ATLANTA’S HORIZON THEATRE begins its 35th season in January with Sarah DeLappe’s soccer-themed The Wolves, kicking off an exceptionally strong five-show lineup.
Horizon, led by producing director Lisa Adler and co-artistic director Jeff Adler in the Inman Park/Little Five Points neighborhood, schedules its seasons in concert with the calendar year, not the school year as most other metro companies do.
The 2019 season includes a Tony Award winner, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and some of the most-talked-about contemporary scripts in America. (If only Horizon’s seats were more comfortable.) Here’s a closer look at four of the five. A regional premiere involving writer-director Thomas W. Jones II (Blackberry Daze, Da Kink in My Hair, How Black Mothers Say I Love You) is scheduled for July-August.
THE WOLVES. Jan. 25-March 3. Sarah DeLappe’s dramatic comedy, a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize, is a portrait of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for nine American girls who just want to score some goals. Left quad. Right quad. Lunge. A girl’s indoor soccer team warms up. From the safety of their suburban stretch circle, the team navigates big questions and wages tiny battles with all the vim and vigor of a pack of adolescent warriors. Horizon artistic associate Heidi Cline McKerley (a Suzi Bass Award winner for Avenue Q) directs. Recommended for age 13 and up (strong language, adult situations).
PIPELINE. March 22-April 21. Dominique Morisseau’s award-winning 2017 drama looks hard at the school-to-prison pipeline that ensnares people of color, especially young men. Its main characters are a dedicated, inner-city public high school teacher and her only son, who attends a private boarding school. “Pipeline confirms Dominique Morisseau’s reputation as a playwright of piercing eloquence,” critic Ben Brantley said in The New York Times. Morisseau, a Detroit native, is a 2018 MacArthur Foundation “genius award” grantee. True Colors Theatre Company staged her Detroit ’67 in 2016 and will produce her Skeleton Crew beginning Feb. 12. Pipeline was nominated for five of off-Broadway’s 2018 Lucille Lortel awards, including outstanding play.
THE CAKE. May 17-June 23. Bekah Brunstetter’s 2017 dramatic comedy is the tale of a sweet-natured Christian baker surprised by a cake order for a lesbian wedding (one of the brides-to-be is her best friend’s daughter). The baker, named Della, struggles to reconcile her deeply held belief in “traditional marriage” and the love she has for the woman she helped raise. The Cake premiered in Los Angeles, where Brunstetter lives, and will receive its New York premiere in March in a limited run at off-Broadway’s Manhattan Theatre Club. Brunstetter, an Emmy-nominated writer-producer for NBC’s “This Is Us,” was an Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition finalist in 2006/07.
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME. Sept. 20-Oct. 27. A co-production with Lawrenceville’s Aurora Theatre. Simon Stephens’ 2012 piece premiered in London (winning seven Olivier awards) and ran nearly two years on Broadway (where it won five Tony awards including best play). It’s based on the Mark Haddon novel of the same name and centers around 15-year-old Christopher, who has an extraordinary brain but difficulty with everyday life. At 12:07 a.m. one night, he finds his neighbor’s dead dog and becomes determined to find out who did it. His detective work, forbidden by his father, takes him on a journey that turns his world on end.
Season tickets ($95-$150) are on sale now HERE or at 404.584.7450. Single tickets will go on sale at a later date.
