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New Alliance season — and website!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
HEY, EVERYBODY: This is running Sunday, but I wanted to give you an advance look. Also, check out the Alliance’s new web site: alliancetheatre.org
Alliance Theatre artistic director Susan V. Booth has been planning her company’s seasons for six years now, and one thing she’s learned about audiences is that they love “musicals with complex stories.”
Broadway’s “The Color Purple,” which opened at the city’s largest playhouse in 2004 and went on to win the backing of producer Oprah Winfrey, is one example. Next fall, Booth’s theater will stage the world premiere of yet another one, which also happens to be an Oprah-related property: “The Women of Brewster Place,” based on the Gloria Naylor novel that was made into a 1989 TV film starring the popular talk-show host.
New York writer Tim Acito — author of the gay fairy tale “Zanna, Don’t!” — will pen the music, lyrics and book for Naylor’s story about a group of African-American women living in an urban housing project. “It’s very much about resilience and women who survive and the strength that comes from a community of friends,” Booth says of the musical-in-the-making.
“Brewster Place,” the Alliance opener, is a co-production with Washington’s Arena Stage, where it will open in October. Arena artistic director Molly Smith will direct.
Also during the 2007-2008 season, the Alliance is producing two shows related to the Louvre exhibits at the High Museum next door: “Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris,” to be directed by Booth in a cabaret setting on the Hertz Stage, and “Degas’ Little Dancer,” about the relationship between the great impressionist artist and his terpsichorean muse.
“Degas’ Little Dancer,” a children’s theater show to be directed by Rosemary Newcott on the main stage, is likely to appeal to families looking for a theatrical component to their Louvre Atlanta experience.
“It’s kind of a cool thing that we have this arts campus,” Booth says of the Woodruff Arts Center, where the High is in the midst of a three-year venture that brings Louvre treasures to Atlanta. “So how can we find programs that speak to our mission and our audience but also resonate with what’s going on in the larger campus?”
In another exciting project, Georgia Shakespeare producing artistic director Richard Garner will direct Sarah Ruhl’s “Eurydice” on the Hertz, a co-production that will allow the Oglethorpe University-based classical ensemble to work on a more intimate scale.
Booth says she was impressed with Garner’s take on Mary Zimmerman’s “Metamorphoses” last summer, and “Eurydice” “seemed like a perfect partnership.” In Ruhl’s contemporary take on the Greek myth of lost love, Booth explains, “Orpheus is of course a rock star, and Eurydice is a smart girl who lives in her head.”
Though the Alliance is still firming up dates, here’s a look at the 2007-2008 season and approximate schedules:
ALLIANCE STAGE
“The Women of Brewster Place.” September-October.
“Sleuth.” Associate artistic director Kent Gash directs the Anthony Shaffer classic. October-November.
Musical (to be determined). January-February 2008.
“Doubt.” Booth directs John Patrick Shanley’s 2005 Pulitzer Prize winner. April-May 2008.
“A Christmas Carol.” The Dickens classic returns. November-December.
HERTZ STAGE
“Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well.” September-October.
“In the Red and Brown Water.” Tarell Alvin McCraney’s world premiere is the winner of the Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition. February 2008.
“Eurydice.” March-April 2008.
FAMILY SERIES
“Degas’s Little Dancer.” October-November.
“Seussical.” Rosemary Newcott directs the Dr. Seuss tales. February-March 2008.
Information: 404-733-4600; alliancetheatre.org
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