Looking for something cultural to do this weekend and beyond? Our select list of recommendations includes the world premiere of “Ten Mile Lake” at Serenbe Playhouse, with Veronika Duerr and Mark Kincaid as an estranged daughter and father. Photo by BreeAnne Clowdus.
RECOMMENDED
End of the Rainbow. CLOSES SUNDAY. Actor’s Express ends its season with this look at the last comeback attempt of Judy Garland (Natasha Drena). Features such standards as “The Man That Got Away,” “Come Rain or Come Shine” and “Over the Rainbow.” I cannot recommend this show highly enough, and I say that rarely. The critics: “Drena imbues the Garland mystique with the megawatt intensity of a supernova” (Wendell Brock, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution); “Hearing Drena perform ‘I Can’t Give You Anything But Love’ is worth the price of admission alone. But the play’s mix of drama and music is occasionally awkward” (Andrew Alexander, ArtsATL.com). $15-$40 plus fees. 8 tonight-Saturday; 5 p.m. Sunday. Call before you go; tickets are nearly sold out. Your best bet is Sunday’s matinee. King Plow Arts Center, 887 W. Marietta St. N.W. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.607.7469. (Pictured: Drena as Garland. Photo by BreeAnne Clowdus)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. THROUGH AUG. 2. Serenbe Playhouse promises a one-of-a-kind retelling of the classic L. Frank Baum story with a bookish Dorothy who creates magic in her own backyard and with visuals created by the Center for Puppetry Arts out of organic and reclaimed materials. Adapted by Rachel Teagle and not a musical. Directed by Brian Clowdus. Performed outdoors in the Animal Village (enter at The Inn). You’re asked to bring your own seating. The critics: “In the theatrical landscape of Atlanta, there really is no place like Serenbe” (Wendell Brock, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). $15; $10 ages 13 and under. 11 a.m. Friday-Saturday. Because of ticket demand, 2 p.m. Sunday shows have been added on June 15, 22 & 29 and July 13, 20 &27. 10950 Hutcheson Ferry Road, Chattahoochee Hills. Details HERE. Tickets available HERE until one hour before show time, then on-site. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
THIS WEEKEND ONLY
Playmaking for Girls Summer Performance 2014. SATURDAY ONLY. PFG, Synchronicity Theatre’s innovative outreach program, works with girls who have entered or are at risk of entering the juvenile justice system. School-year efforts culminate in this single performance at which the participants perform short plays written by other girls in the program. It’s an amazing hour of grassroots, community-based theater, and it’s free. 6 p.m. Space is limited so reservations are required. Dahlberg Hall, Georgia State University, 30 Courtland St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.484.8636.
Side-by-Side Concert. SATURDAY ONLY. Atlanta-area student musicians, including members of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra and the ASO’s Talent Development Program, perform alongside ASO musicians. New ASO Assistant Conductor Joseph Young leads the combined orchestra in John Williams’ Superman March, selections from Stravinsky’s The Firebird and more. Atlanta Falcons offensive guard Justin Blalock, an advocate for the ASO’s music education efforts, will make a guest appearance. $10. 8 p.m. Atlanta Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
CLOSING THIS WEEKEND
Atlanta Fringe Festival. THROUGH SUNDAY. The third annual fest celebrates works on the fringe of mainstream offerings. The acts come from 11 states and Canada. Lineup HERE. Venues: 7 Stages’ mainstage, the Big House on Ponce, the Highland Inn Ballroom, Horizons School and the Wrecking Bar Brewpub’s Marianna event space. $10 single tickets; $40 for six-show passes.
The New Electric Ballroom. THROUGH SUNDAY. This comic drama by Irish playwright Enda Walsh mixes naturalism and fantasy and marks the arrival of the Celtic-themed Arís Theatre, a new player on the metro scene. What do you get when you cross a rock ‘n’ roller with a pair of cannery girls? We’re not sure, but something smells fishy in this rural village, so drop the needle on that 45 and play that story again. And again. And again! Arís (ah-REESH) is the Irish word for “again!” Not suitable for children. $15-$25. 8 tonight-Saturday; 5 p.m. Sunday. Georgia Public Broadcasting, Studio B, 260 14th St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com. (Pictured, from left: Holly Stevenson, Patricia French and Barbara Cole-Uterhardt. Steve Hudson completes the cast. Photo by Safaa Sammander)
OPENING THIS WEEKEND
As You Like It. OPENS SATURDAY | THROUGH JUNE 29. This Georgia Shakespeare comedy moves indoors from Piedmont Park to the stage of its home, the Conant Performing Arts Center. As you might recall, “All the world’s a stage, and the men and women merely players.” While you’re getting your Bard on, check out the new picnicking furniture on the Conant grounds. Bring your own picnic or order from Newk’s Brookhaven, Georgia Shakespeare’s official picnic partner. This season’s extras include pre-show talks 30 minutes before each performance, a post-show talkback on June 18, an actor chat on June 21, and, on June 27-28, the actors dust off Shakespeare and turn the terrace into a cabaret. $14-$33. 8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Additional shows at 7 p.m. June 22 and 2 p.m. June 28. Oglethorpe University, 4484 Peachtree Road N.E. Details HERE or at 404.504.1473.
Criminal Hearts. OPENS TONIGHT | THROUGH JUNE 22. Weird Sisters Theatre Project begins its fourth summer with this quirky comedy by Jane Martin, best described, perhaps, as a cross between the movies Thelma & Louise and The Grifters. It’s set in Chicago and peopled by an agoraphobic, her estranged husband, a would-be burglar and her accomplice. $20. 8 tonight-Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday. At Aurora Theatre, 128 E. Pike St., Lawrenceville. Free, attached, covered parking in city of Lawrenceville deck (enter at 153 E. Crogan St.). Tickets, details HERE or at 678.226.6222. See a video chat with the Weird Sisters HERE. (Pictured, from left: Vinnie Mascola, Tiffany Porter, Sarah Elizabeth Wallis and Matt Felton)
Spamalot. OPENS FRIDAY | THROUGH JUNE 29. Atlanta Lyric Theatre stages this Tony Award-winning best musical (2005), lovingly ripped off from the movie classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Follow King Arthur (Bart Hansard) and his Knights of the Round Table as they search for that elusive Grail, persevering despite death, cowardice, Laker Girls, flying cows, killer rabbits and taunting Frenchmen. $25-$50. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Additional show at 2 p.m. June 28. Jennie T. Anderson Theatre, Cobb County Civic Center Complex, 548 S. Marietta Parkway, Marietta. Details, tickets HERE.
Ten Mile Lake. OPENS TONIGHT | THROUGH JUNE 29. In this world premiere by California playwright Tira Palmquist, a father and daughter learn the true meaning of the word “home.” The action takes place on the planks of a dock, with each step toward reconciliation as fragile as the waters that splash around them. Featuring Bryan Brendle, Veronika Duerr and Mark Kincaid. $25; $20 students. Serenbe Playhouse, on the Grange Lake Dock (behind the Nest Homes). 10950 Hutcheson Ferry Road, Chattahoochee Hills. Tickets available HERE until one hour before show time, then on-site. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
NOW PLAYING
Levi. THROUGH JUNE 22. In this world premiere from Atlanta playwright Paris Crayton III and Rising Sage Theatre, a self-proclaimed free-spirited radical returns home for the first time in 13 years when he hears his father’s church is being torn down. Featuring stage and TV actor Taurean Blacque (“Hill Street Blues”). $25 plus fees. 8 p.m. Thursday-Friday; 2 & 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.500-SAGE. See this ENCORE SNAPSHOT for more on writer-actor Crayton.
LOOKING AHEAD
C.S. Lewis On Stage. JUNE 19-29. Actor-director-playwright Tom Key embodies the personality and fiction of the author of The Chronicles of Narnia, The Screwtape Letters and much, much more. Lewis, known to his friends as Jack, is considered one of the great thinkers of the 20th century. $25-$35. 7:30 p.m. June 19-20 & 26-27; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. June 21 & 28; and 2:30 p.m. June 22 & 29. Theatrical Outfit at the Balzer Theater at Herren’s, 84 Luckie St. N.W. Details, tickets HERE or at 678.528.1500.
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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. Please email: kathy@encoreatlanta.com.
