Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous
The hardest question a playwright ever has to answer is: What’s your play about?
We always have an answer, but it almost never satisfies us. We try to distill plot, character, tone and the mysterious beauty of the language itself into a few fast lines that will make our listeners want to get to know these characters a little better. See how the story turns out. It is our hope that they will head for the box office as the playwright heads back into rehearsal thinking “Is that really what it’s about?”
And then one day in rehearsal, an actor will say a line and you hear it as if for the first time. And in the exchange that follows when the other actor responds, you hear that as if for the very first time, too, and at last you know what the play is about.
And you want to turn to your director and ask her if she knew all along, but in order to adhere to the rules that theatrical collaboration requires, it’s dangerously bad form for the playwright to ever express less than a full and complete knowledge and understanding of every word she’s ever written, so you hold that moment close to your heart because you finally know what the play is about.
It’s about women. Men, too, although none of them appear on the stage this time. It’s about friendship and truth and how it feels to be an artist forever and ever amen. It’s about love, and longing and lying and looking for a sign that the road you’re on is the right one.
It’s about getting older and wondering how that happened so fast and being young enough to be impatient for it to please move a little faster.
It’s about how to find a way to communicate across all those lines or between them or even because of them…
So, when Pete, who is only 25, says, “I don’t want anybody to love me in spite of. I want somebody to love me because of,” it’s kind of a love story.
And when Betty who is 65 says: “Our job used to be adding to the record. Now our job is to make sure they tell the story straight,” it’s kind of a passing the torch story.
But when Anna, also 65, says: “I’m not giving anybody anything,” it becomes a cross generational if you bad enough, come and take it, kind of story.
And when Kate, who is 45, says: “I don’t think you realize how many of us were transformed by that piece,” it’s a story about what we gave and what we got in return.
So, when they ask you what the play is about, tell them we’ve got four amazing women in a beautiful midtown hotel suite watching the rain outside their window and talking about their lives, and by extension our lives, our hopes, our Atlanta dreams, deeply rooted in this place where we live our stories every day.
Tell them we’ve got a mysterious woman in a mink coat and a cherry red Cadillac. Tell them we’ve got cultural revolutions and personal revelations and a beautiful rainbow because the playwright still believes in magic.
Tell them we’ve got a happy ending with their name on it.
There are countless reasons to see Pearl Cleage’s newest play Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous on the brand-new Coca-Cola Stage, running March 20 – April 14. The title alone is a work of art, but we want to make your decision extra easy, so here are the top 5 reasons you should see this (shamelessly) gorgeous show:
1) Because, Pearl.
Jennings Hertz Artistic Director, Susan V. Booth, says it best-
“Pearl Cleage is a poet, activist, novelist, playwright and human antenna of a citizen who channels the maelstrom of a given American moment into language. Very specific language that is neither polemic nor journalism, but language that feels all the world like an overheard conversation between people you want to know. Hers is the language of real people talking about real things, and its got more open doors and windows in it for all of us to walk through than most writers I know. Her characters lay down welcome mats into their fears and their foibles with a kind of vulnerability that inspires me to be a little more honest (and a little less guarded) every time I get to dance with them.This time, we’ll dance with how women feel about their age and how society’s relationship to them changes as they age. We’ll dance with the question of whose voice gets to be heard and when. If you’re fortunate enough not to have to worry about either of those things, lean in anyway – because I’ll bet someone close to you would appreciate you doing so. And if those things resonate with you? There’s a welcome mat with your name on it.”
2) Who run the world?
Girls. It’s basically an all-women creative team. The unparalleled Susan V. Booth leads the helm as director right after an exciting run of Ever After. The shamelessly gorgeous costumes designed by Kara Harmon (who also worked on “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Daredevil,” and “Boardwalk Empire,”) melt into the scenery of a hotel room set here in Atlanta that may seem a bit familiar to you, designed by the brilliant Collette Pollard (Alliance: Geller Girls, Good People, and The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls; Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company). The lighting design of Michelle Habeck (Broadway: Thoroughly Modern Millie; MCC Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre) provides a polished context for the lessons that come with searching for a common ground between generations. And designing the sound is Resident Sound Designer Clay Benning, who is not a woman, but whom we love.
3) Atlanta is the sauce.
Atlanta. The city of dreams. The city of great theatre. And the city where this play is set. It’s exciting to see our home represented on stage and to recognize local staples. (Spoiler: someone climbs on top of the Margaret Mitchell House and sings a song.) Atlanta has a penchant for artistic activism, and we get the opportunity to see this up close and personal by staying close to our roots. We will all feel like a fly on the wall.
4) Indulge us while we name-drop.
There is a lot of talent jam-packed into this show. Terry Burrell (Alliance: Ever After, Hospice + Pointing at the Moon) as Anna Campbell; Je Nie Fleming (Alliance: A Christmas Carol; Bike America) as Kate; Marva Hicks (Broadway: Motown the Musical; Caroline, or Change) as Betty Samson; and Ericka Ratcliff (Alliance: A Midsummer Night’s Dream) as Pete round out a tremendous ensemble. Each actor gets their chance to shine providing you with laughter, truth, and maybe even a few tears. The star-power in this one alone could solve any energy crisis, making this a very special occasion.
5) A play so grand that only the Coca-Cola Stage could handle it.
Remember that huge renovation we’ve been talking about for years? The Coca-Cola Stage? Well, it is complete and we have reclaimed it as our home. With state-of-the-art technology designed to enhance acoustics and a more intimate seating chamber to create truly shared experiences, Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous will be the first world premiere in the momentous space.
Sounds like a good time, right? We’ll see you there! Get your tickets here.
The Alliance Teen Ensemble has the opportunity to see and review each production during the season. See their responses to Goodnight, Tyler below.
Less than 30 seconds into the show, Tyler (played by Travis Turner) was making all of us laugh. And, by the end of act one, we were all crying. B.J. Tindal has written Goodnight, Tyler, an amazing show which is playing right now in the Hertz Stage at The Alliance Theatre. There is no better way to describe it other than the show ad which describes it as “contemporary and unexpectedly humorous.” You will laugh, you will cry, and then you will laugh even more.
The cast of six (Travis Turner, Alex Gibson, Alexandra Ficken, Andrea Frye, Danielle Deadwyler, and Chris Harding) are all strong actors from all around the country who have amazing performances comprised of powerful monologues and hilarious jokes. The stage (designed to look like someone’s living room and kitchen) is like nothing you’ve ever seen before – when the audience enters the theatre, they fill up two sides of the audience with the stage directly in between so that each half of the audience looks through the state and can see the other half of the audience. This really helps to immerse the audience into the lives of the six characters you get to know over a period of two hours. And, the whole show is made even better by Shawn Duan’s projection design (which plays the biggest part at the beginning of act two), Kara Harmon’s realistic costume design, Liz Lee’s beautiful mood-shifting and transitional lighting design, Jason Sherwood’s realistic scenic design, and David Lamont Wilson’s simplistic but meaningful sound design.
Goodnight, Tyler is the most honest, emotional, and beautiful piece of theatre you will ever see. Go see the show and don’t miss out on this short run (February 16 through March 10).
– Ari, 12th Grade
Very rarely have I seen such a beautifully raw rendering of a human’s resistance and need to grieve, as shown in the Alliance Theatre’s Goodnight, Tyler. Though it featured numerous character monologues, not once did my interest diminish because the playwright, B.J. Tindal wrote every character with so much realism and dynamic purpose that it almost forced you to watch this painful occurrence of grief and pain.
I genuinely applaud B.J. Tindal, for being able to create such a sense of realism. However, with the tackling of such a topic as realism, a writer must face the challenge of writing in a way that accounts for all of life’s complexities. Though this was done quite well in aspects of internal character development, I felt that realism fell short when applied to character relations. Because of the focus on each character, and due to the multiple use of characters, being able to implement such a meaningful relationship between them felt short. However, this aspect is not necessarily a bad thing. In the real world, it is often our internal complexities that truly influence our relationships with those around us. When we feel stagnant in our lives, we can somehow always seem to tie it to the people around us. Accordingly, when we feel as if our life is moving for the better, or worse, we can once again tie it to the people around us. This idea is all to say that in the tackling something as significant as realism the focus is how you internally develop the characters themselves. B.J. Tindal must have been aware of this factor to be able to incorporate so much complexity within the characters themselves.
Overall, seeing The Alliance Theatre’s Goodnight, Tyler was an eye-opening experience, that tackled so many societal issues, and left me with so much to talk and think about. If you have the opportunity, it is something I wouldn’t hesitate at the chance to see.
– Antonio, 12th grade
As I walked to the Hertz stage last weekend to view Goodnight, Tyler by B.J. Tindal, I felt the anticipation bubbling up inside of me. I am always excited for new shows on the Hertz stage. Every time I walk in there the room has changed. They always transform the space so that the environment is fitting for the piece. As I stepped through the curtains to the seating area I was blown away. There was audience seating on both sides of the stage, facing each other. It was like they had built a small square room in the center of the theater and simply removed two of the walls. It felt very realistic and intimate, as if I was stepping into someone else’s house and just witnessing their life play out. The actors moved about naturally. I feel like my experience would be very different if I were sitting on the other side of the room. I would love to see it again to find out if my perception of the play changes.
For most of the play, Chelsea, Tyler’s fiancé, was facing my direction while Tyler’s grandmother was facing the other direction more. I saw more of Chelsea’s reactions and facial expressions, giving me a better understanding of her point of view when she argued with Tyler’s grandmother. I sympathized with her more and sided with her as I watched the story play out. I might have had a better understanding of the grandmother had I seen more of her reactions. This ability to change an audience’s perspective is amazing. I enjoyed how close I felt to the story because of how they built the set. I highly recommend experiencing Goodnight, Tyler before it closes.
– Stephanie, 12th grade
If you have the opportunity to see Goodnight, Tyler at the Alliance Theatre, I suggest you take it. The show is moving, entertaining, and engaging, with a powerful message and and a compelling narrative. You may feel intimidated that the show takes on such heavy topics such as police brutality against black people in America, but the show allows the audience to observe the events and characters more objectively. In this way, the show is especially unique, as each character’s point of view is justified in detail.
To contrast the darker moments in the play, there is light-hearted comedy guaranteed to make you laugh out loud.
Additionally, the set design and lighting are uniquely beautiful, making the show even more interesting to watch, and of course the actors, director, and crew are incredibly talented to have made this show come to life. All things considered, Goodnight, Tyler was a joy to watch!
– Riana, 11th grade