ALLIANCE THEATRE PODCAST: AN EXPLORATION OF THEATER AND THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE IT HAPPEN.
On this episode, author Rick Elice and director Jessica Stone share a hilariously authentic conversation on collaboration, creativity and how Water for Elephants came to be.
Rick Elice (Book) Jersey Boys, Rick’s first Broadway credit, co-authored with Marshall Brickman, won the Tony Award, the Grammy Award and the Olivier Award for Best Musical, and has entered the record books as the twelfth longest-running show in Broadway history. With Marshall Brickman and Andrew Lippa, he wrote The Addams Family, starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth. For the past eight years, The Addams Family has topped the list of the most-licensed musicals in North America. Rick’s first play, Peter and the Starcatcher, received nine Tony Award nominations, and won five 2012 Tony Awards. For the past seven years, the play has been among the top ten most-produced plays in North America. Rick also wrote The Cher Show for Broadway, directed by Jason Moore; the world premiere at Paper Mill Playhouse of a new musical, My Very Own British Invasion, directed by Jerry Mitchell; the world premiere at The Old Globe.
Jessica Stone (Director) worked as an actress on and off-Broadway, in television and in film for decades before transitioning to directing. Broadway credits included Anything Goes, Butley, The Odd Couple, The Smell of the Kill, Design for Living, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Grease. Her directing career began in earnest with her all-male 2010 production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum for the Williamstown Theatre Festival. She has since been directing all over the country at such theaters as The Old Globe, A.C.T, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Huntington Theatre Company, Two River Theatre Company, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival among others. Productions include As You Like It, Kate Hamill’s Vanity Fair, Barefoot in the Park, Dancing at Lughnasa, Bad Dates, Ken Ludwig’s Robin Hood! (world premiere), Ripcord, Bad Jews, Arms and the Man, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Charlotte’s Web, June Moon, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Absurd Person Singular, Kimberly Akimbo (off-Broadway premiere at the Atlantic). Most recently, Stone directed the original Broadway musical Kimberly Akimbo, which opened in November 2022. She currently lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons.
Learn more about the Alliance Theatre Podcast.
Meet the many circus organizations that call Metro Atlanta home and learn how you can get involved with them today!
Step right up to the buzzing energy of the circus in Atlanta! The current musical production on the Alliance Theatre’s Coca-Cola stage, Water For Elephants, depicts the triumphs and challenges of life in the American circus in the 1930s. It presents the circus as a source of entertainment and an art form that demands training, skill, and discipline.
Over the past few years, the pandemic has tested the strength of both theaters and circuses nationwide. Celebrating and uplifting the circus arts is crucial as it captivates our imagination and stirs our sense of wonder. We invite you to delve deeper into the circus world and explore the plethora of circus-related activities Metro Atlanta offers. These organizations provide entertainment, education, and harness the power of circus to impact our community.
Whether you unleash your inner acrobat in an aerial class, watch a local circus performance, or donate to a group of clowns that bring joy into children’s lives, your actions advocate for the future of circus arts in our community.
Grab your top hat and prepare to be spellbound in any of your adventures with the organizations listed in this guide.
Atlanta Jugglers Association
Website: atlantajugglers.org
Location: Atlanta, GA
Phone Number: 404-585-6799
Email: atlantajugglers@gmail.com
Atlanta Jugglers Association has free weekly meetings on Thursday evenings at the Little 5 Points Community Center, and everyone is welcome. Some members work as hospital clowns at children’s hospitals through Humorology Atlanta! For more, follow them on Facebook and YouTube.
Challenge Aerial
Website: challengeaerialatlanta.com
Location: Grand Park, Atlanta
Phone number: 404-805-5883
Email: info@challengeaerialatlanta.com
Challenge Aerial works daily to help everyone find magic and joy in aerial arts by leading classes in various circus areas. Challenge Aerial offers group classes and private lessons in aerial silks, hammocks, ropes, dance trapeze, lyra, aerial yoga, traditional yoga, pilates, hula hooping, and adult dance classes. For more, follow them on Instagram @challenge.aerial.
Circus Arts Institute
Website: circusartsinstitute.com
Location: Acworth, Georgia
Phone Number: 404-549-3000
Email: carrie@circusartsinstitute.com
The Circus Arts Institute offers exciting physical and mental training programs combining therapeutic principles and circus skills. Led by their founder, Carrie Heller, in group or individual classes, the Filial Training program can help strengthen the bond between parents and their children. The Circus Arts Institute is also known for its research and training programs in Circus Arts Therapy®. This training is designed for professionals and para-professionals interested in incorporating circus arts into their work as a tool to help children, teens, adults, families, and groups. For more, follow them on Instagram @circusartsatl.
Circus Camp
Website: circuscamp.org
Location: Decatur and Dunwoody, GA
Phone Number: 404-370-0001
Email: ringmaster@circuscamp.org
Circus Camp is where your children create wonderful memories, make new friends, and experience various circus skills. Campers at any skill level are welcome! Ages 5 and older, including teens. Your children participate in actual circus activities – trapeze, tightrope, juggling, magic, and even throwing a pie in a clown’s face! Follow them on Instagram @circuscamp.
Circus Vazquez
Website: circusvazquez.com
Location: Atlanta, GA
Phone Number: (956) 461-2332
From Knoxville, Tennessee, Circus Vazquez is visiting Atlanta! With performances until July 16, this could be a fantastic opportunity for your family to see a show under the big red tent. While they are only here for the summer, make sure to follow them on Instagram @circusvazquez.
Gravity Entertainment
Website: gravityentertains.com
Location: Atlanta, GA
Phone Number: 404-707-4041
Email: info@gravityentertains.com
Hire Gravity Entertainment for your next event. They are a custom variety of entertainment that include a variety of skills such as acrobatics, juggling, fire, aerial silk, aerial straps, lyra, lollipop lyra, stilt walking, Chinese Pole, unicycle, ladder, mermaid, cyr, hula hoop, rolla bolla and more! Follow them on Instagram @gravityentertains.
Humorology Atlanta
Website: humorologyatlanta.org
Location: Atlanta, GA
Phone Number: (404) 737-9018
Email: gina@humorologyatlanta.org
Humorology Atlanta is a group dedicated to bringing community service throughout Atlanta. They use humor to empower children in pediatric hospitals as a distraction from the treatments they are undergoing. Through music, dance, circus arts, mime, magic, and the art of clowning, they spread laughter and smiles to all those they encounter! Follow them on Instagram @humorologyatlanta.
LiquidSky
Website: liquidskyent.com
Location: Atlanta, GA
Phone Number: 404-444-1408
Email: info@liqudiskyent.com
LiquidSky brings together a highly trained troupe of diverse artists who create expressive performances with a mesmerizing display of grace, athleticism, and the beauty of cirque entertainment. They provide fire performances, cirque entertainment, aerial arts, and more! Follow them on Instagram @liquidskyevents.
MakeShift Circus Collective
Website: makeshiftcircus.org
Location: Atlanta, GA
Phone Number: 404-908-6358
Email: sara.k.gregory@gmail.com
MakeShift Circus Collective is an ever-transforming gathering of diverse performance artists who come together to create socially engaged art. Through their projects, they work to amplify and connect diverse voices to build an Atlanta full of color, inclusion, equity, justice, and play. Follow them on Instagram at @makeshiftcircus.
Sky Gym
Website: theskygym.com
Location: Atlanta, GA
Phone number: 404-702-6511
Email: amberkmonson@gmail.com
Sky Gym hopes to inspire humans of all ages, races, orientations, and abilities to spread their wings and fly. They have many classes in aerial dance, yoga and fitness groups, and private training. Make sure to follow them on Instagram @theskygym.
The Off-Centered Project
Website: theoffcenteredproject.com
Location: Atlanta, GA
Phone number: 678-827-3047
Email: Info@theoffcenteredproject.com
The Off-Centered Project provides custom performance designs for events of all sizes around the southeast. Hire them for your next event! Or, if you are a professional performer looking for a place to showcase your skills, email us your resume and examples of your work. Make sure to follow them on Instagram @theoffcenteredproject.
UniverSoul Circus
Website: www.universoulcircus.com
Location: Atlanta, GA
The UniverSoul Circus is known for bringing diversity to the circus world. As a performance group known all around the country, they are applauded for their inclusion and focus on performers of color. Historically, they have deep roots in Atlanta and continue to give back to the community by supporting homeless families, donating to blood cancer, and stocking food in local food banks. Make sure to catch a show the next time they perform in Atlanta. Follow them all year long on Instagram at @universoulcircus.
Water For Elephants will be on the Coca-Cola Stage through July 9. More information about the show tickets can be found here.
Tinashe Kajese-Bolden And Christopher Moses, Currently The Alliance’s Associate Artistic Directors And Interim Artistic Directors, Will Lead The Organization
Kajese-Bolden’s Appointment Follows Four Years As The Alliance’s Bold Associate Artistic Director Overseeing New Works And Mentorship Programs, And A Career As An Actor And Director That Spans Twenty Years
Moses Has Served The Alliance For Nine Years As The Dan Reardon Director Of Education & Associate Artistic Director, Leading & Developing Programming For Youth And Families, As Well As The Theatre’s Training Programs
This Decision Underscores The Alliance’s Ongoing Commitment To Producing New Works For All Audiences
After a national search, the Alliance Theatre Board of Directors has named Tinashe Kajese-Bolden and Christopher Moses as Jennings Hertz Artistic Directors. The appointment follows Kajese-Bolden’s two decades-long career as a director and actor and four-years-long role with the Alliance as the BOLD Associate Artistic Director and Moses’s twenty-year long career with the Alliance, most recently as the Dan Reardon Director of Education and Associate Artistic Director. The pair, both deeply rooted in Atlanta’s arts, cultural, and civic communities, have been serving as Interim Artistic Directors since Susan V. Booth’s departure to become the Artistic Director of Chicago’s Goodman Theatre in October 2022. This appointment marks the first time in its 55-year history that the Alliance has appointed two Artistic Directors, a decision that will support the Theatre’s expected growth over the next five years and strengthens its role as a cultivator of new works for all audiences and leader in arts education.
“On behalf of the Board of Directors and in partnership with the leadership of The Woodruff Arts Center, we are delighted to announce the appointments of Tinashe and Chris, two nationally recognized artists and producers with long-standing connections in the Atlanta community and theater field, as the Alliance’s next artistic leaders,” said Jocelyn Hunter, Alliance Board Chair and Chair of the search committee. “Three things make them the ideal candidates for this role. First, each is extraordinarily talented. Second, they have had a remarkable impact on the Alliance during their period of interim leadership. Third, their vision for the theater’s continued relevance and growth is ambitious and compelling.”
During their tenure as interim Artistic Directors, Kajese-Bolden and Moses embarked on a campaign to fund the building of a new performance space devoted to expanding the Alliance’s programming for youth audiences and programmed the Alliance’s 2023/24 season, which will include four world premieres, two recent Pulitzer Prize-winning works, and multiple partnerships. They also, with the support of selection committees, chose the winning play and finalists of the 20th Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition and the projects to be developed in the 9th Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab.
Kajese-Bolden is an award-winning Director, Actor, and Producer. She is a recipient of the Princess Grace Award for Directing. Recent directing credits include Toni Stone (co-production between Milwaukee Repertory Theater and Alliance Theatre), The Many Wondrous Realities of Jasmine Starr-Kidd and Nick’s Flamingo Grill (World Premieres at the Alliance Theatre), School Girls, Or the African Mean Girls Play (Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre), Ghost (Alliance Theatre), Native Gardens (Virginia Stage Company), Pipeline (Horizon Theater), and Eclipsed (Synchronicity Theatre, Best Director Suzi Bass Award). She has also worked as a director and actor regionally and on and off Broadway. As the BOLD Associate Artistic Director at Alliance Theatre, Kajese-Bolden stewarded the Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab, cultivating new works for Atlanta-based artists, and oversaw the Spelman Leadership Fellowship, the first mentorship program of its kind partnering a regional theatre with an historically Black college and university to offer paid career opportunities for students interested in arts leadership positions.
Moses has worked in professional theater for twenty years and was awarded the Governor’s Award for Arts and Humanities for his work in the field. After working at the Alliance for ten years, he became the Director of Education in 2011, overseeing the Alliance Theatre Institute (twice recognized as an Arts Model by the Federal Department of Education), Theatre for Youth and Families programming, and the Acting Program. Under his leadership, the Alliance launched its Kathy & Ken Bernhardt Theatre for the Very Young program, providing fully interactive professional theater experiences for children ages newborn through five; the Alliance Teen Ensemble, performing world premiere plays commissioned for and about teens; Palefsky Collision Project, where teens produce a new work after colliding with a classic text; and Alliance@work, a professional development program designed for the business sector. Moses also expanded the Alliance’s summer camp program to serve over 3,000 children in multiple locations across Atlanta. In 2014, Chris added the title Associate Artistic Director and has continued to expand the Alliance’s commissioned works for youth and family audiences.
“I am beyond thrilled and deeply honored to serve the Alliance staff and Atlanta community in the role of Artistic Director!” said Kajese-Bolden. “Atlanta embraced my family 10 years ago and there is no other city more exciting and promising in which to live. I have a vision for theatre at the heart of public life for all. A vision where Atlanta is an artistic hub for the nation and the Alliance a symbol of what is possible when we prioritize the well-being of artists and staff. Chris Moses is a visionary leader fueled by a passion for access and a restless appetite for growth and adventure. Together, we are uniquely prepared to maximize the power of creative abrasion by opening the epicenter of decision making and inviting our comprehensive worldviews, with a heap of unbridled humor, to our programming and policy making.”
“I’m humbled and grateful beyond all imagination to serve this theatre that I love, in this city that I love, with the people that I love,” said Moses. “The opportunity to build upon the momentous foundation set by Kenny Leon and Susan Booth and to realize our dream of making theatre a birthright for everyone in our community is tantalizing. That I get to do this alongside my friend, colleague, fellow Atlantan and consummate artist, Tinashe Kajese-Bolden, makes the experience infinitely more rewarding, and the possibilities exponentially more profound.”
“Tinashe and Chris know Atlanta and the national theater scene, they are field-leading in new works, and they have the trust of our board and stakeholders of all ages,” said Mike Schleifer, Alliance Theatre Managing Director. “I’ve been thrilled over the last 8 months at how well the three of us worked together to program, schedule, and budget next season while joyfully executing this one. This team brings together their individual strengths, lived experiences, passions, and beliefs in the power of this artform to advance the Alliance’s mission of expanding hearts and minds, on stage and off.”
This appointment comes at a transition time for the Alliance and theaters across the country. As the new leaders look for models of growth and sustainability, the Artistic Directors will focus on opportunities for artistic collaborations, as illustrated by the Alliance’s 2023/24 season co-productions with The Atlanta Opera and others; expanded programming and access for Youth and School Field Trip audiences, groups whose numbers have grown since the pandemic shutdowns; developing and supporting local Atlanta artists and the next generation of theater administrators; and developing impactful new works for all audiences.
Inspired by our choice? Let us know by making a contribution to support our work or email us at allianceinfo@alliancetheatre.org. We’d love to share your well wishes with our new directors.
The Round 9 cohort features a New York Ballroom-inspired remix of Shakespeare, a multidisciplinary project spotlighting immigrant women’s experiences, and a story about a southern Black farmer fighting for his heritage.
ATLANTA, June 2023 — The Alliance Theatre is thrilled to announce the three artistic projects chosen for development in its ninth annual Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab. The projects will be presented as free presentations in Spring 2024.
ROME & JUICE
Romeo & Juliet gets an electrifying hip hop twist set in the heart of Atlanta’s ballroom scene! The Iconic Houses of Montague and Capulet have been at odds for over a decade and their endless quarrel has now put the scene in jeopardy of being non-existent. It takes a pair of star crossed lovers to hark back on their history and demand justice for their love and the Atlanta ballroom scene as a whole. This is Rome & Juice.
Reiser Lab Artists:
*Justen Ross aka Domino Juicy Balenciaga, Playwright/Composer/Actor
N’yomi Stewart aka Omi Juicy Balenciaga, Creative Consultant/Actress
Jade Maia Lambert, Creative Consultant
HOLD ON TO YOUR NAMES — AN ARTISTIC EXPLORATION OF IMMIGRANT WOMEN’S STORIES
This multidisciplinary art project—featuring artists from Turkey, Iran, and Colombia—empowers immigrant women to embrace their names and share their stories of living in a foreign country, ultimately promoting greater understanding and appreciation of their unique challenges and cultural identities.
Reiser Lab Artists:
*Ipek Eginli, Sound Artist
Sara Ghazi Asadollahi, Visual and Multi-Media Artist
Juana Farfán, Movement Artist
SWEET CLAY LANDS
After her father’s death, Josie returns home to Brunswick, GA where she learns her father Senior has left her the family farm Sweet Clay Land. Reluctantly, Josie returns home as she and her brother, Jamie, fight a predatory system to maintain their family’s former glory.
Reiser Lab Artists:
*Anterior Leverett, Playwright
Damian Lockhart, Director
Jasmine Waters, Stage Manager
*indicates the Lead Artist
The 2023/24 season features musicals, award-winners, and world premieres, and will be led by a diverse and distinguished group of directors
ATLANTA, June 6, 2023 — The Alliance Theatre is thrilled to announce the stage directors for its 55th season. The new season will feature award-winning plays, exciting world premieres, a blockbuster musical, and groundbreaking works developed for youth and families. This diverse and distinguished group of creators and storytellers highlight the Alliance’s commitment to delivering “powerful programming that challenges audiences to think critically and care deeply.”
On the Coca-Cola Stage:
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THE SHINING will be directed by Brian Staufenbiel, creative director for Opera Parallèle where he has directed and created the conceptual designs of the company’s productions since it was founded in 2010.
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A TALE OF TWO CITIES will be directed by Leora Morris, an award-winning Director who started working with the Alliance as the Yale Directing Fellow.
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THE PREACHER’S WIFE will be directed by Tony Award nominee & NAACP Award winner Michael Arden and award-winning director and actor, Tinashe Kajese-Bolden. Kajese-Bolden is also the Alliance’s BOLD Associate Artistic Director and co-interim Artistic Director.
On the Hertz Stage:
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ENGLISH will be directed by Theatre/Film director, choreographer, and writer Shadi Ghaheri. Ghaheri is originally from Iran and is now based in New York.
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FURLOUGH’S PARADISE will be directed by award-winning director and actor, Tinashe Kajese-Bolden
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FAT HAM will be directed by Tony Nominated, Obie award winning director, playwright, and cultural worker Stevie Walker-Webb
Family Series:
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THE INCREDIBLE BOOK EATING BOY is directed by director, producer, playwright, and dramaturg Jamil Jude, who also serves as Artistic Director for Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre. Sam Provenzano will serve as this production’s Associate Director.
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INTO THE BURROW: A PETER RABBIT TALE will be written and directed by award-winning director Mark Valdez, who also serves as Artistic Director of Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis.
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A CHRISTMAS CAROL will be directed by Actor & Director, Caitlin Hargraves.
THE INCREDIBLE BOOK EATING BOY (musical)
Howard Logan Stillwell Theatre at Kennesaw State University
471 Bartow Ave NW, Kennesaw, GA 30144
Book by Madhuri Shekar
Music by Christian Magby
Lyrics by Christian Albright
Directed by Jamil Jude
Associate Directed by Sam Provenzano
Inspired by the book The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers
Jamil Jude is a highly accomplished director, producer, playwright, and dramaturg focusing on bringing socially relevant art to the community. Jamil is the Artistic Director at Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company in Atlanta, Georgia, where he previously severed as Associate Artistic Director. Additionally, he is the Co-Founder of The New Griots Festival, which is dedicated to celebrating, advocating, and advancing the careers of emerging Black artists in the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area in Minnesota. Prior to joining the staff at True Colors, Jamil served as the Artistic Programming Associate at Park Square Theatre in St. Paul, a Producer in Residence at Minneapolis’ Mixed Blood Theatre, a New Play Producing Fellow at Arena Stage in Washington, DC and co-founded the Colored People’s Theatre. Among his many awards, Jamil has been named the recipient of the Turn The Spotlight Fellowship (18/19), Andrew W. Mellon/TCG Leadership U Fellowship (2015/17), Nautilus Music Theater Management Fellowship (2014/15), NNPN Producer Residency (2011/12; 2012/13), Jerome Foundation/The Playwrights’ Center Many Voices Mentorship (2013/14) and the Allen Lee Hughes Fellowship at Arena Stage (2009/10; 2010/11). Jamil received his Bachelor of Arts from Colgate University.
ENGLISH (Winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Drama)
August 16 – September 17, 2023
The Hertz Stage at Alliance Theatre
By Sanaz Toossi
Directed by Shadi Ghaheri
Shadi Ghaheri is a Theatre/Film director, choreographer and writer from Iran based in NYC. She has directed Tosca(Heartbeat Opera), Selling Kabul (Signature Theatre), Conduct of Life (SUNY Purchase), Threshold of Brightness (BMP), Memorial (NYU Tisch), Banned (Broadway Bound), Glimpse (Rattlestick Theatre), Fen (Columbia University), Untitled (Rattlestick Theatre), Lucretia (HERE), Death of Yazdgerd, Titus Andronicus (Yale School of Drama), The Slow Sound of Snow (Yale Cabaret). She co-curated Yale Summer Cabaret season, directing Trojan Women, and Lear. Also, she co-founded/co-curated Emruz Festival, and Peydah Theatre Company. Shadi was a 2016 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow, the 2018 directing fellow at Rattlestick Theatre and the winner of Robert L.B. Tobin Showcase 2019.
THE SHINING
September 15 – October 1, 2023
The Coca-Cola Stage at Alliance Theatre
Co-production with The Atlanta Opera
Composer Paul Moravec
Librettist Mark Campbell
Stage Direction by Brian Staufenbiel
Brian Staufenbiel is the creative director for Opera Parallèle where he has directed and created the conceptual designs of the company’s productions since it was founded in 2010. Specializing in multimedia, immersive, and interdisciplinary productions, he actively works across a wide range of artistic disciplines collaborating in film, and with media designers, choreographers and dancers, circus artists, and designer fabricators. His progressive approach to stagecraft has garnered critical acclaim for many of the company’s productions, including Wozzeck, Orphée, Champion and Dead Man Walking. Staufenbiel recently directed films for the online festival season of the Sun Valley Music Festival, a film of Dove/Angelis’ Flight for Seattle Opera, an award-winning graphic novel film of Talbot/Scheer’s Everest with Opera Parallèle, and a feature-length film of Gordon Getty’s opera Goodbye Mr. Chips for Festival Napa Valley.
INTO THE BURROW: A PETER RABBIT™ TALE (world premiere, musical)
October 14 – December 23, 2023
Hertz Stage at Alliance Theatre
Written and Directed by Mark Valdez
Inspired by the stories of Beatrix Potter
Presented by special arrangement with Penguin Ventures and officially licensed on behalf of brand owner Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd.
Mark Valdez is the artistic director of Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis. In his practice he partners with communities, organizations, civic institutions, and others, using theater and creative tools to address community needs and to lift community voices and stories. His work has also been seen at the
Center Theater Group, Childsplay Theater, Cornerstone Theater Company, East West Players, Guadalupe Cultural Center, Trinity Rep, MACLA, the MiX Center at ASU, Mixed Blood, Native Voices at the Autry, REDCAT, and the Alliance Theatre. His play Highland Park is Here, won the Audience Award at the Highland Park Film festival and was featured in the Re:Encuentro, the national Latina/o/x Theater Festival. At the Alliance, Mark has created performances for the Collision Project (Around Atlanta on $80), directed animated short films (Sit-In and The Curious Cardinal), published a children’s book (The Curious Cardinal), and created immersive performances (Topia). Mark is the recipient of the California Arts Council’s Legacy Artist Fellowship, the Johnson Fellowship for Artists Transforming Communities, SDCF’s Zelda Fichandler Award, Princess Grace Award, and others.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
November 11 – December 24, 2023
The Coca-Cola Stage at Alliance Theatre
By Charles Dickens
Directed by Caitlin Hargraves
Based on the Original Direction by Leora Morris
Caitlin Hargraves is an American/Chilean director, actor, producer, and educator based in Atlanta. She received her BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and her MA from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Caitlin teaches acting courses as a faculty member at Emory University where she is also the Co-Artistic Director of Theater Emory. She is an executive producer of the SheATL Arts summer theater festival, which celebrates theater makers of marginalized genders, and an executive producer of Cafecito Productions, a film production company whose short film Mi Casa (which Caitlin stars in) is currently playing on all HBO platforms. Caitlin has performed with companies around Atlanta like Theatrical Outfit, Synchronicity, and the Alliance where she has loved being part of the A Christmas Carol family as an actor and is thrilled to take on the new role of director this season!
FURLOUGH’S PARADISE (World Premiere, Winner of the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition)
January 31 – March 3, 2024
Hertz Stage at Alliance Theatre
By a.k. payne
Direction by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden
Tinashe Kajese-Bolden is the BOLD Associate Artistic Director at the Alliance Theatre. Tinashe is a Princess Grace Award 2019 Winner for Directing, and Map Fund Award recipient to develop her devised new work All Smiles that centers the experience of children on the Autism Spectrum. Recent theatre directing productions include Toni Stone (co-production Milwaukee Repertory Theater/The Alliance Theatre), School Girls, Or the African Mean Girls Play(Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre), Ghost (The Alliance Theater), Native Gardens (Virginia Stage Company), Pipeline (Horizon Theater), Nick’s Flamingo Grill (World Premiere at The Alliance Theatre, Hertz Stage), Eclipsed (Synchronicity Theatre, Suzi Bass Award for Best Director). Upcoming projects: co-directing Everybody with Susan Booth on the Coca-Cola Stage and the world premiere of the 19th winner of the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, The Many Wondrous Realities of Jasmine Starr-Kidd by Stephen Brown of Juilliard. Tinashe held a salaried Director’s Shadow position during the pilot and second episode development of “Our Kind of People” (Fox Studios) under Lee Daniel’s production company, and was Director Shadow on the season finale of “BMF.” As a director and actor, she has worked On + Off Broadway, including The Imperial Theatre, Primary Stages, 59E59 Theatre, Classical Theatre of Harlem; and regionally at Yale Rep, Woolly Mammoth Theater Co, Cincinnati Playhouse, The Geva Theatre, CTG’s Kirk Douglas Theatre, among others, as well as recurring roles on TV/Film (Suicide Squad, Marvel’s “Hawkeye,” CW’s “Valor, “Dynasty,” HBO’s “Henrietta Lacks,” Ava Duverney’s “Cherish the Day,” among others.) Love and thanks to my amazing husband Keith, our boys, and Kenny Leon for being a generous mentor. “My mission is the pursuit of what connects our different communities and how we create art that serves that.”
A TALE OF TWO CITIES (World Premiere Adaptation)
February 21 – March 17, 2024
The Coca-Cola Stage at Alliance Theatre
By Charles Dickens
Adapted by Brendan Pelsue
Directed by Leora Morris
Leora Morris is an award-winning Director who started working with the Alliance as the Yale Directing Fellow. Her directing credits include – Alliance: A Christmas Carol, A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play, Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed, Ride the Cyclone, Winnie-the-Pooh, Crossing Delancey, The Dancing Granny, Hey Willy See the Pyramids. Other directing credits include The Sound Inside, Knives in Hens, Orphans (Coal Mine Theatre, Toronto); The Philosopher’s Wife (Toronto); Labour of Love (Olney Theatre Center); Spring Awakening the Musical (Connecticut College); The Wolves (University of British Columbia), He Left Quietly (2014 SummerWorks Best Production Award, Toronto); Amy and the Orphans, Women Beware Women, King John, Riverbank (Yale School of Drama); The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, love holds a lamp in this little room (Yale Cabaret). She is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including Toronto’s 2012 Ken MacDougall Award, Yale Julian Milton Kaufman Prize in Directing, O’Neill/NNPN National Directing Fellow, Alliance Yale Directing Fellow. Leora was shortlisted for the international 2020 Rolex Mentor and Protégé Prize and is currently an assistant professor in Directing and Acting at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
FAT HAM (Winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama)
April 3 – May 12, 2024
Hertz Stage at Alliance Theatre
By James Ijames
Direction by Stevie Walker-Webb
Stevie Walker-Webb is a Tony Nominated, Obie award winning director, playwright, and cultural worker who believes in the transformational power of art. He is Founder of HUNDREDSofTHOUSANDS an arts and advocacy organization that makes visual the suffering and inhumane treatment of incarcerated mentally ill people. He is a recipient of the Princess Grace Award for Theatre, The Lily Award awarded by the Dramatists Guild of America, and a 2050 Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop. He’s a visiting artist and lecturer at Harvard University and is the Founding Artistic Director of the Jubilee Theatre in Waco, Texas. Stevie has created art and Theatre in Madagascar, South Africa, Mexico, and across America. His work has been produced on and off Broadway including The Public Theatre, The New Group, American Civil Liberties Union, TONYC, National Black Theatre, and Baltimore Center Stage.
THE PREACHER’S WIFE (World premiere; Musical)
May 11 – June 9, 2024
The Coca-Cola Stage at Alliance Theatre
Book by Tituss Burgess & Azie Dungey
Music & Lyrics by Tituss Burgess
Direction by Michael Arden & Tinashe Kajese-Bolden
Based upon the motion pictures The Bishop’s Wife produced by Samuel Goldwyn; The Preacher’s Wife produced by Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., and the novel The Bishop’s Wife written by Robert Nathan
Michael Arden is a Tony-nominated director for his revivals of Spring Awakening, Once On This Island, and Parade which is currently playing on Broadway after a sellout run at New York City Center. Other works include: the Los Angeles premiere of The Pride by Alexi Kaye Campbell, My Fair Lady at Bay Street Theater, and Annie at the Hollywood Bowl. Michael won an NAACP Award for his production of Merrily We Roll Along at the Wallis Annenberg, where he served as Artist in Residence. His new adaptation of Charles Dickens’A Christmas Carol starring Tony Winner Jefferson Mays garnered eight Ovation Awards and recently played Broadway this past Christmas. Michael also recently directed the new musical Maybe Happy Ending at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta. He is a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and alumni of the Interlochen Arts Academy and The Juilliard School.
Tinashe Kajese-Bolden is the BOLD Associate Artistic Director at the Alliance Theatre. Tinashe is a Princess Grace Award 2019 Winner for Directing, and Map Fund Award recipient to develop her devised new work All Smiles that centers the experience of children on the Autism Spectrum. Recent theatre directing productions include Toni Stone (co-production Milwaukee Repertory Theater/The Alliance Theatre), School Girls, Or the African Mean Girls Play(Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre), Ghost (The Alliance Theater), Native Gardens (Virginia Stage Company), Pipeline (Horizon Theater), Nick’s Flamingo Grill (World Premiere at The Alliance Theatre, Hertz Stage), Eclipsed (Synchronicity Theatre, Suzi Bass Award for Best Director). Upcoming projects: co-directing Everybody with Susan Booth on the Coca-Cola Stage and the world premiere of the 19th winner of the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, The Many Wondrous Realities of Jasmine Starr-Kidd by Stephen Brown of Juilliard. Tinashe held a salaried Director’s Shadow position during the pilot and second episode development of “Our Kind of People” (Fox Studios) under Lee Daniel’s production company and was Director Shadow on the season finale of “BMF.” As a director and actor, she has worked On + Off Broadway, including The Imperial Theatre, Primary Stages, 59E59 Theatre, Classical Theatre of Harlem; and regionally at Yale Rep, Woolly Mammoth Theater Co, Cincinnati Playhouse, The Geva Theatre, CTG’s Kirk Douglas Theatre, among others, as well as recurring roles on TV/Film (Suicide Squad, Marvel’s “Hawkeye,” CW’s “Valor,” “Dynasty,” HBO’s “Henrietta Lacks,” Ava Duverney’s “Cherish the Day,” among others.) Love and thanks to my amazing husband Keith, our boys, and Kenny Leon for being a generous mentor. “My mission is the pursuit of what connects our different communities and how we create art that serves that.”
Memberships for the Alliance’s 55th season are on sale now. For more information, visit
Single tickets for individual productions and events will go on sale in July 2023.
Last Thursday, we welcomed hundreds of Alliance Theatre camper to the piazza for the live reading of the Mayor’s Summer Reading Club 2023 book, The Curious Cardinal. Commissioned by the Alliance Theatre in Partnership with GEEARS and the Mayor’s Summer Reading Club, this book follows our curious cardinal, CC, as he explores the seasons. You could feel the air of excitement in the piazza as the campers were waiting for the reading to begin. They played with new friends on log-shaped seats before author Mark Valdez came to the stage with the book in hand; the reading was about to begin!
The Curious Cardinal was first dreamt up back in 2021 by the Kathy & Ken Bernhardt Theatre for the Very Young. In collaboration with the Fernbank Museum of Natural History and sponsored by PNC’s Grow Up Great program, the Curious Cardinal animated short was created to engage with young audiences while teaching them about the changes that all our seasons bring. From the screen to the stage, we brought the story of CC to life this year when the Kathy & Ken Bernhardt Theatre for the Very Young produced the short as a show in the Selig Family Black Box Theatre.
When Valdez signed on to write the Curious Cardinal story, he “wanted to write a story that captured the joy and life that’s found in nature. Atlanta is such a beautiful city, with its water and trees, and animals. I hope the readers of this book will be curious enough to spend more time outdoors, exploring what’s right here.”
The campers were in awe as Valdez read The Curious Cardinal in English and Spanish, with illustrator Nicole Kang Ahn turning and showing the pages to the crowd. As per the Mayor’s Summer Reading Club initiative, the story impacted the children who read/witnessed it. However, it was also significant to those who contributed to the story, as Kang Ahn remarks, “ Working on Curious Cardinal‘s illustrations resonated deeply with me as a new mom and as a long-time resident of Atlanta. This book is a celebration of Atlanta’s rich forestry and all of its beautiful inhabitants, but also about a love between a mother and child.”
As the reading ended and everyone applauded, our young audience was invited to “cardinal yoga” and a book signing with both Valdez and Ahn. While CC is now “taking off” from the Alliance Theatre, he will take flight throughout the city of Atlanta all summer long!
Learn more about The Curious Cardinal here.