Looking for something cultural to do in the next week or so? Here’s our select list of recommendations. Pictured: The company of Aurora Theatre’s “Les Misérables.” Photo by BreeAnne Clowdus.
RECOMMENDED
Every Tongue Confess. THROUGH AUG. 25. The summer heat is rising and flames are flying in this fantastical whodunit at Horizon Theatre. The staging isn’t perfect, but this is theater in all its bold and imperfect glory. As the citizens of Boligee, Ala., try to find out who’s behind a string of church fires, the gossip simmers and secrets start to slip out. The script — by poet-playwright Marcus Gardley, a young writer with a national reputation — is rooted in history and magic realism. $20-$30 plus tax. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3 and 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and 5 p.m. Sunday. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.584.7450. Half-price tickets (Aug. 7 and 14) at PoshDealz.com. Read more about Minka Wiltz, who plays Mother Sister, in this Encore SNAPSHOT.
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical. EXTENDED TO AUG. 18. Join hands, pick a wildflower and commune with The Tribe, a group of politically active, long-haired hippies in the Age of Aquarius as they protest the Vietnam War. Note: This Serenbe Playhouse production contains nudity and adult language/content. Anyone under age 18 must be accompanied by an adult. The critics: “A one-of-a-kind theatrical experience. It will blow your mind” (Wendell Brock, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution); “Smart, enjoyable and immersive” (Andrew Alexander, ArtsATL.com). $25; $20 students. Please call for tickets before you go. 8:30 p.m. Thursday-Sunday (only standing-room tickets remain for this Saturday). The Wildflower Meadow (enter off Hutcheson Ferry Road, past the Serenbe entrance). 9110 Selborne Lane, Palmetto, about 30 minutes from Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Details, tickets HERE or at 770.463.1110. Discounts at PoshDealz.com. (Pictured, from left: Apollo Levine, Kylie Brown and Maxim Gukhman. Photo by BreeAnne Clowdus)
Les Misérables. Aurora Theatre begins its 18th season with its largest undertaking ever, the epic sung-through musical about an antihero named Jean Valjean and revolution in 19th-century France. The 28-person cast is led by Bryant Smith as Valjean, Natasha Drena as Fantine and Kevin Harry as Javert. The show won eight 1987 Tony Awards. Justin Anderson directs. $30-$40. Through Sept. 8 (shows on Friday and Aug. 7, 25 and 29 are sold out). 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Also at 10 a.m. Aug. 14, 21 and 28 ($20; no evening shows those days). 128 East Pike St., Lawrenceville. Free, attached parking deck at 153 Crogan St. Details, tickets HERE or at 678.226.6222. Discounts (limited dates) at PoshDealz.com.
LAST CHANCE
The Velveteen Rabbit. CLOSES SATURDAY. You have one final weekend to visit a time when toys were sewn by hand and modern technology was not all the rage. Serenbe Playhouse sets this classic, about a toy who longs to be real, in post-Civil War Savannah. Performed outdoors in the Grange Creek are, behind Fern’s Market. Please bring your own seating. $15; $10 age 13 and under. 11 a.m. Friday-Saturday. 9110 Selborne Lane, Palmetto, about 30 minutes from Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Details, tickets HERE or at 770.463.1110.
OPENING THIS WEEKEND
Rumpelstiltskin. THROUGH SEPT. 8. A reprise of this Center for Puppetry Arts original based on the Grimm Brothers fairy tale about straw, spinning, gold and a mysterious little man. Told with hand-crafted marionettes. Adapted by Bobby Box and Michael Haverty, two major names in puppetry in, and beyond, Atlanta. $16.50 non-members; $9.25 members. 10 and 11:30 a.m. Thursday-Friday; 11 a.m. 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday; and 1 and 3 p.m. Sunday. 1404 Spring St. N.W. (at 18th Street). Details, tickets HERE or at 404.873.3391.
STILL PLAYING
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. THROUGH AUG. 17. Shakespeare’s fairy-filled romp through the woods. $15-$36. 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. New American Shakespeare Tavern, 499 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.874.5299. Get a $50 gift card, good on tickets, food and drink, for $25 HERE.
Mysterious Connections. THROUGH AUG. 9. World premiere. Part of Essential Theatre‘s three-play summer festival. The script, by Essential Producing Artistic Director Peter Hardy, features two lonely women haunted by their pasts yet drawn to one another from the first time they meet. $18-$23. (In repertory with Stray Dogs by Matthew Myers and Swimming With Jellyfish by Katie Grant Shalin). 8 p.m. Friday, Monday and Aug. 9. Also at 7 p.m. Sunday. Note: For mature audiences. Includes sexual situations, smoke and fog effects. Actor’s Express, 887 W. Marietta St. Note: The King Plow Arts Center parking lot is under construction. Alternate parking options HERE. Details, tickets HERE or at 1.866.811.4111. Read more about the Essential Theatre festival in this ENCORE FEATURE.
Swimming With Jellyfish. THROUGH AUG. 11. World premiere. Part of Essential Theatre‘s three-play summer festival. This comedy-drama, by Atlanta playwright Katie Grant Shalin, features a family trying to hold it together as the kids get ready to leave the house and Mom and Dad find everything falling apart. $18-$23. (In repertory with Stray Dogs by Matthew Myers and Mysterious Connections by Peter Hardy). 8 p.m. Saturday and Aug. 8; and 2 p.m. Aug. 11. Actor’s Express, 887 W. Marietta St. Note: The King Plow Arts Center parking lot is under construction. Alternate parking options HERE. Details, tickets HERE or at 1.866.811.4111. Read more about the Essential Theatre festival in this ENCORE FEATURE. (Pictured, from left: Audra Pagano and Ann Wilson. Photo by Nancy Johnson)
Stray Dogs. THROUGH AUG. 10. World premiere. Part of Essential Theatre‘s three-play summer festival. Playwright Matthew Myers won the 2013 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award with this script, a comedy/crime story/romance in the Tarantino style. Jackson is a petty criminal who’s not as smart as he thinks. Violet is a teenage call girl who’s not nearly everything she pretends to be. $18-$23. (In repertory with Mysterious Connections by Peter Hardy and Swimming With Jellyfish by Katie Grant Shalin). 8 tonight and Aug. 10; and 2 p.m. Sunday. Actor’s Express, 887 W. Marietta St. Note: The King Plow Arts Center parking lot is under construction. Alternate parking options HERE. Details, tickets HERE or at 1.866.811.4111. Read more about the Essential Theatre festival in this ENCORE FEATURE.
LOOKING AHEAD
Brothers of Affliction. AUG. 7-10 ONLY. An encore run by 3 Hill Productions, which staged the drama at 7 Stages last year and, more recently, at the Orlando Fringe Festival. It tells the story of three brothers united, and divided, by a secret. The script, by Paris Crayton III, is for mature audiences only. The cast: Crayton, Kirk D. Henny and Robb Douglas. $18. 8 p.m. Aug. 7-8; 3 and 8 p.m. Aug. 10. Porter Sanford III Performing Arts Center, 3181 Rainbow Drive, Decatur, 404.687.2731.Details HERE. Tickets HERE. (Pictured, from left: Robb Douglas, Paris Crayton III and Kirk D. Henny)
Emilie: La Marquise du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight. OPENS AUG. 8. Weird Sisters Theatre Project stages this piece about the 18th-century scientific genius. On this night in her afterlife, Emilie is back and determined to answer the question that eluded her in life: love or philosophy, head or heart? Atlanta-bred, San Francisco-based playwright Lauren Gunderson tells a highly theatrical, fast, funny and sexy rediscovery of one of history’s most intriguing women. Cast: Veronika Duerr as Emilie and Joe Sykes as Voltaire, with Erin Considine, Tony Larkin and Holly Stevenson. Shannon Eubanks directs. $15. Through Aug. 25. 8 p.m. Aug. 8-10, 15, 19, 22-25; and 2:30 p.m. Aug. 17-18 and 25. Details, tickets HERE or at 678.226.6222.
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Kathy Janich, Encore Atlanta’s managing editor, has been seeing, covering or working in the performing arts for most of her life. Full disclosre: She is affiliated with Weird Sisters Theatre Project listed above. Please email: [email protected].
