Want to get your culture on? You can’t go wrong with “Edward Foote” at the Alliance, “Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet” at Actor’s Express, “Storefront Church” at Theatrical Outfit and, this weekend only, soul at the ASO and modern work at Atlanta Ballet. Pictured: Steve Coulter and Ann Marie Gideon in “Edward Foote.” Photo by Greg Mooney.
RECOMMENDED
Edward Foote. FINAL WEEKEND. The Alliance Theatre stages the world premiere of this Gothic murder mystery set to Appalachian folk songs and Shape Note singing by award-winning Atlanta writer Phillip DePoy. Chris Coleman, artistic director of Portland [Ore.] Center Stage and co-founder of Atlanta’s Actor’s Express, directs. $25 and up. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2:30 + 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 + 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Hertz Stage, Alliance Theatre, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000. For more on the playwright, see this ENCORE SNAPSHOT.
Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet. THROUGH APRIL 26. A young African-American (Terry Guest) discovers his sexual identity in the Louisiana bayou in this piece from the Brothers/Sisters trilogy by multi-award-winning playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney. $26-$45. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.607.7469. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com. See what’s happening at the Express in 2015-16 in this ENCORE FEATURE. Learn more about Guest in this ENCORE SNAPSHOT.
Storefront Church. EXTENDED THROUGH MAY 3. Visit a wintery Bronx, where greedy capitalists devour giant gingerbread houses, a disenchanted preacher rediscovers his faith and a curmudgeonly loan officer experiences a rebirth. This piece concludes Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning playwright John Patrick Shanley’s Church and State trilogy (Doubt). Featuring a formidable Theatrical Outfit cast: Donna Biscoe, Tom Key, Joe Knezevich, Clayton Landey, E. Roger Mitchell and Anthony Rodriguez. $20-$35. 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Friday; 2:30 + 7:30 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The Balzer Theater at Herren’s, 84 Luckie St. N.W. Details, tickets HERE or at 678.528.1500. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com. (Pictured, from left: Landey and Knezevich. Photo by BreeAnne Clowdus)
NEW THIS WEEK
Blues for an Alabama Sky. IN PREVIEWS | OPENS APRIL 22. In Harlem in 1930, the Great Depression has obliterated the creative euphoria among the African-American artists, writers and luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance. The characters in Blues scramble to survive and make sense of their overlapping personalities, politics and love. The Alliance Theatre commissioned this piece by Pearl Cleage; this is a 20th anniversary staging featuring Crystal Fox as Angel. Through May 10. $25 and up. 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, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details (including talkbacks and other special events), tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
THIS WEEKEND ONLY
Classic Soul With the ASO. FRIDAY-SATURDAY. Vocalists (and Broadway regulars) Capathia Jenkins and Darius de Haas join the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and conductor Michael Krajewski for two nights of deep-down soul, music that moved generations in the 1960s and ‘70s. $25.50-$75.50. Atlanta Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
Modern Choreographic Voices. FRIDAY-SUNDAY. Recommended. Atlanta Ballet reprises three innovative works from past seasons. Ohad Naharin’s Minus 16 is a thrill ride through the human experience with music ranging from Israeli folk songs to Dean Martin standards. Seven Sonatas by American Ballet Theatre’s Alexei Ratmansky is a classical challenge. And Quietly Walking by Gina Patterson melds classical and contemporary movement. $23-$124. 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 404.892.3303. (Pictured: A scene from Seven Sonatas)
LAST CHANCE
The Explorer’s Club. CLOSES SUNDAY. Aurora Theatre goes madcap with this romp that juxtaposes feminine ideals with the strait-laced backdrop of 19th-century Britain. Courtney Patterson, a Georgia Shakespeare and Alliance Theatre regular, leads the nine-person cast. $20-$40. 8 tonight-Friday; 2:30 + 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. 128 E. Pike St., Lawrenceville. Free, covered, lighted parking in city deck at 153 E. Crogan St., Lawrenceville. Details, tickets HERE or at 678.226.6222.
The Wilderness. CLOSES SUNDAY. World premiere. Anytime actor-turned-playwright Theroun D’Arcy Patterson (A Thousand Circlets, That Uganda Play) has something new onstage, it’s worth a look. This piece takes place in the wake of a traumatic event, when three women tumble into a world where the shadows of the past have grown legs, arms and teeth. Note: Contains partial nudity and adult situations. $15; $10 students. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. The Fern Theatre at 7 Stages, 1107 Euclid Ave. N.E. Details, tickets HERE.
NOW PLAYING
Damn Yankees. THROUGH APRIL 26. This classic American musical puts a spin on the legend of Faust when a diehard Washington Senators baseball fan sells his soul to help his team beat the damn Yankees and win the pennant. The 1955 original, a Gwen Verdon vehicle, won seven Tony awards including best musical. The 1994 revival with Bebe Neuwirth won one. The score includes “Heart,” “Whatever Lola Wants,” “Six Months Out of Every Year” and many more. $30-$50. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Atlanta Lyric Theatre at the Jennie T. Anderson Theatre, Cobb County Civic Center Complex, 548 S. Marietta Parkway. Details, tickets HERE. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com …
My Fair Lady. THROUGH APRIL 26. Wouldn’t it be loverly? Georgia Ensemble Theatre closes its 22nd season with Lerner and Loewe’s classic take on Shaw’s Pygmalion. You know the players: flower peddler Eliza Doolittle (Pump Boys & Dinettes’ Molly Coyne), stuffy phonetician Henry Higgins (Carey Curtis Smith), Colonel Pickering (William S. Murphey) and lovestruck Freddy Eynsford-Hill (Kyle Brumley). $15-$39. GET at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center, 950 Forrest St., Roswell. Details, tickets HERE or at 770.641.1260. (Pictured: Coyne as Eliza Doolittle. Photo by Dan Carmody/Studio7)
Our Town. THROUGH APRIL 26. The New American Shakespeare Tavern becomes the fictional American town of Grover’s Corners in this staging of the Thornton Wilder classic, one of America’s great plays. Artistic director Jeff Watkins is the Stage Manager, with Galen Crawley and Adam King as young sweethearts Emily and George. 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 6:30 p.m. Sunday. $15-$39. 499 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.874.5299. (Pictured: Crawley and King)
Real Women Have Curves. THROUGH APRIL 26. Five Mexican-American women travel the road of self-discovery in this coming-of-age drama, part of Aurora Theatre’s Teatro del Sol programming. In Spanish with English supertitles. $20-$30. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday. In the Harvel Lab. 128 E. Pike St., Lawrenceville. Free, covered, lighted parking in city deck at 153 E. Crogan St., Lawrenceville. Details, tickets HERE or at 678.226.6222.
Grand Concourse. THROUGH APRIL 26. At Horizon Theatre. This comic-drama, set in an urban soup kitchen, is described as “insightful, with a moving, even shocking epiphany” by the Huffington Post. The cast: Horizon regular Maria Rodriguez-Sager, Allan Edwards, Alexandra Ficken and Evan Cleaver. The playwright is Heidi Schreck (TV’s “Nurse Jackie”). $20-$30. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3 + 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and 5 p.m. Sunday. 1083 Austin Ave. N.E. Details, tickets at HERE or at 404.584.7450. Learn more about Rodriguez-Sager in this ENCORE SNAPSHOT.
NEXT WEEK
Creation/Creator. APRIL 23 + 25. World premiere. Be part of history when the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra presents a staged version of this piece by Christopher Theofanidis, which will be recorded for a CD. The piece weaves text and ideas from philosophy, science, religion, poetry and religion to examine the relationship between God and humanity. This Theater of a Concert event includes five soloists, the ASO, its Chorus and music director Robert Spano on the podium. $25.50-$75.50. 8 p.m. Thursday; 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
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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. Please email: kathy@encoreatlanta.com.
