Looking for something cultural to do this weekend and beyond? Our select list of recommendations includes “Mariela in the Desert,” in Spanish with English supertitles at Aurora Theatre, with Blanca Agüero. Photo by BreeAnne Clowdus.
RECOMMENDED
The Best Game. THROUGH APRIL 13. A highly driven NYU student takes a risky detour when she decides to seek out her long-lost father. A world premiere from Rising Sage Theatre (formerly 3 Hill Productions) and playwright Paris Crayton III, a Rising Sage co-founder. The cast: Isake Akanke and Gerard Catus (“Law & Order: SVU,” “The Wire”). $20 advance; $25 at the door. 8 p.m. Thursday-Friday; 2 & 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Porter Sanford Performing Arts Center, 3181 Rainbow Drive, Decatur. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.500.SAGE (7243).
Dividing the Estate. THROUGH APRIL 20. Matriarch Stella Gordon is determined not to divide her 100-year-old Texas estate, despite her family’s looming financial crises. Her three children have other ideas. Theatrical Outfit stages Horton Foote’s dark comedy with a 13-member cast of who’s who among Atlanta actors: Mary Lynn Owen as Stella, Elizabeth Wells Berkes, S. Renee Clark, Rob Cleveland, Danielle Deadwyler, Caroline Freedlund, Marianne Hammock, Bart Hansard, Mark Kincaid, Tess Malis Kincaid, Jessica Miesel, Maria Rodriguez-Sager and Scott Warren. Tom Key directs. $20-$50. Through April 20. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 2:30 & 7:30 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Balzer Theater at Herren’s, 84 Luckie St. N.W. Details, tickets HERE or at 1.877.725.8849. Ticket discounts (through April 11) at PoshDealz.com. Pictured: Tess Malis Kincaid. Photo by BreeAnne Clowdus
OPENING THIS WEEKEND
Camelot. OPENS TONIGHT | THROUGH APRIL 27. Georgia Ensemble Theatre stages the lush Lerner and Loewe musical about King Arthur, his queen and the Knights of the Round Table. Cast features Bryant Smith (Valjean in Aurora Theatre’s award-winning Les Miserables) as Arthur, Jennifer Acker as Guenevere, Jeremy Wood as Lancelot, and Chris Kayser at King Pellinore/Merlyn. $15-$39. Through April 27. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; 8 p.m. Thursday-Friday; 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Georgia Ensemble Theatre at Roswell Cultural Arts Center, 950 Forrest St., Roswell. Details, tickets HERE or at 770.641.1260. (Pictured, from left: Chris Kayser and Bryant Smith. Photo by Dan Carmody/Studio 7)
Mariela in the Desert. OPENS TONIGHT | THROUGH APRIL 27. It’s 1950 and artists Mariela and José are living an isolated life in the northern Mexico desert, haunted by the ghost of their young son. José is very ill and Mariela sends a telegram to their daughter encouraging her to come home. Where once the walls were beautifully decorated, now only one painting remains, and it is shrouded in mystery. In Spanish with English supertitles. Part of Aurora Theatre’s Teatre de Sol series. $15. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday. 128 E. Pike St., Lawrenceville. Free, covered, attached parking in city lot at 153 E. Crogan St., Lawrenceville. Details HERE or at 678.226.6222.
Maurice Hines Is Tappin’ Thru Life. THROUGH MAY 4. The lifelong performer and Tony Award nominee (Sophisticated Ladies, Uptown … It’s Hot!) narrates his own story in this musical, which also pays tribute to his Tony Award-winning brother, Gregory, and singers from Frank Sinatra to Lena Horne. The show also features the all-female, nine-piece Diva Orchestra. A co-production of the Alliance Theatre, Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., and the Cleveland Play House. $30-$75. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2:30 & 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 & 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Alliance Theatre mainstage, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
CLOSING THIS WEEKEND
Elemeno Pea. CLOSES SUNDAY. A dark comedy set at summer’s end on Martha’s Vineyard, where the haves and have-nots are flying without a net. The cast: Cynthia D. Barker (Third Country), Adam Fristoe, Tony Guerrero, Cara Mantella and Tiffany Porter. Includes explicit language and adult situations. The critics: “The show’s greatest strength is its cast” (Andrew Alexander, ArtsATL.com); “A juicy drama about truth and consequences” (Kenny Norton, Atlanta Theater Fans). At Horizon Theatre. $20-$30. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3 & 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and 5 p.m. Sunday. 1083 Austin Ave. N.E. at Euclid Avenue. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.584.7450. For more on Horizon’s season, see this ENCORE FEATURE.
Miracle on South Division Street. CLOSES SUNDAY. Regional premiere. Stage Door Players takes on this comedy/drama about a Buffalo, N.Y., family led by its matriarch, who runs a soup kitchen and tends to the family heirloom, a 20-foot shrine commemorating the day in 1942 when the Blessed Virgin Mary materialized in her father’s barber shop. With Susan Shalhoub Larkin, Kara Cantrell, Kelly Criss and Tony Larkin. $22-$27. 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday. 5339 Chamblee-Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody. Details HERE. For tickets, call 770.396.1726.
THIS WEEKEND ONLY
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. TONIGHT | FRIDAY | SUNDAY. Principal guest conductor Donald Runnicles leads a program featuring Metamorphosen and the Oboe Concerto by Strauss, plus Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. ASO principal oboist Elizabeth Koch Tiscione solos on the concerto. $24-$75. 8 tonight-Friday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Atlanta Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
Stephen Mills’ Hamlet. FRIDAY-SUNDAY. Atlanta Ballet dances a modern production of the Shakespeare masterpiece, set to music by Philip Glass and played live by the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra. $20-$120. 8 p.m. Friday; 2 & 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2 p.m. Sunday. Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, Atlanta. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.892.3302.
NOW PLAYING
Annie. THROUGH APRIL 20. The little orphan who never stops singing and dancing sets up shop at Atlanta Lyric Theatre. The 1977 musical has proven its mettle with stagings and revivals all over the country. The Lyric version features Kevin Harry (Javert in Aurora Theatre’s award-winning Les Miserables) as Daddy Warbucks. $25-$50. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Additional show at 2 p.m. April 19. Jennie T. Anderson Theatre at the Cobb Country Civic Center complex, 548 S. Marietta Parkway, Marietta. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.377.9948. Ticket discount at PoshDealz.com.
Macbeth. THROUGH MAY 4. Witches. Prophecy. Greed. Power. Lust. Which one seals the fate of Macbeth and his country? Journey to Scotland via the New American Shakespeare Tavern, with Jacob York as the tragic hero and Veronika Duerr as his diabolical Lady. $15-$36. 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 6:30 p.m. Sunday. 499 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.874.5299.
Maple and Vine. THROUGH APRIL 20. The “darkly playful” (The New York Times) story of a modern couple who’s grown weary of their 21st-century lives and try to escape by joining a community of 1950s re-enactors. At Actor’s Express. The cast, led by Kate Donadio and Michael Sung-Ho, includes John Benzinger, Jeremy Harrison and Tiffany Morgan. The critics: “The lighter and less serious, the better” (Bert Osborne, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Through April 20. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. 887 W. Marietta St. in the King Plow Arts Center. Details, tickets (buy online and save) HERE or at 404.607.SHOW.
LOOKING AHEAD
Blackberry Winter. APRIL 12-19. Out of Hand Theater presents a workshop production of this new play about Alzheimer’s disease. The script is by Atlanta-bred, Los Angeles-based playwright Steve Yockey (Pluto, Wolves, Octopus, etc.) and features actor Carolyn Cook. The piece recounts one woman’s memories of caring for her aging mother and the challenging decisions they face. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Alzheimer’s Association. $15. 8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Horizon Theatre, 1083 Euclid Ave. N.E. at Austin Avenue. Details, tickets HERE.
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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’s affiliated with Theatrical Outfit mentioned above. Please email: [email protected].
