While the theatre community has endured a lot of changes, Theatrical Outfit has had a particularly surprising year.
When you-know-what hit last spring, longtime Artistic Director Tom Key was on the home stretch of his retirement with plans for Matt Torney to pick up the torch. Torney had about enough time to announce plans for his debut season before it became clear execution of any of those plans would be challenging, if not impossible.
In regrouping for a new 2020/21 season, the team adapted by producing some digital programming in the fall and even hired a new associate artistic director at the beginning of 2021. So as a culmination of these changes, the theatre has just announced a fully reworked digital spring season, accessible to patrons everywhere.
From Theatrical Outfit
“I am thrilled with the response we have gotten for our digital programming so far, and am excited to share these exceptional plays with Atlanta audiences this Spring.”
“When putting this season together, we challenged ourselves to look for plays that both engaged directly with the crucial questions of 2021 and the COVID recovery and also allowed our audience escape into new worlds and explore ideas in fresh and exciting ways. The three plays also create a path towards reopening this fall, especially the live stream of Fires in the Mirror which will feel as close to live theatre as you can get at home!”
-Matt Torney, Theatrical Outfit Artistic Director
Spring 2021- Performances
The Catastrophist
by Lauren Gunderson
Based on the life and work of Dr. Nathan Wolfe
In Partnership with Marin Theatre Company & Round House Theatre
Directed by Jasson Minadakis
STREAMING March 2 – 21, 2021
About: How do you plan for catastrophe? Virologist Nathan Wolfe, named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World for his work tracking Ebola and swine flu, proposed pandemic insurance years before the novel coronavirus outbreak. No one bought it. Now, in a post-COVID world, we hear his story—presented entirely digitally. Silent Sky playwright Lauren Gunderson returns with a time-jumping tale based on the life and work of Nathan Wolfe (who also happens to be her husband). A deep and exciting dive into the profundities of scientific exploration and the realities of facing your own mortality, The Catastrophist is a theatrical experience built of and for this moment in time.
A Hundred Words For Snow
by Tatty Hennessy
Directed by Matt Torney
STREAMING April 13 – May 2, 2021
About: How do you plan for adventure? 15-year-old Rory’s father always wanted to be an Artic explorer, but had to settle for being a geography teacher in suburban England. When he dies suddenly in an accident, Rory decides to honor her dad’s lifelong dream and to take his ashes on one last, great expedition to the North Pole. Direct from a sold-out run on London’s West End, Tatty Hennessy’s epic and hilarious A Hundred Words For Snow will take you on an unforgettable journey through love, loss, and endless snow.
Fires In The Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn And Other Identities
by Anna Deavere Smith
Directed by Adam Immerwahr & January LaVoy
LIVE STREAMING June 11 – June 27
Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays (9 PERFORMANCES ONLY)
About: How do you plan for a reckoning? Theatrical Outfit will commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the Crown Heights riot by bringing Anna Deavere Smith’s (Shonda Rhimes’ For The People) documentary theatre masterpiece to life with soaring theatricality. Taken directly from a series of interviews with over fifty members of the Jewish and Black communities following the historic riots, Fires In The Mirror turns their voices into a tour de force one-woman show starring January LaVoy. This groundbreaking play is “Viscerally Smart [And] Endlessly Empathetic” (The New Yorker).
Spring 2021- Special Events
TO❤ ATL
A Virtual Wine Tasting Celebrating Love & ATL
February 19, 2021 • 7pm
About: Theatrical Outfit is celebrating Atlanta with a unique online event to toast our love for this great city and everyone who lives in it. The evening will feature tastings of three bottles of Argentinian wines from Altos las Hormigas and Colonia las Liebres guided by sommelier Javier Gomez. To complement the wine, Atlanta jazz favorites Joe Gransden and Kenny Banks will play a couple of your favorite tunes, the dancers from Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre will share a special performance, and you’ll enjoy sweet treats from the TO staff. We hope you’ll join us for this hour-long event and share the love while supporting the work of Theatrical Outfit and our mission to start the conversations that matter in the heart of downtown Atlanta.
Our Luckie Stars Gala
A Virtual Event
May 15, 2021 • Cocktail Hour at 6:30pm • Event at 7pm
About: Join us from the comfort of your home for the annual OUR LUCKIE STARS VIRTUAL GALA – a fun evening of homemade cocktails, fabulous auction items, and lots of surprises! We will honor our devoted District 2 Councilmember, Amir R. Farokhi. Support world-class theatre in the unprecedented times. All proceeds from this fundraiser will support Theatrical Outfit’s mainstage productions, education offerings, and community engagement programs. We’ll see you live online!
About those tickets…
VIP Packages and single tickets to all events are on sale now at www.theatricaloutfit.org or 678-528-1500.
