Playwright York Walker hopes audiences walk away having seen themselves in Covenant.
As it is written on the page, Covenant, by York Walker, opens in darkness. Then, a little bit of light breaks through — a flicker and crack of a small flame, until it grows to reveal Ruthie; a young, black girl, in a blue dress, with pockets in the front.
“Everybody got a secret,” are the first words from Ruthie’s mouth.
When Walker sat down to write this play, Ruthie, he said, was the first image he had.
“The idea sort of came to me. She was surrounded in darkness, and had on this period-looking dress,” he said. “And so, I was like, ‘Okay, this is a character, clearly, and it’s going to be about her.’”
Prior to Covenant, he’d written another play that, in his own words, was just basic. It wasn’t bad. And he wouldn’t exactly say that it was boring. It was just very basic, straightforward, inspired by the late, great August Wilson, and set in a house in the ‘60s. After writing that play, he became interested in genre and what it looked like to have Black people and Black queer people show up in different genres. That led him to wonder, what does it look like to have a horror play on stage with Black people in it?
“And not have any white folks in it. And to have none of the horror coming from white people. That, I think, is what makes this play different,” he said. “I was terrified because I wasn’t sure that any of this was going to work. But I think by the time I started working on this play, I was at least brave enough to try to see.”
As he wrote, he remembered the myth of Robert Johnson. Born in Hazelhurst, Mississippi in 1911, Johnson played several juke joints throughout the south, and allegedly only had one hit record, Tarraplane Blues. His music, which included only 29 recorded songs, spoke to the experiences of bitterness and oppression he and other Black sharecroppers and descendants of enslaved Africans faced in the south.
After his wife and child died during birth, the loss is said to have been what pushed him into stardom. The rumor is, Johnson disappeared for roughly 18 months. When he re-emerged, he had a musical ability that could only be due to something supernatural. As a result, many claimed Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his talents. He later died at the age of 27 from pneumonia caused by poisoning.
The myth, said Walker, lends itself to horror.
“Black folks don’t mess with the devil. We don’t mess with spirits. None of that stuff. All these things work well together in terms of creating a horror play for Black people. I threw them all in the same pot. As I started writing, the characters started to be who they wanted to be without me,” he said. “When I’m writing something, what’s in the back of my mind is who am I and who am I writing this for? I think about Toni Morrison and the conversations she would have about the white gaze and feeling like when she was reading books, she could hear the author talking to white readers. I think it just helps to be specific about that in your writing. Like I said, Black folks, we don’t mess with the devil. But being aware of who I was writing it for, being aware of my art, and trying my best to take care of Black people in the writing of it, that was very intentional.”
Anytime he writes something, Walker said, the experience feels like a collaboration between his intention and something bigger.
“It’s like there’s a world where the play is already written,” he said. “I’m trying to pull from that thing to build it.”
He thinks back to his experiences of being in the movie theater and seeing Jordan Peele’s Get Out or Us. The experience: everyone in the theater collectively talking back to the screen and that whole situation, really opened something for him and made him interested in what that would be like in the theater.
“I wanted to create a story that was interesting and compelling, and character-driven, that also could work on stage and not be corny, because horror, I feel like, could very easily go left on stage,” he said. “Even movies very easily can be terrible and not be scary at all.”
What hopes does he have for audiences in Atlanta who come to see Covenant? He said he tries to shy away from dictating what he wants people to walk away from his work with.
“I think it’s going to be different depending on what you bring to it. If you grew up in a religious household like me, you will bring something specific to the experience. You’ll probably walk away from it very differently from somebody who didn’t grow up with religion at all,” he said. “If you had a very religious mother or grandmother, you’ll see that person in the play. It may or may not trigger. Everybody will, more than likely, have a different experience of it.”
What’s most important to me is that, especially for Black people, they feel seen. That’s the biggest thing for me. When I go to the theater, I just want to walk away feeling like I’m a little less alone in the world, a little less alone in my experience. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I walk away from the play feeling like, ‘Oh, it’s a happy ending. I’m going to be okay.’ Sometimes it doesn’t end that way. But I’m still grateful to have recognized myself on stage. Sometimes that’s enough.”
Performances of Covenant run on the Hertz Stage October 8 through November 9, 2025 – learn more.
Come Curious. Leave Changed.
Join us for transformative theater that speaks to the heart of Atlanta.
“Forget about what you are escaping from, reserve your anxiety for what you are escaping to.” – Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
The Universal Power of Storytelling
This quote, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Michael Chabon (soon to be adapted into a new opera this fall) has resonated with me for years. What makes “Fiddler on the Roof” so universal and enduring? I often return to a moment in the documentary Miracle of Miracles, where a Japanese theatre manager tells Joseph Stein, “I cannot believe how Japanese Fiddler on the Roof is.” That comment captures the essence of why stories and theatre have resonated for thousands of years: people see themselves reflected in these narratives, regardless of their background.
Concentric Circles of Connection
Fiddler on the Roof is universal because it focuses on the smallest circle—a single family. At its heart, it is the story of a father terrified of losing his daughters and his role as the head of the family. Anyone who has been a parent, or has had a parent, can recognize that primal fear.
The story then expands to a larger circle: the community of Anatevka. Here, the townspeople grapple with the tension between tradition and modernity—arranged marriages, generational conflict, and the struggle to adapt to change while holding on to their identity. These aren’t just Jewish experiences; they are fundamentally human.
The circles widen further. Fiddler becomes the story of a people without a permanent home—displaced, forced to rebuild their lives time and again. Every few years, they arrive at a new train station or airport, constructing a new community only to face the prospect of migration once more. They live on borrowed time, always at risk of becoming “the other,” cast as outsiders or even villains.
This cycle of displacement and “othering” is a universal experience, shared by countless groups across history and geography.
Universality Through Specificity
It’s a well-known truth in theatre: for a story to be truly universal, it must be deeply specific. Fiddler on the Roof is the quintessential Jewish tale that is rooted in a very particular tradition—the rituals of Shabbat, Jewish weddings, and prayer shawls are not common to many other cultures. Yet these details serve to communicate a much broader, human truth.
These stories resonate with anyone who empathizes with families torn apart, parents separated from children, or people fleeing hate and violence. Paradoxically, it’s the uniqueness of this society, the specific details, that allows this story to speak to so many others.
Returning to Chabon’s words: “Forget about what you are escaping from, reserve your anxiety for what you are escaping to.” The people of Anatevka are forced to
leave, but their odyssey is far from over. Some emigrate to America, building a new life with sweat and tears. Others go to Israel, forging a life that is perpetually overshadowed by existential peril. The unluckiest of all, remain in Europe, facing further persecution and the horrors that would follow in the 1930s.
The Bright Side
While these themes are heavy, there is another side to this story. Survivors have always found ways to endure. Across generations, Jewish people have relied on two essential “hacks” for survival:
Embracing Family
Recognizing the strength and importance of the family nucleus.
Embracing Humor
Using wit and laughter as tools to cope with adversity.
This humor is woven into the fabric of Fiddler on the Roof, providing warmth and resilience in the face of hardship. There are many circles in Fiddler: the nucleus of the family, the dynamic of a town, the tradition of a people. These circles are constantly challenged by outside forces, all of them revolving around the question of identity. The laughter, the anxiety, the perseverance— this is what makes this story so universal, yet so profoundly personal to me.
Come Curious. Leave Changed.
Join us for transformative theater that speaks to the heart of Atlanta.
Our Teen Ensemble was in the audience for the first performance of Choir Boy, the critically acclaimed new play by MacArthur Fellow Tarell Alvin McCraney. Choir Boy tells the story of Pharus, who wants nothing more than to lead the school’s gospel choir. Pharus’s confidence, charisma, clarity of purpose, and talent hide the struggle he endures at school. The choir is where Pharus can stand out and be different without fear – because he’s the best. Here is what one of our teens thought about the production:
Choir Boy is not simply a coming of age story. Choir Boy is a beautifully crafted script performed by painstakingly talented actors with phenomenal voices. The play moved me in a way that I still don’t understand, the way it toys with human empathy is incomprehensible. From the opening scene I was shivering, shaking and covered in goose bumps, and by the end I was crying. I realized that even though my mind was not immediately aware of the affect it had on me, my body was. The play followed the many characters and story lines flawlessly all tied together with the best scene changes I have ever seen. Once the play was over it made me want to work, jump, and improve myself because a great piece of theatre not only stirs up your emotions, it sets you into action. And Choir Boy set me into action. I recommend it to anyone and everyone. People need to see this play, not simply for entertainment but to open minds and hearts. The world is made a better place with shows like this.
Delly Fears
10th grade, Atlanta Girls School
Choir Boy runs on the Hertz Stage now through October 13. Tickets are available at https://www.alliancetheatre.org/choirboy
Pictured Above – John Stewart and Jeremy Pope. Photo by Greg Mooney.
Here at the Alliance, the holiday season usually begins a bit early. Every October we welcome the cast and crew of A Christmas Carol back into our rehearsal halls to prepare for our favorite holiday tradition. For many of our friends working on this production, being a part of the show is its own special tradition, spending the season with us year after year.
In the spirit of tradition, we asked the folks of A Christmas Carol to share about some of the backstage traditions that have developed amongst the cast and crew over the years — what they are and what they mean to them.
“A tradition of sorts is our first read through/meet and greet day. I find it electric. Friends from all departments gather in the rehearsal space, some people you saw earlier in the week, others you haven’t seen since December 24th of the previous year. It’s filled with ‘It’s good to see your face’, ‘How are you actually doing?’, ‘Show me pictures of your dog!’ ‘How are you liking the new place?’ ‘Your kids have gotten so big!’ Even though the world can feel so heavy, for some magical reason on an early evening in October, everything feels just right. I [also] really enjoy the first [full] day back. You have jitters of starting to learn this story again and finding newness within it with everyone. I, along with many others, have heard this Charles Dickens classic since I was a little girl. Although a story told many ways, many different times, there is so much to discover. I get so excited at the thought of what we, as a company of artists, will find out about each other, the world, and ourselves through diving back into this piece.”
— Allie Hill (understudy)
“Before I was in the show, I was in the audience. It was my family’s tradition to see A Christmas Carol every year, and it was one of the best parts of the holiday season. The show is still our tradition, but now I am on stage instead of [in] the audience. One of the best traditions [I share with my Alliance Theatre family] is that every year the cast and crew come together to celebrate the season by doing a Secret Santa gift exchange. It’s less about the gifts though and more about coming together. The day is filled with laughter and friendship. All the gifts are very thoughtful and specific to the person receiving the gifts — some of the gifts are even handmade! For many of us, this show has become our Christmas.”
— Caleb Baumann (Matthew Watkins)
“The best memories I have from my time with the A Christmas Carol family are ones that happened behind the scenes! My first year, the other A Christmas Carol kids and I decorated our dressing room with lights and holiday decorations, had pajama day, and decorated gingerbread houses during the break of a two-show day. We also created a really fun video and took silly pictures with our young performer supervisor, Kate! But my favorite tradition was being part of Secret Santa and seeing everyone’s expressions during the reveal party and A Christmas Carol potluck!”
— Adrienne Ocfemia (Melinda Cratchit)
“Usually on the potluck day, not only do we do food and a secret Santa exchange, but the crew chief will let the child actors ride on the lift and make it snow [on stage]. The last day in the rehearsal hall the kids pull up all the [marking] tape from the floor and I give them leftover Halloween candy in direct proportion to the size of the tape ball they bring me. It’s fun and takes them [only] three minutes to do something that would take the Stage Management team at least 20! Leora bought us a Polaroid camera for the first opening and every year I get a new set of film for everybody to take pictures.”
— Liz Campbell (Stage Manager)
“One ritual that, for me, is tied particularly to A Christmas Carol is saying (shouting, really) ‘Upon the ice!’ to fellow cast members as we go to places at the top of the show. As if we are, I don’t know, hockey players perhaps, saying ‘I’ll see you out there on the ice’? I really don’t know when or how it started, but I’ve been saying it since I was first cast in A Christmas Carol as Jacob Marley around 2011 or so. I can hear Chris Kayser (Scrooge) and Bart Hansard (Present/Fezziwig) in my head saying it, and I think those guys are where I learned it. I love rituals in the theater. I feel like they tie me to the past, present, and future of theater in a beautiful way. This ritual ties me to Atlanta actors, friends I’ve worked with, people I love and respect. It’s fun to think that someone in this year’s cast is learning this ritual from me, and they’ll continue to say it down the road like an ancient blessing that travels through generations.”
— Andrew Benator (Ebenezer Scrooge)
A Christmas Carol will run on the Coca-Cola Stage November 9 through December 24, 2024 – learn more.
Who hasn’t sat in a room with a loved one and engaged in some spit balling around a great idea for a small business start up?
The term “small business” is a misnomer, as there is certainly nothing small about its impact. Small businesses fuel economic flexibility, create jobs, foster innovation and fill many needs within our local economies. In a global economy that is dominated by big businesses, it is even more imperative that entrepreneurial initiatives focus on seeds of business ideas that provide services based on real consumer needs, not necessarily profit margins.
And of course, many times these seedlings take off and become the Next Big Idea.
Here in our very own Atlanta, CEO and Founder Pinky Cole started the cheekily named Slutty Vegan as a way to provide healthy vegan food options for the community, and Sara Blakely (founder of Spanx) was looking for the right undergarment to provide a smooth look under pants. Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank dreamed up The Home Depot from a coffee shop in Los Angeles, with the vision that employees would personally walk customers through home repair or improvement. In Australia, Melanie Perkins (co-founder and CEO of the free-to-use online design platform, Canva) and her boyfriend Cliff Obrecht saw classmates struggling with design software at university and dreamed up a more accessible tool.
In the early 2000’s, when many cultural organizations in Atlanta were struggling, longtime arts supporter and financial advisor of the Kendeda Fund, Barry Berlin, approached the Fund’s founder, Diana Blank, about creating a program to strengthen the arts in Atlanta. They invited multiple arts organizations in the city to submit their own big idea that they would execute if finances were not a consideration. Susan Booth pitched the idea of a program that would result in a world premiere by an emerging playwright fresh out of graduate school. From there, the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Program took flight.
Previous Alliance/Kendeda Competition winners Furlough’s Paradise, DREAM HOU$E, and The Many Wondrous Realities of Jasmine Starr-Kidd. Photos by Greg Mooney.
Over the course of 21 years, this big idea has led to 21 world premieres of new plays and a total of 107 up and coming playwrights gracing our rehearsal halls and stages. What started as an acknowledgment of a need (we must continue to invest not only in the development of emerging playwrights’ work, but also the producing of the work) has become a yearly steadfast commitment to five writers from various MFA playwriting programs across the country. Each year, one play graces the Hertz Stage, and four finalist plays receive rigorous development attention by way of workshops and public readings. What started as a dream became a reality, and this nationally renowned initiative has become a staple in the canon of Alliance Theatre’s new work initiatives.
Here’s to 21 more years of dreaming up the Next Big Idea.
Business Ideas will premiere on the Hertz Stage November 16 through December 15, 2024 – learn more.
Stage Management Fellow Kacie Pimentel, Crew Chief Bryan Perez, Stage Manager Liz Campbell, and Assistant Stage Manager Anna Baranski in 2022. Photo courtesy of Liz Campbell.
Liz Campbell is no stranger to the Alliance Theatre’s production of A Christmas Carol. She has been involved with the production in various roles backstage since 2005, spanning the three different versions of Carol that have been produced in that time.
“I started at the Alliance as a Stage Management apprentice,” Campbell says, “and I did A Christmas Carol for the first time that same year. I did a year as run crew, took two years off, then came back as the assistant stage manager in 2009 and filled that role until 2012. I took over [stage managing] the show in 2013 when Pat [Flora] retired.”
Campbell has worked on all three versions of this story that the Alliance Theatre has produced – the previous David H. Bell adaptation that ran on the Alliance Stage (later The Coca-Cola Stage) for thirty years, the current David H. Bell adaptation that premiered on The Coca-Cola Stage in 2021 and continues its run today, and the live radio play adaptation that performed in a parking lot in Atlanta’s Summerhill community in 2020.
“I’ve been with the show so long, I sometimes feel like the Ghost of Christmas Carols Past,” Campbell says.
Her favorite backstage tradition is Potluck Day, the day when the cast and team backstage gather for a few hours together to share food and exchange Secret Santa gifts.
“It’s the culmination of all the values of the season –” says Campbell – “gift giving, sharing a meal, joy, laughter, and communion.”
Left to Right: Actor Adrienne Ocfemia and Young Performer Supervisor Kate Walsh. Photo courtesy of Liz Campbell. Actor Emberlynn Wood. Photo courtesy of Liz Campbell. Actor Clare Latham. Photo courtesy of Liz Campbell.
When asked why she pursued stage managing as a career, Campbell says, “I love stage managing because it combines the skills and talents that I was lucky enough to be born with, as well as the passions I have (and an overwhelming desire to organize things). Calling a show feels like painting with lights to music; it brings me a joy I can’t describe.”
In addition to many – many – Alliance Theatre productions, Campbell has offered her talents as a stage manager to many theaters and organizations outside of the Alliance, such as The Shining and RENT at The Atlanta Opera; In the Continuum at Synchronicity Theatre; Book of Will and It’s a Wonderful Life at Theatrical Outfit; and The Drowsy Chaperone, Camelot, The World Goes Round, Million Dollar Quartet, Monty Python’s Spamalot, and Ragtime at the Atlanta Lyric Theatre. She has also been the stage manager for the Georgia High School Musical Theatre Awards (or the Shuler Awards) for almost a decade.
However, she says that her career highlight has been watching her daughter grow up “seeing, responding to, and enjoying” the shows she’s worked on.
Her favorite moment in the Alliance’s current production of Carol is when Christmas Present sings “O, Holy Night” at the beginning of Act II. “It stirs my heart and soul so much,” she says, “that sometimes I forget for a moment I’m working and have cues to call!”
Campbell says she keeps coming back to Carol “because I love it. I can’t imagine my holiday season without A Christmas Carol.”
And we can’t imagine A Christmas Carol without her.
A Christmas Carol will run on the Coca-Cola Stage November 9 through December 24, 2024 – learn more.
Forever Eternally, Jane Doe – Spooky Shows That Won’t Stop Haunting Us
In honor of Halloween, we’re revisiting a few of our old haunts – the spooky shows that have graced our stage – and shows that we’re fans of from afar!
The Shining
Last season’s horror offering was a coproduction with the Atlanta Opera, and was an opera based on the classic Stephen King story. Audiences were enthralled with the dramatic retelling of this classic tale.
Ride the Cyclone
A chilling tale of a group of schoolchildren who experienced an unfortunate end on a rollercoaster, this musical has a huge cult following. Audience members came back again and again to experience this story and to watch Jane Doe fly as she sang her ballad.
Darlin’ Cory
This haunting musical, written by playwright & novelist Phillip DePoy and Sugarland’s Grammy-Award winning front man, Kristian Bush, was set in 1920s Appalachia. A story full of secrets and mystery, a certain scene featuring Jeremy Aggers and some very ominous red lighting comes to mind when thinking of spooky shows.
Edward Foote
Another Phillip DePoy creation, this gothic murder mystery is set against the haunting music of Appalachian folk song. This play was praised by Bert Osborne from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, who said the “foreboding tension [was] constantly palpable.”
Ghost Brothers of Darkland County
A haunting musical that received its world premiere on our stage in 2012, this gripping tale features music and lyrics by John Mellencamp, a book by Stephen King, and was musically directed by T Bone Burnett. This Southern gothic musical was fraught with mystery, tragedy, and phantoms of the past, backlit against a roots- and blues-tinged score that left audiences begging for more.
Covenant
Lauded by TheaterMania as “Undeniably spooky” and “Absolutely enjoyable,” this play was produced on Roundabout Theatre Company’s stage in 2023 as a part of their Roundabout Underground season. The cast included Jade Payton, who recently graced our stage as Camae in The Mountaintop.
The Rocky Horror Show
Very much a “if you know, you know” show, this production nearly always features a “shadow” cast of enthusiastic fans who perform the show in front of the movie screen with over-the-top dramatics. Also performed without a screening of the film, this dark comedy is always a riot.
Little Shop of Horrors
A dark comedy that needs no introduction, this production has run off-Broadway for years and features a catchy and unforgettable score by Howard Ashman. The mysterious plant’s thirst for blood almost rivals the thirst for the show by its worldwide fanbase.
Jekyll and Hyde
Based on the 1886 novella by Robert Louis Stevenson, this sinister tale is the brainchild of Frank Wildhorn, Leslie Bricusse, and Steve Cuden. The Atlanta Lyric Theatre produced an incredible version a few years ago that we’re still thinking about today.
“What do you do?”
“What do you do?” It’s the age-old question in today’s modern world that we sadly can’t avoid asking (or being asked) within the first fifteen minutes of meeting someone. Whether it be on a blind date or a chance encounter with an old neighbor who has just completed their graduate degree, we simply can’t help but turn to the low hanging fruit conversation starter: “What is your line of work?” or, more specifically, “How do you make your money?”
And, for some, this question breeds such insecurity, they will do anything to avoid being asked the question.
It’s no wonder so many of us (in particular our young people who have come of age during a pandemic, skyrocketing health care costs, and an egregiously unaffordable housing market) have lost faith in our economic system. It’s becoming harder and harder to put together a sturdy financial plan because it’s dependent on job security and employment opportunities that provide benefits. And if a potential job requires a college degree, is the student loan debt worth all of the “work” to become a “worker”?
Our 21st Kendeda Competition winner, Milo Cramer, has written a piece of theatre that tackles these contemplations head on. And what is so brilliant about the story Milo has created is that he isn’t trying to answer these seemingly unanswerable questions. He is instead spotlighting the realities of our broken economic system with such relentless honesty (and a whole lot of humor), that we can’t help but see ourselves in the play’s relationships. We belly laugh at the absurdity of the transactional relationships between an exhausted barista and an egoistic customer, between an exasperated mother and a daughter rejecting convention. In a world where capitalism teaches us money is king and transactions are often prioritized over real human connection, how eye opening it is to truly ask ourselves – can money really buy our happiness?
What if, instead of the question “What do you do?,” we ask, “How do you spend your days?” This question sparks a great deal of self-reflection (which is so much more interesting than job titles). Are your days spent looking for opportunities to help those in need? Giving thanks for what you have? Having more interactions and less transactions? My hope is, after this performance, they just may be.
We are so glad you’re here.
Amanda Watkins
Director of New Work
Business Ideas will premiere on the Hertz Stage November 16 through December 15, 2024 – learn more.