Arts & Literature

Fall Theater, Arts and Entertainment Guide

Published

3 years ago

October 9, 2021

Kelsey Asher

Lionheart Theatre

10 College Street, Norcross 30071
678-938-8518, lionhearttheatre.org

Bewitching
October 21 and 22, 7:30 p.m. October 24, 2 and 7:30 p.m.
Bewitching is a spooky, chilling collection of 10-minute plays that celebrate the Halloween season. The plays were submitted from playwrights across the U.S. You don’t want to miss this evening of chills and thrills.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
November 5-21. Fridays and Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sundays- 2 p.m.

Vanya and his adopted sister Sonia live a quiet life in the Pennsylvania farmhouse where they grew up, but their peace is disturbed when their movie star sister, Masha, returns unannounced with her 20-something boy toy, Spike – and a weekend of rivalry, regret and raucousness begins.

The Homecoming
December 9-19. Fridays and Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sundays 2 p.m.
Known on television as The Waltons, they’re called The Spencers in the original book, which is how they’re named here. The time is the Great Depression and the large Spencer family, living at the foot of a Virginia mountain, is struggling to survive. With his father having to take the only available job a long way from home, Clay-Boy is stuck with unusual responsibility for his brothers and sisters. Will Clay-Boy’s father make it home in time to celebrate the holidays? Don’t miss out on this heartwarming family tale that celebrates love, togetherness and acceptance.

Local School Productions

Wesleyan School Powell Theatre

5405 Spalding Drive, Peachtree Corners 30092
770-448-7640, wesleyanschool.org
wesleyanschool.org/arts/drama
For info, theatertickets@wesleyanschool.org.

Peter Pan
October 21, 4:30 p.m. October 22, 7 p.m. October 23, 2 p.m.

Wesleyan’s High School presents a special adaptation of Peter Pan, the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up, and his adventures in his home of Neverland with Tinkerbell, Wendy and the Lost Boys. After recovering his shadow in her house, Peter invites Wendy Darling to join him and Tinkerbell in Neverland where they meet up with Tiger Lily and her Warrior as well as Captain Hook and her Pirates. That’s right, her Pirates! We discover what it truly means to stay young at heart by celebrating this classic story reimagined and reinvigorated.
For information, please contact theatertickets@wesleyanschool.org.

Greater Atlanta Christian School King’s Gate Theatre
1575 Indian Trail Road,
Norcross 30093
770-243-2000,

greateratlantachristian.org
greateratlantachristian.org/arts/theatre

Freaky Friday
November 6 and 7, 2 and 7 p.m. King’s Gate Theatre
Greater Atlanta Christian High School invites you to get freaky with this new musical based on the celebrated novel by Mary Rodgers and the hit Disney films. This show is a heartfelt, comedic and unexpectedly emotional update on an American classic. When an overworked mother and her teenage daughter magically swap bodies, they have just one day to put things right again. By spending a day in each other’s shoes, Katherine and Ellie come to appreciate one another’s struggles, learn self-acceptance and realize the immeasurable love and mutual respect that bond a mother and daughter.

Cornerstone Christian Academy
5295 Triangle Parkway,
Peachtree Corners 30092
770-441-9222,
cornerstonecougars.org
cornerstonecougars.org/musical_theater

Frozen JR.
November 5 and 6, 7 p.m.

Cornerstone’s Middle School presents a production based on the 2018 Broadway musical version of the enchanting Disney film Frozen, bringing Elsa, Anna and the magical land of Arendelle to life. A story of love and acceptance between sisters, Frozen JR. expands on the relationship between Princesses Anna and Elsa. The two discover their hidden potential and powerful bond of sisterhood when faced with danger.

Presented by CYT Atlanta
3000 Old Alabama Road Suite 119, Alpharetta 30022
cytatlanta.org
Mount Pisgah Christian School
9820 Nesbit Ferry Road,
Johns Creek 30022

Newsies
November 11-14. Thursday and Friday, 7 p.m.; Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m.; Sunday, 3 p.m.
Tickets, $20.
It’s time to carry the banner on your stage with Disney’s Newsies! Set in turn-of-the century New York City, Newsies is the rousing tale of Jack Kelly, a charismatic newsboy and leader of a band of teenaged “newsies.” When titans of publishing raise distribution prices at the newsboys’ expense, Jack rallies newsies from across the city to strike against the unfair conditions and fight for what’s right!

High Museum of Art Atlanta

1280 Peachtree Street, Atlanta 30309
high.org

October Second Sunday
October 10, 12-5 p.m.
Free admission for all visitors to the High Museum of Art and special family-friendly programming! Enjoy art-making activities (while supplies last), performances and the High’s permanent collection and special exhibitions.
■ Music by DJ Kemit, 1–4 p.m. in Sifly Piazza
■ Destination Dance Ailey Revelations Workshops, 12:30–1:30 p.m. and 3–4 p.m. Robinson Atrium. Enjoy an intergenerational community workshop designed to engage children and families, get them excited about dance and introduce them to Mr. Ailey’s world-renowned ballet Revelations. Two workshops will be taught by Nasha Thomas, National Director of AileyCamp/Arts in Education for dance lovers of all levels.
■ Drop-In Art Making, 12–4:30 p.m. Anne Cox Chambers Lobby. Create artwork inspired by the Sifly Piazza installation, Outside the Lines!
■ smARTbox Distribution, 12–4:30 p.m. Orkin Terrace, Wieland Pavillion.

October Friday Jazz
October 15, 6-9 p.m. Free for members, $25 for non-members.

This is not your typical Friday Jazz. Curated by Jason Collier, the event will feature two musical areas where musicians will play throughout the evening, layering notes, improvising melodies and drawing on inspiration from jazz history. Reserve tickets at high.org.

On the Piazza
6-6:45 p.m., 7:10-7:55 p.m., and 8:10-8:50 p.m.
Jason Collier (trumpet), Dishan Harper (bass), Louis Heriveaux (piano), Che Marshall (drums), and Matt Miller (tenor sax).

On the Orkin Terrace
6:15-7 p.m. and 7:40-8:30 p.m.
William Hollifield (tenor sax) and Patrick Arthur (guitar).

Holiday Artisan Market
November 29-30, 11 a.m.- 4 p.m.
Free for members or with Museum admission.
Meet local artisans,and shop for handmade gifts including jewelry, textiles, home goods and accessories. You’ll be sure to find the best gifts for your holiday list! The Holiday Artisan Market at the High Museum of Art is a two-day event that brings together 20 of Atlanta’s top artists, creatives and entrepreneurs all in one space.

Gas South District

6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Duluth, Georgia 30097
gassouthdistrict.com

Athleta Presents Gold Over America Tour Starring Simone Biles
October 26, 7:30 p.m.
Gas South Arena.
Join in a celebration of powerful female athletes who, together, are a united force proudly representing the sport of women’s gymnastics and inspiring the next generation of athletes. Biles and an all-star team of gymnasts featuring Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, Grace McCallum, MyKayla Skinner, Laurie Hernandez, Katelyn Ohashi, Morgan Hurd, Shilese Jones, Chellsie Memmel, Melanie De Jesus dos Santos and Peng-Peng Lee will celebrate world-class gymnastics in a way you’ve never seen before… their way!

The Nutcracker Presented by the Northeast Atlanta Ballet
November 26-28. Gas South Theater

Ring in the Holidays with the NEAB’s classic rendition of E.T.A Hoffman’s tale, “The Nutcracker.” Join Clara and her Nutcracker prince as they set out on a wonder-filled journey to battle the mouse king and travel through the Land of the Snowflakes and the Kingdom of the Sweets to meet the Sugar Plum Fairy. This family-friendly production features the familiar classical music of Tchaikovsky. Exquisite costumes perfectly complement the original lavish scenery. This production will please all ages.

Fox Theatre

660 Peachtree Street, Atlanta 30308
foxtheatre.org

Fiddler on the Roof
November 9-14.
Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Atlanta. Tickets range $40.00 to $114.00.
A wonderful cast and a lavish orchestra tell this heartwarming story of fathers and daughters, husbands and wives, and the timeless traditions that define faith and family.

Featuring the Broadway classics “Tradition,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Sunrise, Sunset,” “Matchmaker, Matchmaker” and “To Life,” Fiddler on the roof will introduce a new generation to this uplifting tale that raises its cup to joy. To love! To life!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical
December 7-12.
Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Atlanta. Tickets range $40.00 to $89.00
Re-discover the magic of Dr. Seuss’ classic holiday tale as it comes to life on stage. Originally conceived by the three-time Tony Award-winning director Jack O’Brien, the whimsical world of Whoville is beautifully realized by an A-list creative team in this delightful musical production.

Featuring the hit songs “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and “Welcome Christmas,” The Grinch discovers there’s more to Christmas than he bargained for in this heart-warming holiday classic. Max the Dog narrates as the mean and scheming Grinch, whose heart is “two sizes too small”, decides to steal Christmas away from the holiday loving Whos.

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Kelsey Asher

Kelsey Asher is a proud graduate of the University of West Georgia with a Bachelor’s in Communications. She has held a variety of marketing leadership roles for several small, startup companies in a variety of industries including publishing, construction and technology.

Around Atlanta

The High Museum to Showcase “Thinking Eye, Seeing Mind”

Published

6 days ago

December 12, 2024

Peachtree Corners Magazine staff

Oil on paper artwork by Terry Winters. A large red circle with smaller blue circles on top of it and gold/yellow accents. All of it on a dark brown background.

The special exhibition of the Medford and Loraine Johnston Collection will run January 17 through May 25, 2025

In the mid-1970s, artist and Georgia State University professor Medford Johnston, along with his wife and collaborator Loraine, began collecting works by artists who were in the vanguard of contemporary art. Today, they hold one of the finest collections of postwar American drawings and related objects of its kind, now numbering more than 85 works.

In 2025, the High Museum of Art will present Thinking Eye, Seeing Mind: The Medford and Loraine Johnston Collection, featuring their collected works, which is a promised gift to the museum. Featuring artists such as Sol LeWitt, Brice Marden, Elizabeth Murray, Martin Puryear, Ed Ruscha, Al Taylor, Anne Truitt, Stanley Whitney and Terry Winters, among others, the exhibition will demonstrate how establishing the parameters of an art collection requires infinite patience, focus, discipline and a keen eye.

“The Johnstons have been friends of the High for a very long time. They’ve also built an impressive collection featuring works by many of the 20th century’s most significant abstract artists,” said the High’s Director Rand Suffolk. “We are honored that they have promised to leave their collection to the Museum where it will be preserved for future generations — and we are delighted that they are sharing it with our audiences now, hopefully inspiring the next generation of art collectors and supporters.”

A curated collection

The Johnstons’ story is a testament to, in the words of the High’s Wieland Family Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Michael Rooks, “knowing the difference between what is right and what is almost right” when building a collection.

Although the Johnstons acquired several paintings and objects when they first began collecting in 1972, they quickly narrowed their focus to drawing, primarily by artists working on the frontlines of abstraction in the mid-1960s during a time of great innovation and experimentation.

Ink drawing by Anne Truitt, rectangular lines and shapes made with black ink on off-white background — Anne Truitt (American, born 1921), *Ink Drawing ’59 [11]*, 1959, ink on paper, The Johnston Collection. © Estate of Anne Truitt / The Bridgeman Art Library / Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, New York.

Rooks added, “Med and Loraine’s collection struck me at once by its single-minded focus on a specific moment in time, which was essentially the time of their contemporaries. The artists in their collection are like close friends to the Johnstons — in fact many are or were. What is equally astonishing about the collection is the Johnstons’ dogged pursuit of quality. Their in-depth knowledge of each artist’s practice combined with their understanding of specific qualities to look for — or more appropriately, to hold out for — will be a revelation to emerging collectors.”

The Johnstons have built their collection with the High in mind as the benefactor of their passion and discernment. For them, their collection “is a labor of love, pursued over more than 50 years, and we are delighted to be able to help the High Museum document and celebrate these important artists working during the same decades as our lives.”

About the exhibit

Thinking Eye, Seeing Mind: The Medford and Loraine Johnston Collection will be presented in the Special Exhibition Galleries on the second level of the High’s Stent Family Wing.

The exhibit is organized by the High Museum of Art and made possible through the generosity of sponsors:

Premier Exhibition Series Sponsor Delta Air Lines, Inc.
Premier Exhibition Series Supporters Mr. Joseph H. Boland, Jr., The Fay S. and W. Barrett Howell Family Foundation, Harry Norman Realtors and wish Foundation
Benefactor Exhibition Series Supporters Robin and Hilton Howell
Ambassador Exhibition Series Supporters Loomis Charitable Foundation and Mrs. Harriet H. Warren
Contributing Exhibition Series Supporters Farideh and Al Azadi, Mary and Neil Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. Baxter Jones, Megan and Garrett Langley, Margot and Danny McCaul, Wade A. Rakes II and Nicholas Miller and Belinda Stanley-Majors and Dwayne Majors.

Support has also been provided by the Alfred and Adele Davis Exhibition Endowment Fund, Anne Cox Chambers Exhibition Fund, Barbara Stewart Exhibition Fund, Dorothy Smith Hopkins Exhibition Endowment Fund, Eleanor McDonald Storza Exhibition Endowment Fund, The Fay and Barrett Howell Exhibition Fund, Forward Arts Foundation Exhibition Endowment Fund, Helen S. Lanier Endowment Fund, John H. and Wilhelmina D. Harland Exhibition Endowment Fund, Katherine Murphy Riley Special Exhibition Endowment Fund, Margaretta Taylor Exhibition Fund, RJR Nabisco Exhibition Endowment Fund and USI Insurance Services.

About the High Museum of Art

Located in the heart of Atlanta, the High Museum of Art connects with audiences from across the Southeast and around the world through its distinguished collection, dynamic schedule of special exhibitions and engaging community-focused programs.

Housed within facilities designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Richard Meier and Renzo Piano, the High features a collection of more than 19,000 works of art, including an extensive anthology of 19th- and 20th-century American fine and decorative arts; major holdings of photography and folk and self-taught work, especially that of artists from the American South; burgeoning collections of modern and contemporary art, including paintings, sculpture, new media and design; a growing collection of African art, with work dating from prehistory through the present; and significant holdings of European paintings and works on paper.

The High is dedicated to reflecting the diversity of its communities and offering a variety of exhibitions and educational programs that engage visitors with the world of art, the lives of artists and the creative process.

For more information about the High or to purchase tickets, visit high.org.

Top image: (from the collection) Terry Winters (American, born 1949), Orb, 2020, oil on paper, The Johnston Collection. © Terry Winters, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, New York.

Around Atlanta

City Springs Theatre Company Presents the Hit Musical Jersey Boys

Published

6 months ago

July 3, 2024

Peachtree Corners Magazine staff

The megahit musical Jersey Boys is making its regional premiere with the City Springs Theatre Company in a five-week run.

The megahit musical Jersey Boys makes its regional premiere in City Springs Theatre Company’s (CSTC) first-ever, five-week run at the Byers Theatre in Sandy Springs.

Directed by Atlanta’s-own Shane DeLancey, and choreographed by Meg Gillentine, Jersey Boys tells the rags-to-riches story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. The show details their remarkable journey from the streets to the top of the charts, to their 1990 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Leading the cast of Jersey Boys is Haden Rider as Frankie Valli. Rider is a City Springs Theatre Company veteran, with recent roles in both Legally Blonde (Emmett) and Fiddler on the Roof (Perchik).

Presented by Resurgens Spine Center, Jersey Boys runs from July 12 through August 11, and shines a special spotlight on home-grown talent, as the show’s four leading men are all Atlanta-area residents.

With phenomenal music, memorable characters and great storytelling, Jersey Boys follows the fascinating evolution of four blue-collar kids who became one of the greatest successes in pop-music history.

“City Springs Theatre Company is very proud to be the first in the southeast region to present Jersey Boys,” said CSTC Artistic Director and Tony Award-winner Shuler Hensley. “Our audiences have been asking for this particular show since we opened. The production is truly stacked with talent onstage and off, and we’re pulling out all the stops to bring audiences an experience that will rival any previous version of the show.”

Jersey Boys premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2005, prior to its 13-year Broadway run, from 2005 to 2017. There have been productions of the show in Las Vegas, UK/Ireland, Toronto, Melbourne, Singapore, South Africa, the Netherlands, Japan, Dubai and China.

Jersey Boys features a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music by Bob Gaudio, and lyrics by Bob Crewe.

Individual tickets to see Jersey Boys are on sale now ($42 – $108), with discounts for seniors, students, groups and active and retired military personnel.

CSTC’s Box Office is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Call 404-477-4365 or visit CitySpringsTheatre.com for more information.

This production contains adult language and is recommended for mature audiences.

Performance schedule:

Arts & Literature

Local Students Show Off Their Artistic Creations

Published

7 months ago

June 2, 2024

Peachtree Corners Magazine staff

Courtney Escorza, Colleen Nikopour, Laura Hwang, Jennifer Jackson, Norcross. Laura ELizabeth Martin, Payton Hirschmann, Paul Duke HS

From May 11 through May 18, the Norcross Gallery & Studios kicked off a fantastic exhibition, Reflections at Rectory, which showcased the works of 36 rising stars: AP and IB art students from our local high schools.

The opening reception celebrated their creativity and dedication. Gallery director Anne Hall presented a dozen awards generously sponsored by the community, a testament to the local support for these young artists.

One prestigious award, the Terri Enfield Memorial Award, holds special significance.

Established by Terri’s daughters, it recognizes not just artistic excellence, but also leadership, work ethic and the spirit of collaboration. Last year’s winner, Aidan Ventimiglia, even played a part in selecting this year’s recipient Jasmine Rodriguez.