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A Conversation about The Goizueta Stage for Youth and Families with Jennings Hertz Artistic Director Christopher Moses

When asked about the new Goizueta Stage for Youth and Families, Jennings Hertz Artistic Director Christopher Moses is quick to continue to reference something he’s been saying for years – that the new theater space will advance his vision for theater being a “birthright” for every Atlanta resident.

“The promise of the Goizueta Stage for Youth and Families is to become a consistent resource for young people and educators in our community. For far too long, we have asked the busiest people in our community to bend their schedules to fit our production calendar. Now we are upending how we produce. … We are trying to make it as easy as possible for people to experience this work because we now empirically know the benefits. And now that we know that theater can help create more inspired, thoughtful, hopeful, and connected human beings – it’s up to us to scale those benefits as far and wide.”

– Chris Moses, Jennings Hertz Artistic Director

The Goizueta Stage for Youth and Families (GSYF) officially broke ground on August 6, 2024, but the idea was conceptualized long before. The vision for the GSYF was always to be a transformative space for the Alliance’s youngest patrons, featuring thoughtfully curated, year-round programming by the Alliance and Symphony Orchestra. The programming will be supported by the Imagine Endowment, a capital campaign that was launched in tandem with the groundbreaking.

“That’s what allows us to have such low-ticket prices for these shows,” Moses explains about the Imagine Endowment, “which are less than a third of the national average.” Moses also acknowledges that transportation is also a factor that sometimes inhibits school groups from attending shows, which is why the Alliance began offering bus reimbursement for qualified schools. “It’s about relying on us,” Moses continues.

“We know how important this art form can be on a young person’s development and now we’ve got to do all we can to make sure that as many kids as possible are experiencing it.”

– Chris Moses, Jennings Hertz Artistic Director

The project was designed with young people in mind, conceptualized in tandem with the architects on the project, Perkins and Will. In addition to utilizing information the Alliance’s Education Department has gathered over years of research, key stakeholders met with Dr. Walter Gilliam, a leading child psychologist, to ensure that the creativity of youth was respected and kept in mind at every stage of the design. “Even the way you enter the theater rewards curiosity,” Moses continues, “and invites you [to enter] in a way that you might not expect. It’s sophisticated. It’s not a condescending design. … It also communicates to the world that young people are not just welcome here, but that we actually built this place with them in mind. The fact that it’s on the front of our building on Peachtree, our city’s main thoroughfare, is such a fantastic statement to the rest of this city and to the rest of the world. My sincerest hope is that it inspires other large cultural organizations to go and do the same.”

One of the observations Dr. Gilliam made that was integrated into the design of the space is the fact that younger children like to be “close to the action” — closer to the stage than seats are often placed. “That’s what prompted us to have these scissor lift seats,” Moses says. “Each row can depress into the floor, and we can put cushions on top so that the youngest ones can be up close and less hindered by traditional theater seats. That’s also why we went with the bench seating as well; it can accommodate young people who may want to sprawl out or sit up next to their parent or caregiver.”

Another observation that Dr. Gilliam brought to the ideation phase is that young people love to see their older selves to get a feel for what they might expect as they begin to grow up. This led to the construction of the PNC PlaySpace on the front of the building, which offers a unique space for unstructured play that also contains space for rotating art installations. “I love that image of a one- or two-year-old in the Play Space, which is open for free six days a week,” Moses explains. “Through encouraging this unstructured play and rewarding curiosity, creativity, and [those children] can see a five-, six-, or seven-year-old walking into the theater, knowing that’s their trajectory. Really starting to build this culture of growing up here at the Alliance from the moment you were born. You’re there playing in this cool, creative Amazon rainforest installation, and then, a few years down the road, you’re regularly coming into the GSYF. And then, twenty years down the road, who knows? Maybe you’re going to the Hertz or the Coca-Cola Stage. It’s starting to build this ownership over both the art form of theater and this arts center where it really does feel like it belongs to you simply by growing up in Atlanta.”

When asked about the programming for the GSYF, Moses gets excited, eager to explain the inspiration behind the three shows opening the space. Two have been produced on Alliance stages before — Into the Burrow: A Peter Rabbit™ Tale and Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Rock Experience. The former was produced in the round on the Hertz Stage in 2023 and ran for three months (a sort of case study of what an extended run could look like on the GSYF) and the latter opened in early 2020 and had just four performances before it closed due to the pandemic. The third show, The Great Ant Sleepover, is based on a book that was commissioned as part of the Mayor’s Summer Reading Club and was distributed to over 20,000 kids in Atlanta. When it clicked that all three stories took place underground, the idea of The Underground Rep almost wrote itself.

“We knew we wanted to try something new and different because that’s what this moment called for,” Moses explains. “We had these three stories that all could share similar real estate and then we started dreaming about the whole notion of [how we are] digging up and getting to the foundation of who we are and we thought about how fun it would be to create this conceit that while we were digging and constructing this new theater, we happened across this whole underground world — these three different stories that are sharing the same ecosystem. … To reinforce that notion that families could come back again and again — to come for a weekend and see three different shows in the new theater.”

The idea of creating a repertory of actors — six actors who would all play different roles in each show — came soon after, which responded to the need of the local acting community and to provide Atlanta actors consistent work for seven months. At least two actors are able to join Actors Equity due to the long-term nature of the contract and finally get all of the benefits that come with membership, including health insurance.

At the end of it all, this space is just a beginning — a beginning for the Atlanta community of actors, a beginning for the next generation, and a beginning for what theater for youth and families could look like.

“We will make theater a birthright. That is the promise of this stage.”

– Chris Moses, Jennings Hertz Artistic Director

Director Shana Carroll on Duel Reality’s ability to transport audiences, and her return to the Alliance’s Coca-Cola Stage.

Ask anyone who has experienced Duel Reality before, and you may get one of two descriptions: Romeo and Juliet meets Cirque du Soleil or Shakespeare meets the circus without all the animals. Any of those descriptions have some accuracy to them, according to Shana Carroll, but there is another description most aren’t considering.

“I see it more as a sporting event. Sort of football game,” she said. “I think of it more like the soccer-type World Cup or rugby games where the fans are just so die-hard they want to kill each other.”

That was the energy she and her company, The 7 Fingers, who created and produce Duel Reality, wanted to capture.

“The telling of Romeo and Juliet as a sporting event, and, of course, using circus language. Sometimes we say a circus-infused sporting event, or a circus sporting event because the rounds are circus battles – red versus blue; the modern version of the Capulets and the Montagues.”

In 2002, Carroll, along with six other circus performers, founded The 7 Fingers. Carroll herself performed with Cirque du Soleil. The vision was that they could create a company that blended the many genres of live performance, from theater to circus and everything in between. Before circus, which she started when she was 18, Carroll’s introduction into performance was theater.

“It is where my roots, along with Gypsy Snider, another one of The 7 Fingers founders, are. As a child and a teenager, I did theater,” she said.

“Over the years, [Gypsy and I] have talked about wanting to do adaptations of various works in a circus style.”

As they devised shows, they always thought in terms of writing unique pieces of circus, using their theater and dance vocabulary. In the process, they always wondered, “what would happen if we did Romeo and Juliet.”

Eventually, as they were approached by Virgin Voyages to create a show for their new fleet of ships, they decided to make their dream real. In the summer of 2021, they debuted Duel Reality on Virgin’s Scarlet Lady.

“They had a theater that was modular in an alley configuration – like a tennis court. It just reminded me of a sports arena in a way, like a stadium,” she remembers. “Right away, like this Venn diagram when everything goes ‘ding-ding-ding’ together, everything kind of converged.”

In that moment, like in the movies or a cartoon when the light bulb lights up over a person’s head, they knew they had to do Romeo and Juliet like a sporting event, merging theater and circus together.

This is not the first time the Alliance Theatre has worked with Carroll. The Alliance’s 2023 production Water for Elephants, based on a novel about a traveling circus, required unique choreography. Carroll was part of the creative team for the show and designed the circus elements.

Coming back to Atlanta for Duel Reality is sentimental for Carroll in many ways.

“[Being in Atlanta for Water for Elephants] was like we were in camp together. You know when you have great memories of your summer camp friends? We had such a great time,” she said. “There are such fond memories from those months. It’s like going back to some beloved place.”

To be clear, Duel Reality isn’t Water for Elephants. There are some vast differences, but the same awe that audiences experienced from that show will be just as awe-inspiring, if not more, in Duel Reality.

“Romeo and Juliet is a classic. Simply put! I hope that audiences who experience DUEL REALITY will be viscerally and emotionally transported. Circus language, at least in the way I try to use it, is always metaphorically linked to the story beat. With DUEL REALITY, like in Romeo and Juliet, there is a sense that the stakes are high stakes. Whether it’s the high stakes of the battle, or the high stakes of the love, in every scene there is essentialized emotion, and the circus aspect is viscerally accompanying that story beat.”

The show, she said, is designed to transport audiences.

“Often, whenever we go to the theater, if you’re anything like me, you sit back and wonder, ‘Where is this going? What is this about? What do I think of this?’”

But when it comes to circus, she believes audiences don’t allow themselves to be transported in the same way. Not usually. Duel Reality, however, is designed to transport. Or, at least, she would love for audiences to be transported.

“When circus is seen and framed in the right way, it has that capacity to be transformative; to be life-affirming, because it shows you something that you thought was, maybe, impossible previously, as possible. That carries over to other corners of your life, and people realize everything they thought was impossible could be possible.”

Duel Reality runs on the Coca-Cola Stage February 5 through March 1, 2026 – learn more.

Life as a trapeze artist is about more than just the intense training, nomadic lifestyle, or death-defying stunts; it’s about the spontaneity of creating something new every time a performer takes to the stage. The discipline is demanding, but it fuels the passion to keep telling stories through movement. It’s what keeps the fire alive.

Cirque tour life mirrors that of any traditional touring show: demanding hours, time away from home, and exposure to different cultures and cities. This, of course, is supplemented by the rehearsal element, which emphasizes collaboration and artistic blending to achieve the best possible performance. Additionally, performers must maintain a peak physical condition to consistently execute their stunts at a high level. The job demands a constant state of physical readiness, with the ability to adapt to new disciplines at a moment’s notice.

Often, performers are introduced to movement styles that fall outside their comfort zones, each requiring a unique skill set. Silvia Dopazo, an aerialist from Spain, is currently touring as an aerial artist. The experience has expanded her artistic repertoire, exposing her to a wide range of disciplines beyond her original training, and preparing her for any future artistic endeavors. “I was a rope and tissue artist, and now I’m skating, I am doing chains, bungees… all disciplines I had never done before,” she shares.

Sophie Brandeborn, a performer with AXEL, a touring figure-skating cirque show, describes performing as a truly magical experience; one that overtakes her completely.

“For me… I can almost have an outside-of-body experience, where I see everything from a perspective outside of myself…as you get more comfortable, that’s when the beauty kicks in…when you start getting a connection with the audience. You get secure in your role.”

Duel Reality runs on the Coca-Cola Stage February 5 through March 1, 2026 – learn more.

From the Alliance to the National Stage: Meet Isaiah C. Phipps, Georgia’s Lone 2026 YoungArts Theatre Winner

At Alliance Theatre, we witness the spark of young artistry every day in our rehearsal halls and classrooms. But every so often, that spark catches a national wind.

This year, YoungArts saw a record-breaking 13,000 applicants across 10 disciplines. Out of that massive pool, only 32 winners were selected for the Theatre discipline nationwide—and only one of those winners hailed from the state of Georgia.

That winner is Isaiah C. Phipps, a dedicated member of the Alliance’s Teen Ensemble and an alumnus of the Palefsky Collision Project. We sat down with Isaiah to discuss his journey, the power of persistence, and how the Alliance helped shape his award-winning craft.

Persistence Pays Off

For Isaiah, the road to YoungArts wasn’t an overnight success. It was a lesson in tenacity.

“I have entered this competition twice before, and I didn’t win,” Isaiah shares. “My mission was to use this last opportunity to hopefully be awarded, and it worked. I am proud of myself for staying focused and determined.”

As he looks toward high school graduation and college acceptances, being named a winner connects him to a prestigious 40-year history of excellence. He joins an intergenerational network of icons like Viola Davis and Timothée Chalamet. For Isaiah, the most exciting part isn’t just the title—it’s the mentorship. “I am most excited to engage with the mentorship opportunities… learning from past and present YoungArts alumni.”

The “Alliance” Advantage

Isaiah is no stranger to our halls; he has been training with the Alliance since he was a young child. From summer camps to specialized workshops in voice and diction, he credits his “extensive training” for giving him the tools to compete on a national level.

However, it was the Palefsky Collision Project and the Teen Ensemble that helped him find his unique voice:

The 2024 Palefsky Collision Project allowed me to dig into my creativeness as I helped to write scripts and songs… The collaboration allowed me to keep an open mind. Currently in the Teen Ensemble, watching plays through the eyes of a teen critic has brought me a new vision on how I approached my monologue.

Finding Authenticity in the Bass-Baritone

While Isaiah has deep roots in Musical Theatre, his recent exploration into “Spoken Theatre”—including a turn as the Earl of Gloucester in King Lear—has expanded his horizons. This shift toward authenticity was the key to his YoungArts breakthrough.

When asked what advice he would give to other Georgia artists eyeing competitive programs, Isaiah emphasizes the importance of playing to your true strengths rather than trying to fit a mold.

“The past two years I tried to perform more tenor-type songs because I thought my bass-baritone voice wouldn’t get me far,” he admits. “But this year, when I sang songs using it, I was recognized. Understand what your greatest artistic strength is and put your energy predominantly in that.”

What’s Next?

As Isaiah prepares to graduate, he is looking toward a future that includes more plays and potentially a transition to on-camera acting. Whatever stage he steps onto next, he carries with him the pride of Georgia and the foundational spirit of the Alliance Theatre.

Congratulations, Isaiah! We can’t wait to see what you do next.

A world premiere production inspired by the classic, Uncle Vanya

WRITTEN BY BETH HYLAND
DIRECTED BY MARISSA WOLF

ON THE HERTZ STAGE
FEBRUARY 25 – MARCH 22, 2026

The Alliance Theatre is excited to announce the cast of its upcoming world-premiere production, FIRES, OHIO. Written by 2025 Alliance/Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition winner Beth Hyland and directed by Marissa Wolf, Artistic Director of Portland Center Stage, FIRES, OHIO runs on the Hertz Stage, February 25 through March 22, 2026. Opening night is Wednesday, March 4, 2026.

Inspired by the classic family drama Uncle Vanya, FIRES, OHIO updates a beloved story for our painfully absurd present, taking a hilarious and heartfelt look at the natural (and personal) disasters that transform our everyday lives. In addition to winning the 22nd annual Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, FIRES, OHIO has been awarded the Kennedy Center’s Paula Vogel Award and the Mark Twain Prize for Comic Playwriting.

“On the first page of Beth Hyland’s magnificent script, FIRES, OHIO, is a quick exchange of dialogue from the Seinfeld episode “The Keys” where George and Kramer are in conversation about their different approaches to life – George craves and Kramer yearns…this yearning, this soulful ache for purpose is distinctly Chekhovian, as is FIRES, OHIO. Our playwright has masterfully created characters who (not unlike the characters in UNCLE VANYA) are grappling with regret over their unsatisfactory lives and resentment towards the people in their orbits.  And yet, even in their feelings of ennui, we sense the electricity of the yearning. We empathize with their restlessness in the search for life’s meaning but are energized by their relentless quest to figure it all out. Oh, and it’s painstakingly relatable…and funny. ”

– Amanda Watkins, Director of New Work

The cast of Fires, Ohio features Chisom Awachie (Alliance Theatre debut) as Erin, David de Vries (Alliance Theatre: A Christmas Carol, Netflix: Ozark, Theatrical Outfit: Freud’s Last Session) as Professor, Tiffany Denise Hobbs (Alliance Theatre: A Tale of Two Cities, Actor’s Express: Doubt, Aurora Theatre: The Color Purple) as Elena, Rebeca Robles (Horizon Theatre: The Wolves, Synchronicity: The Hero’s Wife, Yale Drama: Uncle Vanya) as Sonia, and Billy Harrigan Tighe (Alliance Theatre: Millions, Broadway: The Heart of Rock & Roll, PIPPIN, West End: The Book of Mormon) as John.

The creative team is led by Director Marissa Wolf and Assistant Director SaRee Grimes​, and includes Lighting Designer Robert J. Aguilar, Scenic & Costume Designer Lex Liang, Sound Designer Madeleine Oldham, Fight Choreographer Jake Guinn, and Intimacy Consultant Laura Hackman.

Additional production support includes Stage Manager Xiaonan (Chloe) Liu, and Stage Management Production Assistant Phoebe Sweatman.

Performances of FIRES, OHIO run on the Hertz Stage February 25 through March 22, 2026 – learn more.