Having taken 26 years to perform all 39 of their namesake’s plays, finishing in 2011, Atlanta Shakespeare Company will continue to work its way through the bard’s canon a second time in its 2013-14 season.
The troupe dug back into the canon in 2011 with Shakespeare’s comedies and now is thick into the great writer’s tragedies as part of what it has titled “The Shakespeare Evolution Series.”
The company recently announced that its 2013-14 lineup, performed at the New American Shakespeare Tavern in Midtown, will include a half-dozen tragedies presented in the order in which Shakespeare wrote them: “Troilus and Cressida,” “Othello,” “King Lear,” “Timon of Athens,” “Macbeth” and “Antony and Cleopatra.”
If that sounds heavy, note that comedies and other genres are mixed in for leavening.
“At this rate we might have worked our way back through the whole canon again in five years,” artistic director Jeffrey Watkins notes on the Atlanta Shakespeare Company website. “That has to be another record of some kind, right?”
The lineup:
Sept. 6-28: “Troilus and Cressida.” (Previews Sept. 5.)
Sept. 7-29: “Twelfth Night.” (Previews Aug. 28.)
Oct. 5-Nov. 3: “Othello.” (Previews Oct. 3-4.)
Nov. 9-Dec. 1: “King Lear.’ (Previews Nov. 7-8.)
Dec. 5-23: Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”
January-March, 2014: “The Taming of the Shrew.”
January 2014: “Timon of Athens.”
Feb. 1-March 30, 2014: “Romeo and Juliet.” ,” (Previews Jan. 30-31)
Feb. 8-March 28, 2014: “Much Ado About Nothing.”
April 5-May 4, 2014: “Macbeth.” (Previews April 3-4.)
May 10-June 1, 2014: “The Comedy of Errors.” (Previews May 8-9.)
June 7-29, 2014: “Antony and Cleopatra.” (Previews June 5-6.)
Shows typically are presented 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 6:30 p.m. Sundays; and 10 a.m. Tuesday and Wednesdays.
Information and tickets (available for most performances): 404-874-5299, www.shakespearetavern.com.
THEATER
Leon, True Colors plan for 2013-14
In case you missed the news last week, Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company also has announced its 2013-14 lineup:
Sept. 17-Oct. 13: George C. Wolfe’s “Spunk,” directed by Hilda Willis. At 14th Street Playhouse.
Feb. 25-March 23: the regional premiere of David Mamet’s “Race,” directed by John Dillon. At Southwest Arts Center.
July 8-Aug. 3: Bernard Slade’s “Same Time Next Year,” starring Phylicia Rashad and Leon and directed by Portland (Ore.) Center Stage artistic director (and Actor’s Express co-founder) Chris Coleman. At 14th Street Playhouse.
Subscriptions, tickets: 1-877-725-8849, www.ticketalternative.com.
Leon, meanwhile, has been in New York staging a workshop production of “Holler If Ya Hear Me,” a musical based on Tupac Shakur songs that he has nurtured for several years, in hopes of securing a 2013-14 Broadway run.
DANCE
Freedom the theme of GloATL happenings
GloATL is planning it’s third — and what it says will be its final — summer series of Liquid Culture sidewalk movement presentations, or as the troupe bills them, “a collection of sensations from an asphalt perspective.” Freedom is choreographer Lauri Stallings’ programming theme this year in free performances that take place at four Atlanta spots over two weeks.
The schedule:
- 8:30 p.m. July 6: Lot beside the Sound Table, 483 Edgewood Ave.
- 5 p.m. July 10: Corner of 10th and Peachtree streets.
- 8:30 p.m. July 12-13: Goodson Yard at Goat Farm Arts Center, 1200 Foster St.
- 8:30 p.m. July 19-20: Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St., in collaboration with the Alliance Theatre's Collision Project of metro high-school theater artists and playwright Pearl Cleage.
“I believe in threes,” Stallings said in an email to the AJC. “I foresee a special sense of freedom/utopia with the final station on the campus of the Woodruff. There will be swing sets used in the work and for the public. And I think everyone will be very high from the experience.”
Information: www.gloatl.org.
Johns Creek troupe shines at competition
Atlanta Professional Dance Academy, directed by former Atlanta Ballet dancer Wei Dongsheng, made a strong impression at the World Ballet Competition 2013 USA held in Orlando earlier this month.
Performing the dance “Jasmine Flowers,” classic Chinese choreography given a contemporary adaptation, the Johns Creek troupe won a gold metal in the Ensemble Category (ages 9-24), receiving a score of 9.475 out of 10, one of the competition’s highest. The 23 students ranged in age from 12 to 16.
Judges then chose Atlanta Professional Dance Academy to encore "Jasmine Flowers" in the prestigious "All Stars of Dance" performance, sharing a stage with professional dancers. Again, "Jasmine Flowers" garnered a standing ovation from the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center audience. Information: www.worldballetcompetition.com.
VISUAL ART
Warhol Foundation recognizes the Contemporary
The Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, currently amid a major renovation of its Westside facilities, has received a $150,000 grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts to support exhibitions and programs between this summer and spring 2015.
The Warhol Foundation grant “obviously helps us fiscally, but of equal significance is the foundation’s endorsement of our work and peer status with the acclaimed institutions around the United States,” said Contemporary artistic director Stuart Horodner in an announcement.
Fay Gold gallery returns in new space
Having closed her Buckhead gallery in 2009 after a nearly three-decade run, Fay Gold has returned to the art exhibition biz.
The Fay Gold Gallery has just opened its inaugural show at the new Westside Cultural Arts Center, “Sandy Skoglund: Magic Time” (through Aug. 30).
The arts center, at 760 10th St., Atlanta, is hard to miss, covered by an abstract and brightly colored mural by Atlanta artist Hense. Information: 404-625-9094.
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