For Lileana Blain-Cruz, one of the big joys of being a director is the practice of transformation. Take for instance the Alliance Theatre’s world-premiere production, BUST. In the show there are spaces that, for most audiences, may seem familiar — a living room, a balcony, a school.
Blain-Cruz is fascinated by the challenge of making these spaces feel real while also imbuing them with heightened theatrical magic when the show takes an unexpected turn. The show’s creative team has worked intentionally to bring these seemingly regular locations to heightened life through design.
“One of the joys of this project is figuring out how we move between these spaces in surprising ways,” Blain-Cruz shares. “In doing so, the spaces create a meta-theatrical metaphor of how we move through our world as humans.” She goes on to say, “In BUST, we have the important experience of recognizing ourselves in these characters. We get to live inside their humanity, and the absurdity of what it means to be alive.”
The premiere of BUST runs February 13 through March 16 on the Alliance’s Coca-Cola Stage before going to the Goodman’s Albert Theatre in Chicago.
What’s it about? Playwright Zora Howard and Blain-Cruz are cautious to reveal too many details about the plot of the play. The show opens with Retta. A mature woman of a certain age, she is sitting on the porch of the modest apartment she shares with her husband and grandson. Retta is partaking in one of her favorite pastimes — minding the business of everyone in the neighborhood from the safety of her porch. She has a glass of wine, a smoke, and the activities of the neighborhood to keep her occupied.
That isn’t saying too much about what the play is about. What the description does, however, is provide some idea of who, or better yet, the kind of people we see in the play. While Retta, along with the other characters in the show are fictitious in nature, they are still quite real.
“They are composites,” she said. “They are pieces of characters in my own life.”
Growing up, Howard remembers listening to her mother, aunts, and other elders tell stories.
“[They] would come home with whatever mess they dealt with throughout their day, and they would talk about it,” she remembers. “The way they told their stories — sparing no ugly detail and still, somehow, cracking jokes throughout; it was a healing practice I learned early on.”
BUST is a meditation on and an homage to those moments.
“There is some real ugly stuff that Black people have to navigate living in this country,” said Howard. “And yet there is an artfulness to how we move through it all — with humor, with deftness, with style.”
Humor is present throughout the play. In some respects, it’s a character within itself. And it’s not just for entertainment purposes. In the same way the examples of her childhood utilized humor to navigate their realities, the same is true in this play.
“Humor, how it is able to cut through the muck of even the most dispiriting human experiences, has always been my way into the world,” said Howard. “Confronting my own rage and grief through its vehicle terrifies me, but the notion that others may be able to do the same in the spaces that I write fuels me.”
Howard admits there were times when writing the play when the characters fought for their authenticity. It was her job, she said, to get to know them. This became especially important for the characters who say “some of the harder things to swallow in the play.”
Nine times out of 10, said Howard, the character would say, “I wouldn’t say that. It didn’t sit right with them.’
While Howard and Blain-Cruz are both hesitant to prescribe their hopes for the audiences who experience BUST, Blain-Cruz does admit that she hopes audiences walk out of the theater examining and recognizing.
“What I love about theater is knowing that there are a million individual stories existing inside the audience. What’s beautiful is when those whose lives may be very different understand something more, and the people whose lives may be similar find themselves being seen,” she said. “There’s a real invitation at the center of the play to experience something new. There’s this kind of really amazing, thrilling, complicated emotional journey that happens at the center of this play, and I hope audiences are on the ride to encounter something that they had never considered before.”
Howard wants the play to meet people where they are.
“For those audience members who relate to the subject matter, I want them to feel seen. And for those who maybe don’t see themselves to have something stirred in them; maybe even move them a bit and push them some.”
BUST will premiere on the Coca-Cola Stage February 13 through March 16, 2025 – learn more.
More than simply a federal holiday, organizers of MLK Day, observed on the third Monday in January, have sought for the day to expand awareness, create opportunities of service and community impact, and continue the work of education. From video projects to service efforts, we have compiled a non-exhaustive list of suggestions to help those looking for ways to celebrate MLK and his day of observance.
Offerings at the Alliance
Young artists of the Alliance Theatre’s Palefsky Collision Project will perform Dear Dr. King in the Azadi Galleria in the Memorial Arts Building of the Woodruff Arts Center, at 2pm. Directed by Sam Provenzano in collaboration with Maya Lawrence (Playwright), Rodney L. Williams (Director of Artistic Mentorship), and David Koté (Music Director), this year’s MLK Day performance will re-explore Dreams Born of Chaos, an original work inspired by Amanda Gorman’s The Hill We Climb. The performance is free and open to the public. Registration is required.
The Alliance will also have Play Days available. Play Days are scheduled during school breaks and are available for students in grades K-5. Each Play Day has a specific theme taught by an expert in the field. The theme for MLK Day is Musical Theatre: Powerful Voices. Learn more.
The Alliance has also made available the original animated short, Sit-In. Written by Atlanta’s bestselling author, playwright, and civil rights activist, Pearl Cleage (Blues for An Alabama Sky, In My Granny’s Garden, Tell Me My Dream), Sit-In invites students, parents, teachers, and families to experience the Civil Rights Movement as a living, breathing energy with practical lessons, ethical challenges, and moral choices that remain relevant today. Available for streaming through June 30, Sit-In features a mixture of Civil Rights anthems and new freedom songs composed specifically for the play.
The King Center
The official theme this year is Mission Possible: Protecting Freedom, Justice, and Democracy in the Spirit of Nonviolence365. Starting January 7th, The King Center will host an exciting array of events for King Holiday week. Some of the highlights include Nonviolence365® training for adults, a community youth book reading, the Beloved Community Global Summit and Youth Summit, and the MLK, Jr. Beloved Community Awards. The week will culminate with the annual ecumenical service Monday, January 20 at Ebenezer Baptist Church. The commemorative service, as well as a rally held in downtown Atlanta, will be broadcast live on Fox 5 Atlanta. Most will be streamed live at thekingcenter.org.
Community Offerings
Several metro Atlanta institutions from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra to the Atlanta History Center, to local city governments have organized a plethora of events, programs, and volunteer opportunities for this year’s MLK Day. Below are a few of the offerings available.
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will collaborate with singers from Ebenezer Baptist Church and Grammy Award-winning jazz singer Gregory Porter for the Martin Luther King Celebration concert. The concert will be broadcast on WABE at 8pm, on Monday, January 20.
The High Museum of Art will also be celebrating Dr. King’s legacy with a weekend of events. The Giants exhibition is in its last week. In addition, the following events will be open to members of the Atlanta community.
- Access for All Free Day, Wednesday, January 15, 10am – 5pm
- This will be a special Martin Luther King Jr. edition, honoring MLK’s birthday, with themed poetry readings by W.J. Lofton (poet and multimodal artist, whose work explores the intersections of race, class, and gender)
- Friday Jazz, Friday, January 17, 6 – 10pm
The High is also extending visiting hours on Saturday, January 18 and Sunday, January 19 until 9pm both days.
Trees Atlanta has scheduled volunteer projects in multiple locations across metro Atlanta on Monday, January 20, 2025, including Grant Park, Oakland City, and Decatur. Registration is required.
Emory University’s Office of Spiritual and Religious Life is offering a series of programs as part of its annual King Week celebration. From Saturday, January 11 through Thursday, January 23, 2025, numerous Emory units will honor the life and legacy of the King and the civil rights movement. The events include the Oxford College MLK Day of Service on Monday, January 20, starting at 9:30am. Registration is required.
Volunteer opportunities are also available in the City of Dunwoody. Volunteers are encouraged to register for the city’s 9th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service on Monday, January 20, 2025. Dunwoody Parks and Recreation is partnering with the Dunwoody-Atlanta Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc. to recognize the national MLK, Jr. Day holiday with volunteer service projects, a community food drive and blood drive.
The Atlanta History Center will commemorate the legacy of MLK and celebrate the women who have shaped he Civil Rights Movement. Guests will have the opportunity to participate in civil rights-themed trivia, kids’ activities, specially curated exhibits, panel discussions, and more. The event is free and open to the community. Registration is required.
Museum of Design Atlanta and Black Voters Matter will host Empowered Voices: MLK Day at MODA in celebration of MLK Day. The free event marks the last day to experience Characters: Type in Atlanta, an exhibition that explores typography as a tool for social justice. The event is Monday, January 20, 2025, 11am – 4pm. Registration is required.