What to expect at the Goizueta Stage for Youth & Families, now open
Christopher Moses, Jennings Hertz artistic director of the Alliance Theatre, points to a day in December 2021 as the moment he unshakably knew Woodruff Arts Center needed a dedicated space for youths.
It was the day then-U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued an advisory that the mental health crisis for young people had become an epidemic.
Murthy’s report revealed stark findings: From 2009 to 2019, the proportion of high school students reporting persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness increased by 40%; those seriously considering attempting suicide increased by 36%; and those creating a suicide plan increased by 44%.
“Reading that report was so sobering,” Moses said. “It made all of us, anyone who cares about young people, feel something.”
Moses read the report right before a Woodruff Arts Center board meeting.
Coincidentally, Moses had also, the week before, gotten the results of a research study Woodruff had been conducting for three years in collaboration with the University of Arkansas’ National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab that tested the impact of cultural field trips on young people.
The study followed Atlanta fourth and fifth graders who attended a series of cultural experiences at Woodruff, including one Alliance Theatre play, one Atlanta Symphony Orchestra concert and one High Museum exhibit. The participants’ outcomes were measured against peers who didn’t participate.
The results were clear. Young people participating in the study outperformed their peers in standardized tests, had higher levels of concentration, showed up at school at higher rates, had fewer behavioral infractions and a greater sense of hope in their own future. That study has continued to measure results year after year since it began in 2016 and has been cited in numerous scholarly journals.
“I remember (that day in December) so clearly because the surgeon general highlighted all of these factors that were contributing to the mental health crisis,” Moses said. “And when we looked at the results of our research study, … all of the benefits ticked off every single one of those factors.”
Woodruff now had proof of impact.
“We had a chance to mitigate despair,” he said. “It was at that moment when I saw the profound need in the world and the fact that we now had proven part of the solution.
“Now the onus was on us to do more to scale the benefits far and wide.”
Thus began serious discussions about creating a dedicated space for youth programming at Woodruff Arts Center.
At that time, the center had a largely dormant space called the Rich Theatre. Originally designed in 1968 as a lecture hall and film screening room, the dated theater had been “criminally underused for decades,” Moses said.
It sat empty roughly 85% of the time and had “an old high school auditorium kind of feel,” he recalled.
Its front doors, which face the city’s most iconic thoroughfare, Peachtree Street, had been locked for roughly 15 years — a missed opportunity to welcome in Atlantans and visitors.
As leaders at Woodruff Arts Center brainstormed a plan that could address both the dormant theater and a surge in demand for youth programming, a vision began to take shape.
Woodruff selected Perkins&Will, a global architectural firm with an Atlanta office just across the street from Woodruff in Midtown, to lead the space’s redesign. At Woodruff’s recommendation, the firm consulted closely with Walter Gilliam, a notable child psychologist and Yale scholar whose decades of research on young people could inform design decisions.
“They sat down and took all of (Gilliam’s) wisdom and notes about what a young person looks for in a space to make them feel safe, to inspire creativity,” Moses said. “The humility and collaborative spirit of our architects was equally astounding, because they were soaking up that information and you’d see it in every iteration of their design.”
Gilliam’s research influenced everything from the perforated metal panels in the lobby (designed to reward curiosity), to the flexible seating that could descend into the floor, allowing younger children to “hunker down and be closer to the action,” Moses said.
The space also needed to be flexible. In the morning, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s youth symphony could rehearse on a flat floor with chairs. By afternoon, retractable seats could roll out for a theatrical performance.
The design included four dressing rooms; the Bernie & Billi Marcus Sensory Room, a sensory-gentle room for neurodivergent audience members with adjustable volume and lighting; and visible catwalks to show young people working parts of a theater they might develop an interest in learning about.
The Reid Family Lobby has doors that open wide to Peachtree Street.
“(We wanted the lobby to) signal to people that young people are not just welcomed on this campus, but that we’re building it for them,” Moses said.
In the front corner of the lobby is the PNC PlaySpace — a free play area for children up to 5 years old featuring rotating immersive installations.
The Goizueta Foundation stepped up as a primary donor to fund the theatrical space, leading to its name: the Goizueta Stage for Youth & Families.
On Wednesday Woodruff Arts Center cut the ribbon and opened the new stage, lobby and play space to an invite-only crowd.
The PNC PlaySpace’s first themed installation will be “ Bossa Nova Baby,” a tactile Amazon rainforest designed by Atlanta-based creative group Dash Studio (recently known for its kaleidoscope installations at Ponce City Market). The space will be open for free play six days a week.
The stage’s first public performances begin Saturday.
To kick off its theatrical programming, the Goizueta Stage will feature a series called “The Underground Rep,” which includes three family productions in repertory.
As a nod to the excavation required to construct the new stage, all three plays use a set designed to look like the tunneled, muddy world below ground.
The repertory begins with “Into the Burrow: A Peter Rabbit Tale” (Jan. 31-June 27), an original reimagining of the Peter Rabbit story set in a rabbit hole; followed by “Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Rock Experience” (Feb. 21-June 20), inspired by Mo Willems’ book and set in a naked mole rat colony; and “The Great Ant Sleepover” (May 15-July 5), a world premiere based on a book by Madhuri Shekar created for the Mayor’s Summer Reading program that takes place in an ant colony.
“We thought we could create one unit set that has some really different tricks for each show, but the idea is that we’ve been excavating and digging and discovered this underground world for these young people,” Moses said.
The repertory format allows families to return multiple times to see different shows — a key part of Woodruff’s strategy to make the theater as regular and reliable as other family experiences around town, such as trips to the zoo or a public library.
“Before, we’ve always asked the busiest people in our community, which are parents of young kids and teachers, to bend their schedules to fit our production calendar,” Moses said. “Instead, what we’re saying is we’re going to be producing stuff every day of the week for young people. You can start to rely on us.”
Tickets are $10 for children and $20 for adults, with a 20% discount for families purchasing a package to see all three shows.
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will also kick off opening weekend at the Goizueta Stage with “Music for the Very Young: Carnival of the Animals”(Jan. 31-Feb.1). Inspired by Camille Saint-Saëns’ suite, the interactive performances target children ages 3-8 and bring to life a jubilant parade of lions, swans, kangaroos and other creatures through symphonic music and storytelling.
In the spring, the Music for the Very Young series continues with “The Tin Man’s Oz” (April 11-19),a new adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s classic that follows the Tin Man’s journey to the Emerald City through immersive musical narration.
Before every show, families can enjoy hands-on activities, including face painting, arts and crafts, a photo booth and an instrument exploration station.
“Now that (the stage) has come to life in such a wonderful way, we can’t wait to fill the room with the sound of music and the voices of children expressing joy and amazement,” Jennifer Barlament, executive director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra said in a statement.
The transformation of the Rich Theatre into the Goizueta Stage for Youth & Families marks a significant milestone for Woodruff Arts Center.
For Moses, it also represents a hopeful, tangible response to the youth mental health crisis that galvanized his efforts four years ago. He said he hopes the space can further prove what he’s always intrinsically known — and what Woodruff’s research has shown — that the arts make a measurable impact on youth development.
“We want a visit to Woodruff Arts Center to be a rite of passage for every child in Atlanta,” he said. “We are excited to lift up young people through the arts.”
IF YOU GO
“Into the Burrow: A Peter Rabbit Tale.” Jan. 31-June 27. $10 for children; $20 for adults. 404-733-4600. alliancetheatre.org/family-programming/underground-rep/
“Music for the Very Young: Carnival of Animals.” Jan. 31-Feb.1. Children under 7 are free, Tickets are $15 for ages 8 and up. 404-733-4800. aso.org/events/detail/music-for-the-very-young-carnival-of-animals.
Both at Goizueta Stage for Youth & Families. 1280 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta.
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