The Pulitzer Prize-nominated “Father Comes Home From the Wars” opens at Actor’s Express; “Split in Three” continues at Aurora; and 13 Atlanta Ballet dancers, who won’t return next season, perform their finales in “Camino Real.” Pictured: Evan Cleaver in “Father Comes Home.” Photo illustration by Ashley Earles-Bennett.
** Indicates an Encore Atlanta spring/summer season recommendation.
Recommended
** Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3). IN PREVIEWS | OPENS SATURDAY. At Actor’s Express. Suzan-Lori Parks’ 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist resets Homer’s epic Greek poem The Odyssey during the American Civil War. In this trilogy, a slave named Homer follows his master into battle for the Confederacy in exchange for a promise of freedom. Father, which won off-Broadway’s 2015 Obie Award for playwriting, is one of the most celebrated plays of the decade. Martin Damien Wilkins directs. Evan Cleaver plays Hero. $22 and up. Through June 11. 8 tonight-Friday (previews). Opens at 8 p.m. Saturday. Regularly at 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. King Plow Arts Center in West Midtown, 887 West Marietta St. NW. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.607.7469. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
** Split in Three. THROUGH MAY 28. This new comic-drama from Atlanta playwright Daryl Lisa Fazio is set in 1969 Mississippi as the Supreme Court forces the last segregated school system to integrate. Two sisters are caught in the national crossfire, especially when their long-lost half-sister hits town. Split in Three had its world premiere in spring 2015 at Florida Repertory Theatre. “The results,” the Fort Myers News-Press said, “are haunting, funny, heartbreaking and deeply satisfying.” Aurora’s associate artistic director Justin Anderson again directs. The cast is led by Courtney Patterson, Falashay Pearson and Rhyn McLemore Saver. $20-$55. 8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 2:30 + 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. 128 E. Pike St. in Lawrenceville. Free, covered, attached parking in city deck at 153 E. Crogan St. Details, tickets HERE or at 678.226.6222. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
This weekend only
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra: Gluck’s “Orfeo.” TONIGHT + SATURDAY. The myth of Orpheus, the musician who visits the underworld to rescue his wife, Euridice, is considered a Gluck masterpiece. American countertenor David Daniels makes his ASO debut in the title role; Susanna Phillips makes her ASO debut as Euridice. This is the complete opera, with choreography by Lauri Stallings, direction by James Alexander and scenography by Daniel Arsham. $20-$79. 8 nightly. Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. NE. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra Finale. SUNDAY ONLY. The 120-member ASYO wraps its 2016/17 season with performances of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (2nd and 3rd movements); Respighi’s Pines of Rome; and Marquez’s Danzón No. 2, under the baton of assistant conductor Joseph Young. All tickets $10. 3 p.m. Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. NE. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
Camino Real. FRIDAY-SUNDAY. Atlanta Ballet reprises the Helen Pickett ballet based on the Tennessee Williams play. The story: The wicked hotelier Gutman rules the Camino Real with an iron fist. Residents live in fear in the dead-end town until Kilroy, a former boxing champ and perhaps their savior, arrives. These performances are the last at Atlanta Ballet for Tara Lee (21 seasons) and Christian Clark (15 seasons), two of five dancers who’ve decided to leave the company after the first year of Gennadi Nedvigin’s artistic directorship. Eight others, who were not offered 2017/18 contracts, also are leaving. $20-$128. 8 p.m. Friday; 2 + 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, Atlanta. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.892.3303.
Xperimental Puppetry Theater. TONIGHT-SUNDAY. XPT, an annual, decidedly adult, event, returns to the Center for Puppetry Arts. It’s an innovative puppet theater festival featuring six live performances, four short films and an art installation, with such titles as Helix of Fire, AcroCloud and Coyote Love. $10 members; $15 non-members. 8 tonight-Saturday; 5 p.m. Sunday. 1404 Spring St. NW. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.873.3391.
Last chance
Curious Queer Encounters. CLOSES SUNDAY. 7 Stages’ annual interactive theater festival features seven local ensembles/artists creating original performances hidden in and around the Little Five Points theater space. This year, they represent and redefine queer culture. The event, curated by co-artistic director Michael Haverty, includes such artists as Jared Dawson, Jed Drummond, Corian Ellisor, Jim Grimsley, Heidi S. Howard, Jason Livingston, Rebecca Makus, Matthew Terrell and Jessica Unker. Note: Includes nudity and flashing lights. $22.50 and up. 7 tonight; 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday; and 2 p.m. Sunday. 1105 Euclid Ave. NE. Details, tickets HERE or at 404-523-7647.
The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told. CLOSES SUNDAY. Out Front Theatre Company ends its inaugural season with this 1998 Paul Rudnick comedy inspired by the fundamentalist remark, “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” In Rudnick’s revisionist version of the Old Testament, God makes Adam and Steve, along with Jane and Mabel, the first lesbians. The foursome navigates the centuries together, encountering gay animals on Noah’s Ark, a lesbian rabbi and a flamboyant pharaoh. The historical pageant eventually lands in present-day Manhattan. $15-$25. 8 tonight-Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday. 999 Brady Ave. in West Midtown. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.448.2755. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
Still running
The Comedy of Errors. THROUGH MAY 21. Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse tells the comic tale of the merchant twins Antipholus (Enoch King, Andrew Houchins) and the servant twins Dromio (Matt Felten, J.L. Reed), a slap-happy story of mayhem, merriment and, yes, errors. Also in the cast: Chris Hecke, Dani Herd, Steve Hudson, Amanda Lindsey, Gina Rickicki, Jennifer Lamourt, Matt Nitchie and India S. Tyree. $28-$39. 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 6:30 p.m. Sunday. 499 Peachtree St. NE. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.874.5299.
Pete the Cat. THROUGH MAY 21. Premiere. The Center for Puppetry Arts stages an all-new production based on the book series by Georgia artist James Dean, who adopted a scrawny black kitten in 1999. These are Pete’s imagined adventures. Told with marionette, rod and shadow puppets. Artistic director Jon Ludwig wrote the adaptation and directs. Puppeteer/composer Dolph Amick wrote the original music. $20.50 non-members; $10.25 members. 10 + 11:30 a.m. Tuesday-Friday; noon + 2 p.m. Saturday; and 1 + 3 p.m. Sunday. 1404 Spring St. NW. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.873.3391.
Next week
Finding Neverland. OPENS MAY 16. The 2015 stage musical, adapted from the 2004 Johnny Depp-Kate Winslet movie, provides the backstory for Peter Pan, focusing on Scottish novelist/playwright J.M. Barrie’s friendship with the family that inspired his tales of the Boy Who Won’t Grow Up. In this Broadway in Atlanta staging, Barrie is played by Billy Harrigan Tighe, who spent his formative years at Pebblebrook High, Cobb County’s performing arts magnet. The show had a 16-month Broadway run. $30-$125. Through May 21. 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. NE. Details, tickets HERE or at 855.285.8499.
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