The Alliance Theatre's 2011-12 season will include a staging of the Tony-winning musical "Into the Woods," a revival of "Golda's Balcony" with its original Broadway star, a world premiere comedy by Atlanta playwright Janece Shaffer and several plays to be named later.
Atlanta's largest theater company has decided to announce just seven of the 11 plays that it will present as part of its main stage, smaller Hertz Stage and Theatre for Youth and Families series. Alliance artistic director Susan V. Booth's remaining choices -- two main stage and two Hertz shows for spring 2012 -- will be revealed in coming weeks.
Though season tickets are already on sale, Alliance spokesman Terry Sagedy said the decision to roll out a partial lineup was motivated by the "crowded cultural marketplace," making two announcements better than one, as well as a trend among theatergoers to purchase tickets later.
"We see the consumer buying closer to the point of participation – or later in the cycle than was the norm before the recession – and wanted to be able to send a fresh message out in a relatively short period of time," Sagedy said of releasing the September-January lineup exclusively in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The schedule (most dates to be announced):
Alliance Stage
- "Into the Woods" -- The Alliance opens its 43rd season on Sept. 9 with Stephen Sondheim's Brothers Grimm fairy tale-inspired musical accompanied by student musicians from the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra and Talent Development Program.
- "Golda's Balcony" -- Tovah Feldshuh reprises her role as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in William Gibson's drama, which had an extended run at the Helen Hayes Theatre starting in 2003.
Hertz Stage
- "Broke" -- Shaffer's biting comedy (premiering in October) explores joblessness in contemporary America. She won the Gene-Gabriel Moore playwriting prize for "Brownie Points," produced by Theatrical Outfit, at the 2010 Suzi Awards (Atlanta's Tonys).
- "Decidedly Underground: Sex and the Second City" -- After three Atlanta-tweaking shows by the Chicago troupe, Second City's new revue riffs on how technology has people looking for love in all the wrong places.
Family
- "The Real Tweenagers of Atlanta" -- Conceived by and to be directed byTheatre for Youth artistic director Rosemary Newcott, this world premiere musical was crafted from interviews with metro tweens. It's described as "part talent show, part pep rally."
- "The Wizard of Oz" -- Newcott directs the children's classic.
Holiday
- "A Christmas Carol" -- Back for its 22nd year.
Subscription information (single tickets available in mid-July): 404-733-4600.
In other news, Atlanta playwright-novelist Pearl Cleage has been named the inaugural Alliance Artist in Dialogue, an artist residency. Cleage, whose comedy "The Nacirema Society Requests the Honor of Your Presence at a Celebration of Their First One Hundred Years" received an Alliance staging this season, will serve a two-year stint as an advocate and conductor of community dialogue and engagement.
"I've had some of the best creative experiences of my life at the Alliance," Cleage said in a statement. "Having an opportunity to deepen and extend that exchange can only enrich the conversation in ways I am eager to discover and explore."
