1:00 PM // Pre-Show Discussion in the Event Room – Second Floor
2:00 PM // Performance of Carmela Full of Wishes on the Goizueta Stage for Youth and Families
The Alliance Theatre welcomes audiences to a very special Community Conversation taking place before the Opening performance of Carmela Full of Wishes.
Join us for an inspiring conversation that looks at the beauty and importance of this play and why it is so relevant today. You will also hear from two local Latino organizations to learn how they are supporting the community and uplifting Latino stories and artistic expression.
This conversation will be led by the following community leaders:
- Alvaro Saar Rios, playwright & script adapter of Carmela Full of Wishes
- Belisa Urbina, Chief Executive Officer of Ser Familia
- Santiago Marquez, Chief Executive Officer of The Latin American Association
6:30 PM // Pre-Show Discussion in the Carr Room
7:30 PM // Performance of Purpose on The Coca-Cola Stage
August Wilson’s Fences, Tarrell Alvin McCraney’s Choir Boy, James Ijames’ Tank Stranger, and Branden Jacob-Jenkins’ Purpose are all in conversation across Atlanta stages, creating a powerful moment for audiences and artists alike.
Join us before the performance of Purpose for a community conversation with directors Addae Moon, Keith Arthur Bolden, Jamil Jude, and Amanda Washington as they discuss the artistry, impact, and relevance of these works in Atlanta today.
Join us at the Alliance Theatre to hear this insightful conversation from the following artists:
- Keith Arthur Bolden, Director of Purpose (Alliance Theatre)
- Jamil Jude, Director of Tank Stranger (True Colors Theatre)
- Addae Moon, Director of Fences (Theatrical Outfit)
- Amanda Washington, Director of Choir Boy (Actor’s Express)
6:30 PM // Pre-Show Discussion in The Beauchamp Carr Room
7:30 PM // Performance of Duel Reality
Please join us for a conversation with T. Lang, the acclaimed Spelman College professor and Artistic Director of T. Lang Dance. As a precursor to the evening performance of Duel Reality, this conversation will explore the connection of movement, dance, and the body when it comes to storytelling, and other subjects around dance as a theatrical convention.
This conversation will be facilitated by Spelman Leadership Fellow and choreographer for the Alliance Theatre’s Underground Rep, Kerrington Griffin.
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T. Lang is a shape-shifting architect of embodied Black futurism. Her work merges contemporary modern dance with immersive technology, poetic storytelling, and radical pedagogy to illuminate narratives rooted in identity, history, and community. With a choreographic language that is physically evocative and emotionally resonant, Lang invites audiences into powerful, subjective experiences shaped by cultural memory and collective inquiry.As an Associate Professor and the Inaugural Chair of the Dance Performance and Choreography Department at Spelman College, Lang has reimagined dance education through a decolonial lens; developing curricula that frame embodiment as a 21st-century intellectual, artistic, and civic practice. Her courses interrogate the movement of Black bodies through historical, political, and liberatory frameworks, positioning the classroom as both studio and site of social reckoning. Her innovative integration of XR technology has earned her national recognition, including the 2024 Black Public Media Fellowship, 2022 and 2024 Emory University Arts & Social Justice Fellowship, and 2023 Princeton University’s Collaboration, Research and Innovation Grant. She received a National Endowment for the Arts award for her project Out From the Deep: Unraveling Them Turners; a historically grounded, technologically immersive dance work and recently a 2025 UNCF/Mellon Teaching and Learning Institute grant award for her professional work with T. Lang Dance.
Lang was the 2024 National Dance Educators Organization (NDEO) award recipient for the Outstanding Dance Educator in Higher Education (Established category). Lang expanded her work as Movement Director for fashion haus EUKONO for their collaboration during Paris Fashion week 2025. She continues her new developments with movement and creative technology with artist residencies at Georgia Tech and Duke University as she begins creating for her upcoming work, Thighs of Thunder. Lang received her BFA at University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and her MFA at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. |
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Kerrington Griffin [she/her] is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana who received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance Performance & Choreography from Spelman College. She is currently an Alliance Spelman Leadership Fellow and has been Underground for the past few months. She will debut her work as chorographer for Alliance Theatre’s Into The Burrow: A Peter Rabbit Tale and The Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Rock Experience this upcoming Spring! Kerrington began her professional dance career with Of Moving Colors Dance Company and was a founding member of the first black, contemporary, dance company in Louisiana, Nyama Contemporary Dance Company. She’s taught masterclasses to the Dance Departments of several Atlanta Public Schools and recently finished a Guest Artist Residency with Southern University’s Dance Program. She was previously Assistant Choreographer to Dell Howlett on Millions and can’t wait to see the storytelling of 7 Fingers with Duel Reality unfold! kerringtongriffin.com |