, and we’ll give you two weeks.’” She took some material about her post-Sept. 11 political awakening, mixed in some stories about getting pregnant and poof: Hillary Clinton Got Me Pregnant was birthed.
It was a phenomenal success. “It was the first show in their 30-year history that sold out before it opened,” Gogerty says. “Their marketing was basically: ‘Remember that woman who did that thing about Hillary Clinton? Well the whole play is basically that.’ ”
Despite the enthusiastic response, Gogerty still felt she should spend her time writing more “serious” plays. Then she went to Atlanta to perform Hillary Clinton with Synchronicity Theatre and realized that what she was experiencing might not be a fluke.
“I started thinking that maybe I should be doing monologue plays,” Gogerty says. She knew the other plays were OK and that people liked them, but people loved the monologue plays. And she enjoyed performing again. “It allows me to cut out the middle man and connect directly with the audience,” she explains.
She asked her mentor, playwright Sherry Kramer, if it would be crazy for her to focus more on solo work. Kramer, who’s known Gogerty for nearly 20 years, replied: “Look, you’re a fine playwright. But there are a lot of fine playwrights in the world. Not everybody can do this, but you can — really well. So why don’t you play to your strengths?”
For Gogerty, that was a revelation. She started work on another one-woman show and pitched it to Riverside Theatre. They told her they’d like to open their season with it. When she asked if they’d like to read it first, they said “No.” “No other theater supports me like they do,” she says. “I’m very lucky.”
Because she felt Hillary Clinton was kind of “slapdash,” she called in longtime collaborator Alexis Chamow to help direct and shape the piece. They workshopped the play, Feet First in the Water With a Baby in My Teeth, at the Pasadena Playhouse. This year, Synchronicity and Riverside joined forces to give the show a joint world premiere.
Here’s some audience reactions from the opening night in Atlanta earlier this month.
And here’s Gogerty’s review of the show.
“The play is semi-autobiographical, which means that everything is true and some of the things actually happened,” Gogerty says, laughing again. “And I have no idea what I’ll write next.”
For more information or to purchase tickets, go to synchrotheatre.com.
Fifth Third Bank brings Broadway to Atlanta
If you enjoy Broadway Across America – Atlanta shows, you should thank Fifth Third Bank. The financial services company is the title sponsor for the 2011-2012 Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Atlanta season, which kicked off with last month’s Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical and included special showings of Wicked and Mamma Mia! this fall.
“We are thrilled to partner with Broadway Across America,” said Randy Koporc, Fifth Third Georgia president. “We are committed to supporting our communities and look forward to helping bring such a strong cultural asset to Atlanta and the surrounding areas.”
The season continues in January with a combination of new musicals, classic shows and crowd favorites. Upcoming shows at the Fox Theatre include:
- Memphis: Jan. 31-Feb. 5
- Billy Elliot the Musical: March 13-18
- Les Misérables: April 24-29
- Jersey Boys: May 22-June 10
For more information about Fifth Third Bank, visit 53.com. To purchase tickets or read more about the Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Atlanta shows, go to BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com.
Hoy Kersh and her Suitcase Full of Dreams
A Southern child who blossomed during the civil rights era, Hoy Kersh always had rebellious tendencies. That’s why her parents encouraged her to move North when she was just a teenager in the 1950s. “I was too vocal,” she explains. “They had begun to burn houses.”
The 70-year-old grandmother recently wrote an autobiography, A Suitcase Full of Dreams, about the Jim Crow South of the 1940s and 50s. She planned to immediately write a sequel called The Bus Ride about her political awakening, the beauty of nonviolent protests and the end of segregation.
Then Occupy Wall Street began. The spontaneous uprisings that followed reminded her of the protests of her youth. “The politics of today really jumped into my book,” Kersh says. She began interviewing Vietnam vets and inner-city gangmembers. She grabbed a film camera and started documenting Occupy protests happening around the country. She talked with a lot of people who don’t feel like they have options or a future. And that reminded her a lot of the people she knew, growing up.
“That’s why I say slavery’s not dead yet,” Kersh says. “We’ve gained a lot materially and lost a lot spiritually. Back then, there was a chance that if you went to college, you’d get a job. That’s not the case now.” And, she points out, modern slavery is not dictated by skin color, it’s about who has the money.
A Suitcase Full of Dreams begins with a lynch mob scene, one that drove Kersh and her family out of their home. By the time the slender novel ends, she’s been kicked out of school, has survived a rough home life and is 16, headed to a big city in the North to become, she hopes, a great writer like Langston Hughes.
Of course, her life didn’t end there. She discovered that segregation existed even in Chicago (this was, after all, the 1950s). She married (badly, she says), had three kids, two jobs and led a kind of dead-end life. Then she had a random encounter with a couple of white hippies, who introduced her to pot and Bob Dylan. Listening to him sing, “I’m not going to work on Maggie’s farm no more,” she had an awakening.
“I saw there was another way to live,” she explains. She moved to California with a friend and never looked back. She owned an organic farm in Jamaica for a little while. She started a reggae band with her kids, putting her poems to music and performing around the country. They traveled like gypsies for several years.
Then her children grew up. They married, had their own children and didn’t want to tour anymore. “I was stuck with 100 songs and no band,” she says with a laugh. So she started writing about her life. She kept it short and honest and wrote about what it was like growing up black in the South at that time.
“I remember at the movie theater, we had to go up the stairs to sit in the back of the balcony and the white kids sat downstairs,” Kersh says. “When we’d pass each other, we would look at each other and think, ‘Awww… I wish I could know you.’ There wasn’t any hatred, we were just kids.”
She didn’t realize how deep the scars went from living that way until she started hearing from her readers.
“I got a letter from a woman who was about the same age I was,” Kersh says. “She went to school in Mobile. And she told me that when she was a child, she thought there was a black heaven and a white heaven.”
She also heard from an 81-year-old white woman who was touched by her writing. “She sent me a letter … it was beautiful,” Kersh says.
The book hasn’t found major distribution. It hasn’t been reviewed by Oprah. But Kersh doesn’t care.
“As long as I can reach hearts, that’s what I want to do,” she says.
To learn more about the author or to purchase Suitcase Full of Dreams, visit hoykersh.com. The novel also is available from amazon.com.
Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition to bring roots music back to Georgia communities
American music tells the stories of people who came together — some by choice, others by force — to form a diverse nation bound by a common idea: freedom. Whether sacred or secular, their songs weave tales of awe and wonder at the wide open spaces around them, of thankfulness for God’s bounty, of mourning for homelands they may never see again, of the sheer joy of life, and a thousand other emotions. The melodies reflect a range of traditions and cultures from indigenous peoples to European, African and others, blending together to create new forms that are distinctly American.
These stories, cultures, traditions and the music they inspired are the subject of “New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music,” a traveling exhibition that explores the early traditions of American music. The exhibit will visit 12 Georgia towns beginning in April 2012 and continuing through November 2013.
“New Harmonies” is part of the Museum on Main Street collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and state humanities councils nationwide. The program brings quality museum exhibitions, organized and curated by Smithsonian staff, to small town museums and rural Americans. Exhibitions focus on broad topics of national history, and have included the World War II homefront experience, the historic significance of barns and American farm families, and America’s regional food traditions, among others.
Each exhibit includes information panels and photos as well as objects from the Smithsonian’s collection and interactive displays. “New Harmonies,” for example, will include musical instruments, a radio that plays broadcasts from the past, and a listening station where visitors can experience various types of music.
As part of the Museums on Main Street program, participating communities are encouraged to supplement the exhibition, through programs and activities that celebrate their own local heritage and culture. These might include scavenger hunts, performances or lectures by local experts, oral history programs and more.
“When Smithsonian assembles an exhibit, they do it in a very general way to reflect the entire nation,” explains Arden Williams, senior program officer for the Georgia Humanities Council. “It’s then up to the participating communities to tailor the exhibit to their own regions. Each of the 12 participating communities had to submit ideas for programs, and each has a strong tie to roots music.”
“New Harmonies” is the latest Smithsonian exhibit to visit Georgia. In 2009-10, Georgia Humanities Council co-sponsored “Key Ingredients,” which focused on America’s regional food traditions. The exhibit was a great success, not only for the Council, but for the participating communities.
“The impact of having a Smithsonian exhibit extends well beyond the six weeks that it is in a small town,” Williams says. “In addition to bringing positive attention to a community, the experience tends to generate changes and improvements.
“Hapeville now has its own cultural arts center as a result of hosting the food exhibit. Buchanan started a farmers market. Indian Springs began their program with two sponsors and ended up with more than 20, including many of the town’s small businesses. It’s a perfect example of communities working together to build success.”
Georgia is well known as the home to many successful musicians, in every genre from gospel to rhythm and blues, pop, rock, country and classical. Through the “New Harmonies” exhibit, Williams hopes Georgians will learn about the history and traditions that made their success possible.
“We hope visitors will learn more about the wonderful musical traditions that exist in Georgia – not just the music, but the stories behind it,” she says. “There are many, many people out there who are just amazing talents but are unknown outside their communities. This will be a great opportunity to recognize them and capture their stories for eternity.”
“New Harmonies” is sponsored by the Georgia Humanities Council, Smithsonian Institution, Center for Public History at the University of West Georgia, Georgia Dept. of Economic Development and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. For information about the exhibit, please visit the Georgia Humanities Council at georgiahumanities.org.
Increasing the visibility of Atlanta’s arts community with Atlanta Art Lives Here
Despite being called the “cultural capital of the South,” people still think there’s nothing to do in Atlanta.
“We’ve done research with residents and potential visitors, with MAACC (the Metro Atlanta Arts and Culture Coalition) and the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, and found that people don’t consider us a cultural destination,” says Nicole Jones, editor of AtlantaPlanIt.com, a free online guide to arts and culture events, organizations and venues that is a service of Public Broadcasting Atlanta. “We had a need to let people know that Atlanta has a vast arts and culture community.”
To give Atlanta’s arts scene greater visibility, AtlantaPlanIt.com has launched a marketing campaign called Atlanta Art Lives Here in partnership with several local nonprofit organizations, including the Michael C. Carlos Museum, Theatrical Outfit, True Colors Theatre Company, High Museum of Art, Center for Puppetry Arts, National Black Arts Festival and the Atlanta Ballet, to name a few.
The organizations, which are of varying sizes and artistic disciplines, have contributed to a collective marketing fund that will cover the costs of creating and buying radio and print advertising. Costs that would be impossible to absorb on an individual basis, due to decreases in state and private funding.
“Our hope is that this campaign will remind Atlantans just how crucial the arts are to the vitality of the city and energize them to support the arts in their community,” Jones says.
