Want to get your culture on this weekend? Our recommendations include “Silent Sky” at Theatrical Outfit, with Elizabeth Diane Wells (center) as astronomer Henrietta Leavitt and (from left) Leavitt colleagues played by Carolyn Cook and Deadre Moore. Photo by BreeAnne Clowdus.
RECOMMENDED
4000 Miles. CLOSES SUNDAY. A quirky dramatic comedy from playwright Amy Herzog about a 91-year-old grandmother and her 21-year-old grandson, who become roommates as he travels around the country by bicycle. A Pulitzer Prize finalist and Obie Award winner for best new off-Broadway play. Mary Lynn Owen and Barrett Doyle play the unlikely roommates. $20-$30. 8 tonight-Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday. At Aurora Theatre. Harvel Lab, 128 E. Pike St., Lawrenceville. Free, covered, attached parking in city of Lawrenceville deck at 153 E. Crogan St. Details, tickets HERE or at 678.226.6222. (Pictured: Owen and Doyle. Photo by Chris Bartelski)
The C.A. Lyons Project. THROUGH MARCH 6. Winner of the 2015 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition. Playwright Tsehaye Hébert combines dance and theater to tell the 1980s-set story of the ailing founder of a dynamic African-American dance company and the three female dancers who must handle the fallout. Contains brief nudity. $38. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2:30 + 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 + 7:30 Sunday. Alliance Theatre, Hertz Stage, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000. For more on the playwright, see this ENCORE FEATURE. (Pictured: Francesca Harper and James Brown III. Photo by Greg Mooney)
Detroit ’67. THROUGH MARCH 8. It’s 1967 in Detroit, and Motown is the sound. Chelle and brother Lank turn their basement into a late-night hot spot to make ends meet, but their feelings erupt, as does much of the city, and they’re in the midst of Motor City’s historic riots. Playwright Dominique Morisseau won a 2014 Kennedy Center award for this piece and street cred from The New York Times, which called it “crackling with humor.” True Colors Theatre at the Southwest Arts Center, 915 New Hope Road. Details, tickets HERE or at 877.725.8849. For more, see this ENCORE FEATURE.
Silent Sky. THROUGH MARCH 8. A must-see. Decatur-born, San Francisco-based playwright Lauren Gunderson (Exit, Pursued by a Bear; Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight; the award-winning I and You) makes her Theatrical Outfit debut with this luminous script about real-life American astronomer Henrietta Leavitt (1868-1921), who must deal with dismissive male colleagues and family disapproval as she fights to understand the stars. The five-person cast – Elizabeth Diane Wells as Leavitt, Cynthia Barrett, Carolyn Cook, Deadra Moore and Brandon Partrick – is first-rate. $20-$35. 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Also at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 28. Balzer Theater at Herren’s, 84 Luckie St. N.W. Tickets, details HERE or at 678.528.1500. Ticket discounts at PoshDealz.com.
THIS WEEKEND ONLY
The Chieftains and the ASO. FRIDAY-SATURDAY. Paddy Moloney, Kevin Conneff and Matt Molloy join the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for two nights of Ireland in Atlanta. $25-$65. 8 nightly. Atlanta Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
Libby at the Express: The Seventies – Part 1. OPENS TONIGHT | THROUGH SUNDAY. Singer extraordinaire Libby Whittemore returns to Actor’s Express for a songfest that covers folk, rock, disco and such artists as the Beatles, the Bee Gees, Karen Carpenter, Jim Croce, Elton John, Linda Ronstadt and the Spinners. $40 ($5 parking). 7:30 nightly. King Plow Arts Center, 887 W. Marietta St. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.607.7469.
A World Too Wide. SATURDAY. A celebration of contemporary dance and Baroque-era music, featuring a new work by Sue Schroeder and Amanda K. Miller-Fasshauer with CORE Performance Company. The orchestral score, performed live, features work by Vivaldi, Purcell, Telemann and Handel. $15-$60. 8 p.m. Rialto Center for the Arts, 80 Forsyth St. N.W. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.413.9849.
NEW THIS WEEKEND
Homers. OPENS TONIGHT | THROUGH MARCH 15. A world premiere by Atlanta actor and playwright Jacob York about love and loyalty to the Braves, the Hawks and the Falcons. In this story where fan-dom and family intersect, a female sportswriter must decide if a homer can ever really leave home. $10-$35. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Additional shows at 4 p.m. March 7 + 14. Georgia Ensemble Theatre at the Roswell Cultural Art Center, 950 Forrest St., Roswell. Details, tickets HERE or at 770.641.1260. (Pictured: Diany Rodriguez as the sportswriter and Jeffrey M. Stephenson as her college friend.)
Rigoletto. OPENS SATURDAY | THROUGH MARCH 8. Verdi’s story of lust, vengeance and sacrifice returns in a new co-production with The Atlanta Opera, Boston Lyric Opera and Omaha Opera. The tragic story revolves around the licentious Duke of Mantua, his hunchbacked court jester Rigoletto and Rigoletto’s beautiful daughter, Gilda. Sung in Italian with English supertitles. $26-$140. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday; 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday; and 3 p.m. Sunday. Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.881.8885.
NOW PLAYING
Anne Frank: Within and Without. THROUGH MARCH 8. The piece celebrates the life of the Holocaust victim, acting as a meditation on hope and all that is good in humankind. Told with tabletop and marionette puppets. Recommended for middle and high school students as well as adults. Talkbacks follow every show. $25. 11 a.m. Wednesday-Thursday; 11 a.m. + 8 p.m. Friday; 8 p.m. Saturday; and 5 p.m. Sunday. Center for Puppetry Arts, 1404 Spring St. N.W. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.873.3391.
StinkyKids the Musical. THROUGH MARCH 8. Synchronicity and Aurora theaters partner to present this family musical based on the Britt Menzies books and characters. Britt, Max, Hannah, Jen, Johnny and Billy plan to visit the new MegaJumper 3000, but the situation gets sticky when Britt wakes up with gum in her hair. $10-$40. 7:30 p.m. Friday; 1 + 4 p.m. Saturday; and 2 + 5 p.m. Sunday. Synchronicity Theatre at Peachtree Pointe, 1545 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.484.8636. (Pictured: Lydia Frempong, Alexandra Karr and Kristin Storla. Photo by KVC Photography)
Wicked. THROUGH MARCH 8. The musical blockbuster returns to the Fox Theatre for a third time. As you might know, long before Dorothy dropped in, two other girls met in the Land of Oz. One — born with emerald-green skin — was smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other was beautiful, ambitious and popular. See how these two unlikely friends became the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good. $33 and up. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday (also at 1 p.m. today only); 8 p.m. Friday; 2 + 8 p.m. Saturday; and 1 + 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Also at 1 p.m. Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 855.285.8499
NEXT WEEK
2015 Symphony Gala Concert With Jason Alexander. MARCH 7. Alexander headlines an evening of music benefiting the orchestra and its education and community engagement programs. Although best known for playing neurotic New Yorker George Costanza on TV’s “Seinfeld,” Alexander is a Tony Award-winning song-and-dance man, earning the honor for playing multiple roles in 1989’s Jerome Robbins’ Broadway. $25-$99. Concert only at 7:30 p.m. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000. For information on attending the full gala, including a black-tie dinner and dancing, visit aso.org/gala. Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Concert-only discount tickets available through Friday (Feb.28) at PoshDealz.com.
Mahler’s Fifth. MARCH 5 ONLY. Principal guest conductor Donald Runnicles is on the podium as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra performs what Mahler himself described as “this foaming, roaring, raging sea of sound.” Mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor joins them for Mahler’s Rückert Lieder. $20-$99. Atlanta Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
Witches Night Off. MARCH 2 ONLY. Cast members of Wicked, now at the Fox Theatre, use their Monday night off to perform in support of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Joining Hearts of Atlanta. The performers kick off their Oz-ian roles to sing and dance for you. Includes live and silent auctions (backstage visits at the Fox with the company are among items up for bid). The Wicked folks are joined by Tony Award singer Jennifer Holliday. $35; $20 students with ID; VIP $100. 7:30 p.m. Ferst Center for the Arts on the Georgia Tech campus, 349 Ferst Drive N.W. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.894.9600.
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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. Full disclosure: She is affiliated with Synchronicity Theatre listed above. Please email: kathy@encoreatlanta.com.
