Is the #MeToo Movement re-shaping pop culture? Whether intentional or just a coincidence, Atlanta’s theater season opens with a strong feminist streak. In show after show, women at different stages of life undergo powerful revelations. Here’s a look at some best bets for fall.
'A Doll's House, Part 2.' At the end of Ibsen's "A Doll's House," Nora leaves her husband — a real shocker when the play appeared in 1879. In Lucas Hnath's 2017 sequel, Nora (played by Tess Malis Kincaid in Atlanta's first production of the show) returns 15 years later with a final request for the husband she abandoned. Sept. 1-30. Actor's Express. 404-607-7469, actors-express.com
'9 to 5: The Musical.' Lo so many years ago, that prototypical feminist Jane Fonda got the idea that America's office-worker culture, then largely women, was a gold mine of comedy and social commentary. Dolly Parton wrote a hit song for the 1980 film, and the rest, as they say, is history. Directed by Shelly McCook — and featuring Alyssa Flowers, Wendy Melkonian and Jill Hames in the roles played by Parton, Fonda and Lily Tomlin, respectively — the 2009 Broadway-musical version is headed to Roswell. Sept. 13-30.Georgia Ensemble Theatre. 770-641-1260, get.org
'Be Here Now.' Playwright Deborah Zoe Laufer's dark comedy centers on Bari (Cynthia Barrett), a frustrated philosophy professor stuck in a banal job in her upstate-New York hometown. A series of recurring headaches leads to a journey of spiritual awakening, love and transformation. Sept. 20-Oct. 21. Aurora Theatre. 678-226-6222, auroratheatre.com
'Nina Simone: Four Women.' One of Nina Simone's most riveting songs is "Four Women," prompted by the deaths of four girls in an Alabama church bombing in 1963. Now playwright Christina Ham has crafted a play around the four characters Simone sketched in her protest-lament. Sept. 25-Oct. 21. True Colors Theatre. 1-877-725-8849, truecolorstheatre.org
'Knead.' Atlanta actress Mary Lynn Owen writes and performs this solo show about a woman obsessed with perfecting her mother's incomprehensible recipe for bread. In the course of making, shaping, proofing and baking the staff of life, the character finds a metaphor for the misshapen, unpredictable nature of being. David De Vries directs the world premiere. Nov. 13-Dec. 9. Alliance Theatre, Hertz Stage, 404-733-5000, alliancetheatre.org
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