Alliance Theatre helps improve children’s literacy skills.
Being an actor doesn’t always mean playing a role on stage. For 75 performers affiliated with the Alliance Theatre, plying their craft means doing so in front of a classroom of children.
“We have teaching artists in classrooms and summer camps,” said Christopher Moses, the Alliance’s Jennings Hertz artistic director. “They introduce our work to a new population. We’re not simply a place to see a show; we’re using art for the greater good of the community.”
A big part of that greater good is improving literacy skills among young learners.
Through the Alliance’s Georgia Wolf Trap Early Learning Through the Arts program, artists go through a week of training focused on early childhood development before being paired with classroom teachers to deliver 16 sessions of research-based lessons on literacy and social emotional learning.
They also hold one-on-one sessions with teachers, who then can use the strategies in future classes.
During the school year, artists are working in 89 schools and 287 pre-K and kindergarten classes around the state.
Last year, the program debuted in the pre-K classes of the Marietta City Schools.
“The program has all the learning outcomes we want married with arts integration,” said Carolyn Landreau, Marietta’s K-12 fine arts coordinator.
“It’s super engaging for students and teachers alike. It gives us additional tools to make learning more exciting while still hitting learning targets.”
A recent $60,000 grant from the Wellstar Foundation has helped the Alliance expand its outreach in Marietta beyond pre-K; the funds will underwrite the program for all kindergarten classes in the district’s eight elementary schools.
“My goal is to have as much access as possible for all of Marietta’s students,” Landreau said.
Lessons are rooted in phonics, comprehension, phonetics awareness, fluency and grammatical understanding, said Hallie Angelella, the Alliance’s Naserian Foundation head of early childhood programs.
“We use arts integration strategies that support what each classroom needs,” she said. “For example, we have a story basket with props that help tell a story and build anticipation. Kids get involved not just to listen but to act out or become the story. They’re using their bodies to comprehend the characters as well as the beginning and end.”
Measuring the program’s effectiveness is difficult, Landreau said.
“It’s hard to quantify because we’re not testing the outcomes of specific lessons. It’s much more about qualitative impact,” she said. “The feedback from teachers and students is that it increases engagement and gives teachers other strategies to get kids excited. And I can’t tell you how excited the kids are. If someone just read to them, they wouldn’t be nearly as engaged.”
The role of a First Lady, also known as a pastor’s wife, has been an ever-evolving position in Black Churches around the country. When established Black Churches were on the rise, the First Lady would typically be seen in the first pew, wearing a big, bold church hat. These hats are culturally and spiritually very significant in history and are often revered as a Black woman’s crown. They became popular after slavery to signify “triumph over tragedy,” and Black women wore these hats to church to put their best foot forward in their worship. The wearing of these hats is deeply rooted in African tradition, and they were seen as a way to honor God. We see many women wear these hats during the Civil Rights movement in the 60s, carrying the same message of triumph over tragedy.
While many First Ladies don’t wear these hats anymore, their role in the Church is more significant than ever. Not only are they a driving force in spirituality for their communities, they are, oftentimes, co-pastors alongside their husbands. The term “co-pastor” is relatively new, showing up in the last decade or so, but First Ladies have always had major leadership positions in the Church. Many Black women and First Ladies did an abundance of advocacy work during Women’s Suffrage and the Civil Rights Movement. Mahalia Jackson and Nannie Helen Burroughs were huge pioneers for these movements.
Burroughs often organized forms of protest and social work, saying that women have come to the rescue, but they needed freedom to carry forth the mission of the Church, which was one of her overarching messages during Burrough’s advocacy. Mahalia Jackson was a gospel singer in the Church and was often called upon to sing during times of desperation. Martin Luther King heavily relied on Mahalia’s voice during the Civil Rights movement. Not only was her voice a huge contribution to the movement, but she was one of the biggest donors, financially, due to her full music career. She would also hold fundraising concerts to contribute to the funds of the movement.
Burroughs and Jackson were called to use their gifts and saw the Church as a sounding board to create social change, justice, and liberation for the Black community in America. These women liberated many others, and they used their faith to do so. These efforts of social change and justice are still seen today, as many First Ladies around the country spent a lot of time creating and maintaining ministry during COVID. The pandemic disproportionately affected Black and Brown peoples, and their communities were suffering through grief and loss at quite a large rate. These women gave Black people the space to allow their faith to guide them during these times of hardship. Post COVID, many First Ladies still take on the challenge of taking care of the people in their communities, typically taking on the role of counseling those in their congregation by planning retreats, creating outreach programs, and outsourcing resources for their community. Many of these resources are allocated for the women that attend their church to create a sense of togetherness among them.
First Ladies are the backbone of community, outreach, and spirituality in their communities. Not only do many First Ladies take on these roles, but those that are co-pastors can also take the role of preaching in their Church. Black women and First Ladies have always been a significant force within the Church and have paved a pathway to Black liberation through faith and community throughout the country.
Learn more about The Preacher’s Wife.
The moment actor, writer, and producer Tituss Burgess saw The Preacher’s Wife as a teenager, he knew it would make a great musical. “No joke,” he said, “I leaned over and told my mom, ‘Oh, this is so good; someone should make this into a musical.’”
The Athens, GA native had gone to see the film when it opened in movie theaters. Seeing the 1996 film was the first time he’d seen such healthy depictions of Black families and how they dealt with issues. It struck him “on so many levels.”
“I just remember getting goosebumps,” said Burgess. “There was something magical about the movie outside of the movie’s magic — outside the magic that’s in the movie. It stayed with me for a very, very long time.”
Azie Dungey, an actress, writer, and producer, has worked on Netflix hits such as Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Girls5Eva. Dungey, who wrote the book for the musical production, describes the original film as charming.
“It’s so gorgeous, it’s so loving, it’s so fun,” she said. “It’s funny and timeless and a breath of fresh air.” Dungey has also read the book that inspired the movie, The Bishop’s Wife.
Dungey was attracted to the production by Burgess, also known for his acting work in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Burgess is also known for his work on Broadway, which includes The Little Mermaid and, more recently, his turn onstage as Harold Zidler in Moulin Rouge!.
Burgess has been working on the music for the musical for years. By the time Dungey joined the project, a lot of the music was complete. That also meant, Dungey said, that she had the unique challenge of meeting the depth of the music when she began writing the book.
“Music is transcendent,” she said. “Music in general, what it has meant to Black people, how we have expressed love, lack of love, complications with love through music… There is depth in the music. There is depth in the experiences of the characters, and that depth is being pulled out in these songs.”
Like the blockbuster film, the musical version of The Preacher’s Wife introduces us to Henry and his wife Julia. Henry serves as pastor of a church in Harlem and faces the challenges of ministry in addition to the gentrification of the neighborhood. He asks God for help, and, as a result, the couple receives a visit from an angel named Dudley. Little do they know, Dudley is there to help with much more than the church.
In adapting the story for the stage, Dungey and Burgess came to a realization about the story and Julia’s involvement in it.
“As a woman, it occurred to me that even though [the movies and book are] called The…Wife, none of them really centered on the woman in a way that, I thought, was kind of indicative of the title The Preacher’s Wife,” he said. “The title is about her relationship, but it’s not about her as a person.”
The revelation made Dungey consider how her own identity works with and against the titles placed upon her and others, like her own mother who, after marrying Dungey’s stepfather, became a preacher’s wife.
Dungey’s first lines of poetry were printed in the bulletin of her church when she was a kid. She also recited her first poem — a poem her grandmother wrote — in her childhood family church. Returning to those roots after so many years is personal. She accredits many of the lessons she learned to the church, such as “how to command and be confident,” but she acknowledges that there’s a bigger story at play.
“I watched my mom kind of fade away into the title,” Dungey remembered. “So that was a part of my thought process. I think we’re deconstructing a lot of that stuff around what it is to be a woman and to be a woman on your own terms. It was a lot of digging. Digging into myself, digging into the women — the Black women — I know, especially my mother.”
At its best, said Burgess, the movie also misrepresents the women he knows.
“The women that I work with are strong — they have agency, and they don’t need men to do anything,” he said. “The hardest hurdle to get over was quite literally the title. The preacher’s wife is possessive, and the movie acts like it’s just about Henry.”
Centering Julia just makes the most sense. So, that’s what they have done.
In unearthing Julia’s story, they have also exposed parts of themselves as well.
“The Preacher’s Wife is probably the fullest artistic expression I have ever had — ever — as a human being,” he said. “In a world where people of color in general are often not seen, it doesn’t go lost on me that I have an opportunity to be on full display in a way that reveals every part of me.”
Being on stage as an actor, he emphasizes, doesn’t create the opportunity that this production has given to him.
“It doesn’t get more honest than writing,” he added. “I can hide behind a character but, y’know, you’re in my head when you hear this. You are literally… you are privy to being inside my psyche. That’s exciting and scary and liberating. I’m excited.”
And even though the original story was set in a church, and this production is connected to the church, their hope is that audiences will see the universality of the story.
“[Tituss] always reminds me that it’s not just for Black people. It’s not just for the people who are connected to the Black church at all,” said Dungey. “The bigger story, for me, is as a woman — the lessons we have been taught that restrict our identity, restrict our taking up space, restrict even how we see ourselves and how you can be your biggest self and still be loved and to show up as all of yourself.”
This story, said Burgess, is about pulling yourself up by the bootstraps and taking responsibility for how you perceive the world. It’s not about looking at the world as though it’s happening to you, but rather that you are in it and are a participant.
“Any human that is breathing and hoping and doubting and trying to work through the intersection of faith versus the reality that is in front of them will find a way in this play and, I think, find healing,” said Burgess. “If you look back on your life at some of your moments of uncertainty, [you will remember that] you were able to triumph on some level, and there should never be any doubt that you can do it again. If we’ve done our jobs right, you realize that you can do anything. You can really overcome any set of circumstances and you walk away with a sense of community [and] feeling lighter and with a bit more joy.”
Watching Julia change her circumstances even though the circumstances haven’t changed yet is “pretty powerful,” he said.
“I admire her, and I’ve learned a lot from her. She allowed me to be human and sort of let me know that it’s okay to not be okay — but you can’t stay there.”
Learn more about The Preacher’s Wife.
To explore matters of faith and love, we tend to turn to the poets or the preachers. We seek their guidance when wrestling with life’s biggest questions. What is our purpose and how do we overcome setbacks? Do we love deeply enough? Will that bring us happiness? Can both destiny and free will exist simultaneously?
But musical theater has a glorious advantage when facing such existential questions — the very structure is predicated on revealing the inner conscience of a character who at the peak of their longing breaks into song, releasing that which cannot be expressed with mortal words alone. There is something miraculous about a musical!
Inspired originally by the 1947 movie starring Cary Grant, The Bishop’s Wife told the story of a struggling Bishop who is working to build a new cathedral and gets the surprise of his life when he receives a visitation by an angel. Almost 50 years later, it was adapted into The Preacher’s Wife, made famous by Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston. This updated film transported the classic story to 1990’s Harlem, evoking the grittiness of city living when a humble pastor and his community face financial strife and must save their church from closing. And now, nearly 25 years later, composer Tituss Burgess and writer Azie Dungey have managed to finally address the one critical flaw in the title itself — this is THE WIFE’s story, and it is finally time for her to step out of the shadow of her husband. Through a lush musical score that exquisitely seduces both head and heart, seasoned by their crisp ear for comedy, Tituss and Azie’s new musical of the same name joyfully elevates and makes real the complications of faith and love.
We are so excited to share this magical story with you, told by some of the greatest legends in our field and a cast that will make anyone a believer — that even when we experience a poverty of faith, love is a powerful stabilizing force that can became an engine for transformation!
Sit back, join the poets and the preachers, and let the miracle of theater take over!
Tinashe Kajese-Bolden
Artistic Director
&
Christopher Moses
Artistic Director
Learn more about The Preacher’s Wife.
Marshall Mabry IV (they/them) has many great takeaways from the stage play, Fat Ham. But there is one in particular that stands out for them most, and it’s quite simple.
“If you’re lucky enough to live, you’re going to grieve,” they said. “If you’re lucky enough to love, you’re going to grieve the loss of that love.”
Inspired by the Shakespeare classic, Hamlet, Fat Ham is the story of a family grappling with loss, cycles, and family secrets – many of them coming to light during a picnic gathering. During the gathering, Juicy, played by Mabry, is visited by the ghost of their father, and instructed to avenge their untimely murder.
“This experience has been crazy. Absolutely insane. It is the biggest dream come true it could be,” they said. “It’s a master work and a role that I could spend, and probably will spend many years trying to get right. This experience has changed my life.”
A lover of Shakesperean productions, Mabry read the script for Fat Ham, a few years ago – when they were 19. Immediately they were moved.
“I got to audition for it when they were doing it off Broadway. It sent chills through my body. I remember feeling like I have felt so seen by text; by like the words on the page,” they said. “The thing that we can all relate to is intrinsically human about this centuries old tragic hero is that he’s in the throes of grief. There are no words for how brilliant this play is on the page and the way [James Ijames] is recontextualizing.”
Take for example, Opal. Inspired by Ophelia character in Hamlet, Opal is struggling to come to grips with the weight a grief of her own.
“She has this thing where she talks about sitting on the toilet and imagining the flush will suck her away,” explains Mabry. “The idea that Ophelia’s dress represented how heavy she was in her grief. That’s beautiful.”
The role of Juicy in this production is not only special to Mabry because of their love for what’s on the page, but also what it means for them professionally and personally. It marks a return to the Alliance Theatre.
A native of the metro Atlanta area, Mabry was raised in South Fulton. A preacher’s kid – their father is a pastor and their mother a life coach – they had no desire to be in a pulpit but understood the power of the stage.
“I started at the Alliance with the teen ensemble. I was the youngest in my class and spent like three years in the teen ensemble. I saw every show for those three years and then I did the Collision Project. And one of my first performances was in the Hertz,” they said. “The Hertz is a true place of sanctuary for me. It is where the Alliance lives its mission of expanding hearts and minds on and off the stage.”
In a time when Black masculinity doesn’t get to have the space needed to feel, to be soft, and trapped by binary constructs, Fat Ham seeks to make softness and vibrancy okay, Mabry believes.
“This story looks like me. You know? Fat. Black. Queer. Empathetic. Soft. We don’t understand that human beings are meant to feel. It is so okay to be soft. And it is so okay for people to be vibrant,” he said. “That’s just what they are; what we are. Some people just feel real hard,” they said. “And that’s okay. This story reclaims some of that. It’s just so powerful.”
This show, they said, is about their Black softness and about their Black queerness.
“Which is something people told me would halt everything in my career. To hold this story right now in a time where Black men’s softness can get them killed, like O’Shea Sibley – to be holding this story right now. I’m giving it everything I have,” they added. “We have a really beautiful opportunity to inspire divinity, and to inspire change in people’s lives at a time when they really, really need it. So, this opportunity, I take it seriously. Getting to tell this story in the first building where I ever got to work on Shakespeare. There are no words. There are absolutely no words.”
If it is unclear, Mabry is grateful. As a matter of fact, grateful may not be strong enough a word to capture what this moment is for them.
“Like a gift from above. Absolutely! I’m having the time of my life. The feelings are real big, but I’m having the time of my life,” they said. “This role is the most anyone has ever asked of me in a show, and it is my honor and absolute pleasure to give it everything I got it.