Looking for something cultural to do in the next week or so? Here’s our select list of recommendations. Pictured (from left) Brian Harrison, DuJuan Paxton and Masud Olufani in “Four Days of Fury: Atlanta 1906” this weekend only at the Atlanta History Center.
RECOMMENDED
Choir Boy. BEGINS FRIDAY. If there’s one playwright in America whose work I would travel anywhere to see, it would be Tarell Alvin McCraney. Lucky for us, the Alliance Theatre opens its Hertz Stage season with his coming-of-age story about a boy named Pharus. Atlanta audiences met McCraney in 2008, when his mesmerizing In the Red and Brown Water won the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition. In Choir Boy, Pharus’ confidence, charisma, clarity of purpose, and talent belie the struggle he endures at his all-boys prep school. The drama, told with music, is fresh from London and New York’s Manhattan Theatre Club. It begins a season-long run of new shows by past winners of the Kendeda prize. Recommended for age 14 and older. Through Oct. 13. $33-$38. 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. 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000. Ticket discounts (Sept. 22 and 24) at PoshDealz.com. For more on McCraney, read this Encore FEATURE. (Pictured: Jeremy Pope as Pharus, with Chuck Cooper in the Manhattan Theatre Club staging. Pope reprises his role at the Alliance.)
The Guys. THROUGH OCT. 6. Theatrical Outfit’s season opener is based on the experiences of playwright Anne Nelson. Her alter ego is an editor named Joan (Jasmine Guy), who comes to help a fire captain (Brian Kurlander) write eulogies for the men he lost on 9/11. The critics: “It’s hard not to be moved by the characters’ efforts to understand each other and their mutual search for meaning in the face of an incomprehensibly tragic event” (Andrew Alexander, ArtsATL.com); “A poignant, yet uplifting piece of theater” (Andrew Wesley, AtlantaTheaterFans.com). $20-$50. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. 84 Luckie St. N.W. Details, tickets HERE or at 678.528.1500.
Venus in Fur. THROUGH OCT. 6. David Ives’ Broadway hit opens the season at Actor’s Express. The sexy (at times, kinky) comedy concerns a young actress late for an audition. The play-within-the-play is based on a classic erotic novel. The cast: Veronika Duerr and Adam Fristoe. David Crowe (last season’s Equus) directs. The critics: “Duerr’s performance is a tour de force. … A pinwheel-eyed puzzle of a play about the eternal and irresolvable struggles between men and women that swirl around sex and power (Andrew Alexander, ArtsATL.com); “So much is required of Veronica Duerr; that she delivers in spades does not surprise me. This is a star-making role. That Mr. Fristoe keeps up with her and even adds a few surprises of his own is a huge compliment (Manning Harris, Atlanta INtown). $26-$45 plus fees (buy online and save). 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. 887 W. Marietta St. Note: The King Plow Arts Center parking lot is under construction. Alternate parking options HERE. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.607-SHOW. Ticket discounts at PoshDealz.com.
OPENING THIS WEEKEND
Third Country. OPENS FRIDAY | THROUGH OCT. 20. This Horizon Theatre world premiere, by Atlanta playwright Suehyla El-Attar, is inspired by real-life events in Clarkston. The story: Nura, a refugee, clings to her soccer ball like a lifeline as she meets Sasha, a resettlement worker who is her guide to a strange new home in a small Southern town. But the welcome is mixed in this community reeling from a flood of newcomers — all refugees from around the world. The cast: Cynthia D. Barker, Tess Malis Kincaid, Eric J. Little, Marcie Millard, William S. Murphey and Tom Thon. $20-$30. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3 and 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and 5 p.m. Sunday (no matinee Sept. 21). 1083 Austin Ave. N.E. (at Euclid Avenue). Details, tickets HERE or at 404.584.7450. (Pictured: Cynthia D. Barker as Nura. Photo: Jennifer Michelle of Will You Wedding Photography Atlanta)
Walter Cronkite Is Dead. OPENS TONIGHT | THROUGH OCT. 6. Serenbe Playhouse’s Brian Clowdus visits Aurora Theatre to direct this two-woman comedy about a chatty, blue-collar Southerner and a reserved Washingtonian grounded together at an East Coast airport. What might be possible if people from opposite sides of the aisle could take time to listen? The play is by Joe Carlarco. The cast: Lane Carlock and Lala Cochran. Opening night is sold out. $15. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday. In the Harvel Lab. 128 E. Pike St., Lawrenceville. Free, covered, attached parking available via entrance at 153 E. Crogan St. Details, tickets HERE or at 678.226.6222. (Pictured, from left: Lala Cochran, Lane Carlock. Photo: BreeAnne Clowdus)
CLOSING THIS WEEKEND
Almost Heaven: John Denver’s America. FIVE PERFORMANCES LEFT. “A winning musical revue!” So said Variety in describing this show, the season opener at Georgia Ensemble Theatre. It celebrates songs — 29 of them — written and inspired by the upbeat troubadour, including “Rocky Mountain High,” “Annie’s Song,” “Calypso” and “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” $15-$39. 8 tonight-Friday; 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Roswell Cultural Arts Center, 950 Forest St., Roswell. Details HERE or at 770.641.1260. Ticket discounts at PoshDealz.com.
THIS WEEKEND ONLY
Four Days of Fury: Atlanta 1906. The Atlanta History Center reprises its interactive dramatization of events surrounding the Atlanta Race Riots. Trailblazing African-American journalist J. Max Barber will guide you through a gallery-based theater experience that explores the headlines of a seminal episode in the city’s history. The piece was created by playwright-in-residence Addae Moon. The cast: Tim Batten, Brian Harrison, Masoud Olufani, DuJuan Paxton and Mary Saville. The critics: “An effort at a truthful retelling of a painful past can, as Four Days of Fury shows, weave a fascinatingly intricate web all its own (Andrew Alexander, ArtsATL.com). Recommended for ages 16 and up. $20; $15 members. 5, 6:30 and 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Monday; 2, 3:30 and 5 p.m. Sunday. 130 West Paces Ferry Road N.W. Details HERE. Tickets at 404.814.4150.
STILL PLAYING
Harmony. THROUGH OCT. 6. The writing team of Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman has found a home at the Alliance Theatre for its musical about the first sensational boy band: six talented young men in 1920s Germany who could harmonize and cut-up with the best of them. The Comedian Harmonists took the world by storm — until Adolf Hitler came to power. The critics: “This production is highly theatrical and from a technical point of view almost flawless. … But it’s never really that deep, or emotional, save for a few moments near the end” (Jim Farmer, ArtsATL.com); “In the end, Harmony is a nearly flawless work of art that almost manages to cloak the harrowing underside of history in a bubble of elegance, sophistication and wit” (Wendell Brock, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution); “Although a little fine-tuning here and there is inevitable, this show feels Broadway-bound” (Manning Harris, Atlanta INtown). $30-$75. 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. 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000. (Pictured, from left: Hannah Corneau and Leigh Ann Larkin as two of the Harmonists’ wives. Photo: Greg Mooney)
Song of the Living Dead. THROUGH SEPT. 28. The we’ll-never-grow-up gang at Dad’s Garage Theatre Company brings us another musical. This one is a classic love story, told in a horrifically gory, action-packed way. Remember, Dad’s is temporarily in residence at 7 Stages in Little Five Points. $10-$29 (buy online and save). 1105 Euclid Ave. N.E. Tickets, details HERE or at 404.523.3141.
Twelfth Night | Troilus and Cressida. THROUGH SEPT. 29. The New American Shakespeare Tavern goes for laughs and the gut with this two-show repertory. The comic Twelfth Night features a shipwreck, separated identical twins, mistaken identities and romance. In Troilus and Cressida, Shakespeare tackles Homer, Virgil and Chaucer. Twelfth Night: Sept. 19, 21, 27 and 29. Troilus and Cressida: Sept. 20, 22, 26 and 28. The Tavern has a pub menu and tasty adult beverages. Cheers! $15-$32. 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 6:30 p.m. Sunday. 499 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.874.5299.
LOOKING AHEAD
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. SEPT. 26-28. Maestro Robert Spano opens his 13th season — and the orchestra’s 69th — with the “thirds” of three great composers: Bach’s Third Orchestral Suite, Brahms’ Third Symphony; and Beethoven’s Third Piano Concert (with guest artist Andre Watts). $24-$75. 8 p.m. Thursday-Friday; 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
Milvotchkee, Visconsin. SEPT. 27-OCT. 20. World premiere. Meet Molly. She has a hole in her head. Find out why in this comedy about a tragedy, staged by Synchronicity Theatre. Molly guides us through Wisconsin Concrete Park (a real place) and the vagaries of getting older with a sense of bewilderment and a can-do attitude. The script is by Laura Jacqmin (TV’s “Lucky 7”). The cast: Ellen McQueen as Molly, Kelly Criss, James Donadio, Charles Green, Steve Hudson and Holly Stevenson. Patricia Henritze directs. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 5 p.m. Sunday. $15-$45. 14th Street Playhouse (Stage 2), 173 14th St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.484.8636. (Pictured: Ellen McQueen as Molly)
::
Kathy Janich, Encore Atlanta’s managing editor, has been seeing, working in or covering the performing arts for most of her life. Full disclosure: She is affiliated with Synchronicity Theatre mentioned above. Please email: kathy@encoreatlanta.com.
