What to do? What to see? Our top recommendations include the return of “Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike,” a co-production now getting a second run at laughs at Aurora Theatre. Pictured, from left: Tess Malis Kincaid, Bill Murphey and Lala Cochran.
RECOMMENDED
In the Next Room, or the vibrator play. THROUGH OCT. 18. Synchronicity Theatre reprises its 2011 hit with a mostly new cast. It’s 1887. The invention of the light bulb and a handy new instrument to treat “hysteria” has Dr. Givings’ patients all aglow and his young wife very curious. Sarah Ruhl’s comedy was Pulitzer and Tony Award-nominated. Cast: Daniel May, Bryn Striepe, Tony Larkin, Wendy Melkonian, Danielle Mills, Doyle Reynolds and Maria Rodriguez-Sager. $20-$28 (reserved seats $10 more). 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 5 p.m. Sunday. Synchronicity Theatre at Peachtree Pointe, 1545 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.484.8636. For more, see this ENCORE FEATURE. (Pictured: Bryn Striepe. Photo by BreeAnne Clowdus)
A Steady Rain. THROUGH OCT. 11. The Alliance Theatre stages what’s described as a harrowing, intimate story of two Chicago police officers pushing their moral boundaries to the breaking point. A Joseph Jefferson Award winner (Chicago’s theater honors) for best new work and best production. For ages 18 and up. Directed by Steppenwolf Theatre co-founder Jeff Perry (Cyrus Beene on TV’s “Scandal”). $20 + $35. 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’s Hertz Stage, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000. For more on the show and Jeff Perry, see this ENCORE FEATURE. (Pictured, from left: Sal Viscuso, Thomas Vincent Kelly)
S
tupid F*cking Bird. THROUGH OCT. 11. Aaron Posner’s comedy is a tale of love, art and revolution with a passionate young director, a famous novelist, a beautiful young actress, and an aging Hollywood star and her young lover. The Actor’s Express cast: Lane Carlock, Evan Cleaver, Matt Felton, Stephanie Friedman, Theo Harness, Robert Lee Hindsman and Rhyn Saver. $26. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. King Plow Arts Center, 887 W. Marietta St. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.607.7469. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com. (Pictured: Carlock and Hindsman. Photo by BreeAnne Clowdus)
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. OPENS FRIDAY | THROUGH OCT 25. This regional premiere, an Aurora Theatre / Horizon Theatre co-pro, takes its comedic turn in Lawrenceville. Playwright Christopher Durang’s Tony Award-winning riff on Chekhov includes a voodoo doll, a crying match and a reverse striptease, among other antics. The cast: Denise Arribas, Lala Cochran, Tess Malis Kincaid, Edward McCreary, Bill Murphey and India Sada Tyree. $30-$55. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 2:30 + 8 p.m. Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Discount matinee at 10 a.m. Oct. 21. 128 E. Pike St., Lawrenceville. Free, attached, covered parking in city deck at 153 E. Crogan St. Details, tickets HERE or at 678.226.6222.
THIS WEEKEND ONLY
ASO: Spano Conducts Beethoven With Jonathan Biss. 8 p.m. Thursday + Saturday. Featuring Concerto for Orchestra by Jennifer Higdon and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Higdon is a member of the ASO’s Atlanta School of Composers. Biss, an American pianist, solos on the Beethoven. $20-$79. 8 nightly. Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000. (Pictured: Higdon)
ASO: Casual Fridays. 6:30 P.M. Friday. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra launches its 2015-16 season of less-expensive shorter evenings for end-of-weekers. Featuring the first movement of Jennifer Higdon’s Concerto for Orchestra and Beethoven’s “Emperor” concerto with pianist Jonathan Biss. $25 all seats. 6:30 p.m. Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
Curious (Literary) Encounters. OPENS TONIGHT | THROUGH SUNDAY. Seven Atlanta artists/ensembles create original, interactive work based on such literary works as The Great Gatsby, The Joy Luck Club and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. Join 7 Stages’ Michael Haverty, the Imperial OPA Circus, Found Stages Theatre, the Artisan Company, choreographer Erik Thurmond, playwright-actor Johnny Drago and others in exploring art pieces tucked into the nooks and corners of the 7 Stages space in Little Five Points. $22; $15 students. 7-9 tonight-Saturday; 6-8 p.m. Sunday. 1105 Euclid Ave. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.523.7647. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
OPENING THIS WEEKEND
Divorciadas, Evangélicas y Vegetarianas (Divorcees, Evangelists and Vegetarians). OPENS FRIDAY | THROUGH OCT. 18. Joys and frustrations unique to single ladies of all ages come to light in this wacky modern tale featuring divorcee Beatriz, who is at her wits’ end, Gloria a pushy vegetarian with tons of personal baggage, and the evangelical Meche, a menopausal widow. These friends will help each other through personal crises … if they can keep from killing each other first. Performed in Spanish with English supertitles. $20-$30. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday. At Aurora Theatre/Teatro Aurora, 128 E. Pike St., Lawrenceville. Free, attached and covered parking in city lot at 153 E. Crogan St. Details, tickets HERE or at 678.226.6222. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
La bohème. OPENS SATURDAY | THROUGH OCT. 11. The Atlanta Opera stages Puccini’s story about young lovers in 19th-century Paris and their group of bohemian poets, painters and philosophers. Expect a cinematic approach to the staging. Sung in Italian with English supertitles. General & artistic director Tomer Zvulun directs. $29.53-$140.47; season subscriptions available. 8 p.m. Saturday; 7:30 p.m. Oct. 6; 8 p.m. Oct. 9 and 3 p.m. Oct. 11. Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, Atlanta. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.881.8885. (Pictured at right, Zvulun)
Buckminster Full: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe. PREVIEWS TONIGHT-FRIDAY | OPENS SATURDAY. Engineer, environmentalist, futurist, poet, philosopher and inventor of the geodesic dome. R. Buckminster Fuller, who died at age 87 in 1983, was a visionary who foretold many of today’s challenges. He’s alive again, onstage, in this 90-minute, one-man show at Theatrical Outfit with actor Tom Key. Through Oct. 25. $25-$50. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 2:30 + 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday. At 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 at left, Key as Fuller)
CLOSING THIS WEEKEND
Jar the Floor. THROUGH SUNDAY. Cheryl West’s dramatic comedy features four generations of women who gather to celebrate their matriarch’s 90th birthday, sharing love and time-tested complaints along the way. Staged by Dominion Entertainment. $15-$35. 8 tonight-Friday; 2 + 8 p.m. Saturday; and 4 p.m. Sunday. Southwest Arts Center, 915 New Hope Road, Atlanta. Tickets HERE or at 800.838.3006. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
NOW PLAYING
The Playboy of the Western World. THROUGH OCT. 11. Arís Theatre, Atlanta’s stage for Celtic culture, presents the J.M. Synge’s classic. Christy Mahon thinks he killed his da, and now every girl in the county can’t stop thinking about him. Synge’s comedy caused riots at its 1907 debut, revived an Anglo-Irish word and quite possibly launched the title of a magazine read only for its articles. $15-$25. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 5 p.m. Sunday. Georgia Public Broadcasting, 260 14th St. N.W., Studio B. Details, tickets HERE. Information at 404.692.0053. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
Tiger Style! IN PREVIEWS | OPENS OCT. 7. World premiere. Playwright Mike Lew (the Kendeda-winning Bike America) returns to the Alliance Theatre with another boisterous work, a new comedy about two young Asian-Americans who wonder what, if anything, they owe their immigrant heritage. For ages 13 and up. The five-person cast includes Emily Kuroda, perhaps more familiar as Mrs. Kim on “Gilmore Girls.” $20-$55 previews; $50-$95 opening night; $20-$63 regularly. Through Oct. 18. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2:30 + 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 + 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000. Discount tickets (previews only) at PoshDealz.com. For more on Mike Lew, see this ENCORE FEATURE.
NEXT WEEK
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. OCT. 8, 10-11. Principal guest conductor Donald Runnicles leads a program comprising Debussy’s Prelude to Afternoon of a Faun, Schubert’s Six German Dances, Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8. Principal flutist Christina Smith and principal harpist Elisabeth Remy Johnson are spotlighted on the Mozart. $20-$79. 8 p.m. Oct. 8 + 10; 3 p.m. Oct. 11. Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
Jersey Boys. OCT. 6-11. The story of how four blue-collar kids became one of the greatest successes in pop music history. They wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds and sold 175 million records worldwide — all before they were 30. You know them as the Four Seasons. Presented by Broadway in Atlanta. $40-$150. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2 + 8 p.m. Saturday; and 1 +6:30 p.m. Sunday. Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 855.285.8499.
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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’s affiliated with Synchronicity Theatre, mentioned above. Please email: kathy@encoreatlanta.com
