Want to get your culture on? Our recommen- dations this week include Serenbe Playhouse, which has something for grown-ups and grown-ups with kids. “A Streetcar Named Desire” opens tonight and “The Secret Garden,” with Shelby Folks as Mary Lennox (pictured), continues through Aug. 2. Photo by BreeAnne Clowdus.
RECOMMENDED
Avenue Q. OPENS FRIDAY | THROUGH JULY 12. Horizon Theatre takes its irreverent hit to the former home of Georgia Shakespeare, with both the original and PG-13 versions of this smart, hilarious and risqué Tony and Suzi Bass Award-winning musical. The neighbors are nice on Avenue Q, the only address you can afford when you’re fresh out of college, out of a job or just trying to find your purpose. (See the PG-13 version at 3 p.m. June 20, 5 p.m. June 28 or 8 p.m. July 8.) $30 and up; $50 tickets include a reserved table pre-show and a drink. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3 + 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and 5 p.m. Sunday. Conant Center for the Performing Arts at Oglethorpe University, 4484 Peachtree Road N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.584.7450. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com. (Pictured, from left, Jill Hames, Jeff McKerley, J.C. Long and some of their friends.)
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. THROUGH JUNE 28. Regional premiere. Horizon and Aurora theaters partner to present playwright Christopher Durang’s Tony Award-winning riff on all things Chekhov. Vanya and adopted sister Sonia live a quiet life in a Pennsylvania farmhouse, while sister Masha travels the world as a movie star — until she returns home with boy toy Spike in tow. $25 and up. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3 + 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and 5 p.m. Sunday. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.584.7450. Runs Oct. 1-25 at Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville. (Pictured, from left: Kincaid, Cochran and Murphey)
The Whale. CLOSING SUNDAY. Actor’s Express tops a stellar season with Samuel E. Hunter’s multi-award-winning off-Broadway hit about one man’s last chance at redemption and how he finds beauty in the most unexpected places. Its center: a 600-pound recluse who’s hiding away in his apartment and eating himself to death while desperately wanting to reconnect with his daughter. $26-$45. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. 887 W. Marietta St. in the King Plow Arts Center. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.607.7469. (Pictured: Freddie Ashley and Stephanie Friedman. Photo by BreeAnne Clowdus)
THIS WEEKEND ONLY
Dad’s Garage & Friends. TONIGHT-SATURDAY. This gala, a self-described “star-studded, big comedy bash of the year” features comics Colin Mochrie and Fred Willard; Gary Anthony Williams (the voice of Uncle Ruckus on “The Boondocks”); Dad’s regulars Amber Nash and Lucky Yates (both from “Archer”); Too Many Cooks: The Musical; and the Atlanta Opera. $20-$37 (8 + 10:30 tonight-Friday) at 7 Stages, 1105 Euclid Ave. N.E. No tickets available at the door. $29-$78.25 (8 p.m. Saturday) at the Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.523.3141.
LAST CHANCE
Coriolanus. CLOSES SUNDAY. Shakespeare’s tale of extreme betrayal is one of his bloodiest and most political. Jonathan Horne is the title character, forced into the Senate by his overbearing mother and eventually banished by his own people. Cast includes Chris Kayser, Tony Larkin and Jacob York. $15-$39. 7:30 tonight-Saturday; 6:30 p.m. Sunday. New American Shakespeare Tavern (full pub menu and bar), 499 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.874.5299. Discount gift certificates at PoshDealz.com.
OPENING THIS WEEKEND
Barnum. OPENS FRIDAY | THROUGH JUNE 28. The Prince of Humbug is the ringmaster in this 1980 Broadway bio-musical about P.T. Barnum, the famous showman whose life, tricks and hokum are on full display. This crowd-pleaser, with a tuneful score by Cy Coleman, ran for more than two years in New York. Atlanta Lyric Theatre invites you to join the circus for the next few weeks. $30-$50. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Additional show at 2 p.m. June 27. Jennie T. Anderson Theatre, Cobb County Civic Center Complex, 548 S. Marietta Parkway, Marietta. Details, tickets HERE. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
A Streetcar Named Desire. TONIGHT-JUNE 28. Family dysfunction plays out in steamy New Orleans in Tennessee Williams’ 1948 Pulitzer Prize winner featuring the deceptions of Blanche Du Bois, Stanley Kowalski and wife Stella. The Serenbe Playhouse cast features Ann Marie Gideon as Stella, Matthew Davis as Stanley and Deborah Bowman as Blanche. Note: Tickets are already selling quickly. 8:30 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday. $30; $25 students. At the (new) Art Farm Stage at Serenbe, 10455 Atlanta Newnan Road, Chattahoochee Hills. Directions HERE. Details, tickets HERE or at 770.463.1110. (Pictured: Gideon and Davis. Photo by BreeAnne Clowdus)
NOW PLAYING
The Artist Man and The Mother Woman. THROUGH JUNE 21. When Geoffrey discovers that art teachers are off-the-charts sexy, he decides to seek a wife, which doesn’t sit well with his doting mum. Scottish playwright Morna Pearson offers a savagely funny glimpse into the surreal universe of a spectacularly dysfunctional mother and son. At Arís Theatre, Atlanta’s stage for Celtic culture. Not appropriate for young audiences. $15-$25. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 5 p.m. Sunday. Studio B, Georgia Public Broadcasting, 260 14th St. N.W. Free, covered parking. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.692.0053. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical. THROUGH JUNE 28. The Alliance Theatre presents a musicalized version of the Mo Willems story about Trixie and Daddy, who take a trip to the laundromat. With tunes by Grammy Award-winning composer Michael Silversher. $15; $8 ages 6-17; 5 and under free. 10 + 11:30 a.m. Wednesday-Friday; 1 + 3:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Alliance Theatre’s Hertz Stage, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000. For more, see this ENCORE FEATURE. (Pictured, from left, Hannah Church, Devon Hales, and Jeremiah Parker Hobbs. Photo by Greg Mooney)
The Secret Garden. THROUGH AUG. 2. World premiere. The coming-of-age story about recently orphaned Mary Lennox is adapted by playwright Rachel Teagle and performed in the new (and permanent) English Garden at Serenbe. Based on the Frances Hodgson Burnett book of the same name. $10-$20. 11 a.m. Friday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Serenbe Playhouse, 10950 Hutchesons Ferry Road, Chattahoochee Hills. Details, tickets HERE or at 770.463.1110. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
NEXT WEEK
Libby’s at the Express. JUNE 18-21. Atlanta singer Libby Whittemore continues her salute to the 1970s with two full acts of tunes by Karen Carpenter, Elton John, the Bee Gees, Linda Ronstadt, Roberta Flack, Chicago, Three Dog Night, Cher, the Eagles, the Doobie Brothers, Jim Croce, the Spinners and the Beatles. Who’d we leave out? If you haven’t heard Whittemore before, do yourself a favor and go. $40. 7:30 nightly. Actor’s Express, King Plow Arts Center, 887 W. Marietta St. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.607.7469. (Photo by BreeAnne Clowdus)
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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.
