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Tuesday, September 2, 2008
“Peachtree Battle” is finally closing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Anna House will be back in the house for one last performance in “Peachtree Battle.” Staff photo by Elissa Eubanks.
“Peachtree Battle,” which skewers Atlanta socialites and wraps a serious look at racism and homophobia in quick-paced comedic banter, is closing after seven years. It’s the longest running play in Atlanta history.
Anna House returns as boozy Azalea Wieuca for the play’s final weekend, reprising the role written just for her during this Saturday’s 3 p.m. matinee at the Ansley Park Playhouse.
“It just wouldn’t be right to end the show without Anna playing Azalea one more time,” playwright John Gibson said in an e-mail.
“I’ve never played a character that touched so many people and made so many people laugh,” House, who left the show after its first six years, said in an e-mail. “This has been an experience I will never forget.”
The play, which has drawn 140,000 patrons and raked in $3 million, closes on its seventh anniversary, on Sept. 7.
The central plot in “Peachtree Battle” - the son of a prominent Atlanta family announces he’s marrying a Hooters waitress - is the backdrop for local name-dropping, lashing of politicians of all stripes, and a send-up of in-town social climbing and square suburban sensibilities. Racism and homophobia get examined as do a dysfunctional family’s wacky dynamics.
Over the years the play’s been updated to work in mention of current events, and guest stars, including Monica Pearson, above, have dropped by.
I’ll be out of town this weekend but I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that Atlanta businessman Barry Flink either plans to be there or wishes he could be. When I met him last year he was close to clocking 75 performances in the audience.
Have you seen “Peachtree Battle?” Will you miss it? Are you going to the final show? Hustle if you want tickets.
Atlanta businessman Barry Flink was on hand last year to toast Anna House’s 1000th performance. We’re guessing he might show up for her final show this weekend. Staff photo by Bita Honarvar.
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Back from Beijing, now off to the beach
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Carla and Brent Brown
One of my colleagues, recently back from a trip to China, warned that it takes a few days to feel right upon returning. He was not kidding.
But I did rally to make it to the Blessings of Grace fundraiser at the Marietta Wine Market on Saturday afternoon. The new charity was established this year by security management firm owner Brent Brown and wife Carla, and Cobb Superior Court Judge Tain Kell and wife Sheri.
Blessings of Grace aims to assist couples who cannot have children on their own to obtain fertility treatment. The Kells’ son was conceived through an in-vitro fertilization procedure. The Browns’ twin daughters were conceived with in-vitro and donor eggs.
“We were lucky in so many ways,” Brent Brown said. “We knew we’d have children. We didn’t know how.”
Because of his professional success, the couple was able to pursue several rounds of fertility treatments. Throughout their ordeal, they were mindful of the couples who also longed to become parents, but lacked the financial means to pursue multiple procedures, Brent Brown said.
“Our rides home (from doctors’ appointments) would be focused on other couples who couldn’t afford it,” he said.
Marietta Wine Market proprietor Randall Heard, left, pours a round for Brent Brown and Ann and James Hudgins
Bentley, right, whose owners also own the wine market, kept a hopeful vigil near a tray of cheese cubes. He had to settle for a pat from George Yinat Jr., 9, with dad George Sr.
Blessings of Grace hopes to make its first gift, known as a scholarship, to a couple this December, Carla Brown said. A board of directors, guided by medical professionals on the board, will decide on the recipient, she said.
And now, off to St. Simons
I’ll be back Sept. 8 after a jaunt to the coast for a beach trip and the wedding of two friends. Let’s hope Hanna decides to skip slamming into the Georgia coast.
