Georgia Ensemble at 20: ‘Parents’ proud

Congratulations are in order, twice, for Bob Farley and Anita Allen-Farley.

Two weeks ago, they celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary. When they talk about their family, which includes two grown daughters and a new grandson, they could be any doting grandparents: “That ultimately represents the most meaningful part of our lives,” as he puts it.

But that’s not all. In their professional marriage as artistic director and managing director, respectively, of Georgia Ensemble Theatre, the couple is observing another milestone as their other “baby” – the company they co-founded – prepares to launch its 20th-anniversary season.

Farley’s new staging of the Kaufman and Hart comedy “The Man Who Came to Dinner” (Sept. 6 - 23) brings the Roswell troupe full circle. Its inaugural show in 1992 was Kaufman and Hart’s “You Can’t Take It with You.”

“The economy wasn’t quite as bad then as it is now, but the conventional wisdom at the time was that there’s never a good time to open a theater,” Farley recalls. Instead of starting out with a concrete 5- or 10-year plan for the company, “We were thinking mostly in the short-term. It was like, throw it out there, give it a few years and see what happens, sort of an if-we-build-it-will-they-come mentality.”

Farley describes the ensuing 20 years as “a real rollercoaster ride,” with all the proverbial ups and downs. The low point probably came in 2009, when financial hardships nearly forced the theater to close. Jump to 2012, however, and, “We feel as good and as confident as we ever have about a bright and stable future for the company.”

“We’re in a very enviable position right now: debt-free,” Allen-Farley says. “We’ve made good choices and we’ve made bad choices, but hopefully we learned from them. Now that the company’s doing well, it’s an entirely different ballgame, a matter of reteaching ourselves how to manage for success.”

She explains, “There’s often the danger of becoming complacent in how you do and approach things. The challenge is to find new ways of looking at things, creative ways to keep moving forward. But that isn’t an easy shift to make. Sometimes, it’s hard to change your way of thinking.”

Thus, although they did not begin with any kind of a five-year plan, the Farleys do have one now. The top priorities:

- Find a second site apart from the Roswell Cultural Arts Center, where the group has always performed, to increase the number and type of shows they produce each year;

- Premiere at least one new play every season;

- Expand their children’s-theater program and the educational and community outreach initiatives that both cite as being among their proudest accomplishments.

Georgia Ensemble’s 2012-13 main-stage lineup also includes a remounted version of “A Taffeta Christmas” (Nov. 7-18), a musical revue it previously staged in 2001; “Swell Party” (Jan. 10-27), a new comedy by Atlanta playwright Topher Payne (whose “Tokens of Affection” Farley premiered last year); the mystery “Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club” (Feb. 28-March 17); and “Hello, Dolly!” (April 11-28), the troupe’s first traditional scripted musical.

“We’ve done revues out the wazoo, but it felt like it was time to graduate into doing a standard book musical. That’s part of our new agenda, learning how to accept a stretch like that and trying to do a little bit more of that each season,” Farley notes.

It’s no coincidence that he chose to open this season with a famous chestnut by Kaufman and Hart. “I liked this idea of bookending where we’ve been over the last 20 years,” he says. “It felt like a way of looking back at the last two decades and, at the same time, looking ahead at the next two decades. I wanted this show to represent the best of who we are as a company, how we’ve developed over the years, how we’ve stood the test of time.”

“The Man Who Came to Dinner” features a large, stellar cast of Atlanta actors, many of whom have histories with Georgia Ensemble: Allan Edwards, Tony Larkin, Shelly McCook, Wendy Melkonian, Marcie Millard, Frank Roberts, Jacob York.

And Shannon Eubanks, who has been acting and directing for the company from the beginning. In "Dinner," she plays an amorous actress, and she'll direct "Swell Party." Eubanks says, "There really is this sense of ensemble when you're doing a show there. Bob has always been about maintaining a creative, supportive environment. He's open to ideas from anyone – the actors, the technical crew, the administrative staff – and, no matter how crazy the idea might be, he never discourages you from speaking your mind."

In these economic times that have threatened many local theater companies (Georgia Shakespeare, Actor’s Express) and overcome another (the late Theatre in the Square), are either of its guiding forces at all surprised that Georgia Ensemble has survived to celebrate a 20th birthday?

Allen-Farley doesn’t miss a beat. “No, because not being here has never been an option.”