Celebrate love in Little Five Points with alien themed theater and a heart mural

Every February for six years, an Atlanta-based artist has helped transform a wall in Little Five Points into a Valentine’s Day mural and ode to love.

While the style and artist have changed, and the location has moved from a wall by the Little Five Points Liquor Store, one by Variety Playhouse and another behind Savage Pizza (where it will be this year), the mural has remained a way for individuals, businesses and families to share messages of love, remembrance and joy.

The mural began as (and has remained a) fundraiser for the Little 5 Points Cultural District (an organization that supports public art, cultural programming and community events in the neighborhood). Sponsored hearts cost between $50-500 depending on size and character limit.

Every year, Kelly Stocks, president of the Little 5 Points Historic Cultural District, said she has watched the mural be unveiled, usually from her spot at a table where she and volunteers sell flowers and candy.

“It’s so sweet to see all these people get surprised by their partner,” she said. “ … We’ve also had families — people who have put their kids’ names up there … and all kinds of different people. It’s always really sweet.”

Stocks’ favorite memory was watching Don Bender, who helped revitalize Little Five Points starting in the 1970s, surprise his wife Judy with a giant heart on their 50th wedding anniversary. Don gave her some flowers and the two posed in raincoats beneath the painted heart.

“She looks so happy in that photo,” Stocks said.

Judy Bender (left) holds flowers given to her by her husband Don Bender (right) while posing underneath a giant heart Don sponsored as part of the annual Little Five Points Valentine's Day mural. The couple was celebrating 50 years of marriage. The mural serves as a fundraiser for the Little 5 Points Cultural District and helps Atlantans surprise their loved ones with a public display of affection. (Kelly Stocks photo)

This year’s mural will be painted by muralist and Atlanta street artist Rolf, who has painted the Little Five Points Valentine’s Day mural multiple times in past years, including the inaugural mural.

Sponsors can purchase a heart on the mural through Feb. 4. There are already roughly 80 sponsors — the largest turnout yet, Stocks said. The mural will be officially unveiled on Valentine’s Day.

Kaddy Kobain sponsored a a heart message for his love Cassie Leymarie on the annual Little Five Point's Valentine's Day mural behind Savage Pizza. The mural is a community tradition and a fundraiser for Little 5 Points Cultural District. (Kelly Stocks photo)

Help an alien find his lost lover

Following the unveiling, beginning at a surprise location nearby that will be revealed to ticket-holders, adults over the age of 21 can also attend one of several performances of “Looking for Love in L5P,” an alien-themed, roving theatrical experience by Media Res Immersive Theatre Company.

The quirky, interactive show by Media Res’ artistic director Louis Kyper takes attendees on a 50-minute adventure to five locations across the neighborhood where they’ll see pop-up theater, burlesque dance, live music and comical moments of public spectacle.

"Looking for Love in L5P" is a Valentine's Day roving theatrical experience produced by Media Res Immersive Theatre Company about an alien looking for his lover. Attendees will roam to five locations across the neighborhood to follow the show. Here artistic director Louis Kyper, dressed as an alien, stands in front of Criminal Records during the inaugural 2024 show. (Courtesy of Louis Kyper)

The show is an extension of last year’s sold-out performance, featuring the same alien protagonist but with a new storyline.

This year, Florian, the alien, has crash-landed his ship on Earth and is looking for his lost lover Nova. Nova has fragmented into multiple super-positions across Little Five Points where she leaves glowing hearts as clues. An FBI agent is on the prowl, pursuing the foreign invaders throughout the neighborhood.

“It’s not political,” Kyper said.. “It’s all about love and reunification.”

The show explores multiple forms of love, from divine love (through the Greek myth of Eros and Psyche), to romantic, matrimonial and intoxicating love.

Kyper founded Media Res in 2023 after seeing a need for the types of immersive theater experiences he had been blown away by while living in London.

Media Res is the theater company behind Street Fringe, the outdoor portion of Atlanta’s Edinburgh-inspired Fringe Festival, which fills Little Five Points and East Atlanta Village with buskers for two weekends in late May and early June.

Attendees of the 2024 "Looking for Love in L5P" theatrical experience watch an actor inside a retail store in Little Five Points. The roving show by Media Res Immersive Theatre company is back again this year, this time for two, possibly three, shows. (Courtesy of Louis Kyper)

To produce “Looking for Love in L5P,” Kyper collaborated with Nadya Zeitlin, the 2024 Atlanta Beltline artist-in-residence behind Bautanzt Here, a dance company specializing in site-specific choreography.

Kyper said he hopes the show captures the eccentric spirit of Little Five Points and its acceptance of all kinds of love, between all kinds of people.

“Love is a universal language,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who you love or what you love or why you love. Just accept that, and I think we’ll all be on a better track to make the world a better place.”

It’s a sentiment that Stocks said is visibly echoed in the Little Five Points Valentine’s Day mural.

“Little Five Points is known for being accepting of everybody and every kind of love,” she said. “And I think (the mural is) a really good show of how our neighborhood is.”

If you go

Heart mural requests accepted through Feb. 4. Price ranges from $50-500. zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/2026-l5p-heart-mural.