The fall arts season will soon be upon us. Here are a dozen events we’re eagerly anticipating as the season gets underway.
'Shakespeare in Love.'Richard Garner, who shuttered Georgia Shakespeare in 2014 after 29 years. returns to his old Georgia Shakespeare haunt, Oglethorpe University, to direct "Shakespeare in Love" for the Alliance Theatre as they take their shows on the road this year while the theater undergoes renovation. Adapted from the 1998 multiple-Oscar-winning film, the play imagines the great English playwright as a young man, drunk with language and love. Aug. 30-Sept. 24. Alliance Theatre at the Conant Performing Arts Center, 4484 Peachtree Road N.E., Atlanta. Tickets start at $20. 404-733-5000, www.alliancetheatre.org
'Guo Pei.' Named one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People," Beijing-based Guo Pei is the country's most celebrated designer, dressing the world's celebrities in her sumptuous creations. The SCAD FASH show is the first solo museum exhibition in the United States devoted to the heralded designer, who melds ancient design traditions with high fashion couture. More than 30 gowns and prêt-à-porter designs will be featured, including the imperial yellow cape she worked on for more than two years that Rihanna famously donned for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala in 2015. Sept. 7-March 4, SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion+ Film, 1600 Peachtree St., Atlanta. $5-$10. www.scadfash.org
'Holler if Ya Hear Me.' Todd Kreidler, who worked with the late playwright August Wilson and has had an ongoing relationship with Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre, created this musical inspired by the work of Tupac Shakur, a rapper with a deep and abiding influence on pop culture. Sept. 12-Oct. 8. True Colors Theatre, Southwest Arts Center, 915 New Hope Road, Atlanta. $15 and up. 1-877-725-8849, www.truecolorstheatre.org
'Luzia: A Waking Dream of Mexico.' Cirque du Soleil's new creation will unfold beneath a redesigned white-and-gold big top tent with a mesmerizing show that integrates elements of water, sound and dazzling physical feats. Cyr wheel artists roll and spin in the rain. An aerialist suspended from a trapeze flies through pouring showers. A Guinness World Record-holder juggles seven pins at breakneck speeds. An aerial specialist defies the laws of gravity. Two soccer freestylers deftly mix street dance with mind-blowing ball movement. Sept. 14-Nov. 19, Atlantic Station, 1380 Atlantic Drive NW, Atlanta. $35-$145, VIP tickets start at $245. www.cirquedusoleil.com/luzia.
Atlanta Symphony Opening Night.The first night of a new season at Symphony Hall is always a palpably exciting event. Under the baton of Music Director Robert Spano, the orchestra will perform George Gershwin's beloved classic "An American in Paris." Star pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet will perform as featured soloist for Leonard Bernstein's jazzy Second Symphony, "The Age of Anxiety." Rounding out the evening of American originals is the orchestra's reprisal of bassist Michael Kurth's 2016 work "A Thousand Words." Sept. 21-23. Symphony Hall, 1280 Peachtree St., Atlanta. $32-$108. www.atlantasymphony.org
Out on Film. Atlanta's celebrated LGBT film festival will host screenings ranging from farce to tragedy, including the comedic, heartfelt "Signature Move," which tracks the relationship between Pakistani lawyer and a Mexican-American woman; "The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin," about the evolution of the writer from conservative son of the South to gay rights pioneer; and "Behind the Curtain: Todrick Hall," the story of the "Kinky Boots" Broadway actor and his effort to stage his own full-blown musical. The full schedule will be announced Aug. 28. Sept. 28-Oct. 8. Out Front Theatre Company, 999 Brady Ave., Atlanta, and Landmark Midtown Art Cinema, 931 Monroe Drive, Atlanta. www.outonfilm.org
'The Seven Deadly Sins.'Marietta native and Grammy-winning opera superstar Jennifer Larmore returns home to perform the lead role in a site-specific production of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's 20th century musical meditation on the seven deadly sins. The show, which weaves together opera, modern music, spoken word and dance, is part of the Atlanta Opera's Discoveries Series, which places small chamber operatic works in unusual venues around town as a supplement to the mainstage season at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. The cabaret-style performance unfolds at the evocatively naughty Le Maison Rouge nightclub in the Paris on Ponce warehouse under the direction of Serenbe Playhouse Artistic Director Brian Clowdus. Sept. 28-Oct. 6. Le Maison Rouge at Paris on Ponce, 716 Ponce de Leon Place, Atlanta. $50. www.atlantaopera.org
Harry Styles. Oh, to be the standout member in a boy band. Just ask Justin Timberlake about that glory. The swaggering Styles is primed to be the Timberlake of One Direction — the guy with the charisma and talent to branch into acting ("Dunkirk") and release a solo debut that surprised many with its soulful depth and obvious affection for '70s Brit-rock. Tickets to his quick, intimate club tour sold out within minutes, but don't fret. Styles will return to Atlanta June 11 on a massive tour that will stop at Infinite Energy Arena. 8 p.m. Oct. 8. Coca-Cola Roxy Theatre, 800 Battery Ave. SE, Atlanta. Sold out. www.ticketmaster.com
Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre.After Atlanta Ballet's recent change in leadership, several of the company's most accomplished dancers split off and formed their own company. Choreographers Tara Lee, Heath Gill and the dancers will reveal their newly discovered collective voice in Terminus' much-anticipated October debut, with an original style that's classically based and influenced by Atlanta Ballet's eclectic contemporary repertoire. In an intimate gallery setting, the Terminus team will explore concepts of freedom versus captivity — that either one can be a state of mind. A second production will debut in November at Serenbe. Oct. 12-15, Westside Cultural Arts Center, 760 10th St. NW, Atlanta. Nov. 17-19, Serenbe (location TBA), Chattahoochee Hills. www.terminus-serenbe.com
Garth Brooks. Arthur Blank wanted to go big for the first concert to take place at his new downtown sports palace, and Brooks definitely sniffs the rarefied air of a superstar. Brooks, who last played Atlanta with a series of shows at Philips Arena in 2014, will perform in the round on the Atlanta Falcons' spiffy new field and will be joined by wife Trisha Yearwood. Although the show technically sold out in little more than an hour– that's about 73,000 tickets — a handful of single seats are back in the mix if you can grab them fast enough. 7:30 p.m. Oct. 12. Mercedes-Benz Stadium. 1414 Andrew Young International Blvd. NW, Atlanta. $59-$250. www.ticketmaster.com
'Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design.' This ambitious traveling design show making its first U.S. stop in Atlanta promises to be an exciting mix of film, fashion, design, photography, apps and comics. Curated by the Vitra Design Museum and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, "Making Africa" focuses on more than 120 entrepreneurs, thinkers and designers and how their design fuels economic and political development in the country. Oct. 14-Jan. 7, 2018. High Museum of Art, 1280 Peachtree St., Atlanta. $14.50. www.high.org
Book Festival of MJCCA. This year's festival, presented by the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, will bring more than 40 authors to talk to 13,000 visitors in panels, book signings and interviews. Authors will include Sen. Al Franken, biographer Walter Isaacson, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and the daughters of George W. Bush, Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush, whose book, "Sisters First: Stories From Our Wild And Wonderful Life," tells of being chased by paparazzi, escorted by the Secret Service and dodging trouble. Nov. 4-20. Marcus Jewish Community Center, Zaban Park, 5342 Tilly Mill Road in Dunwoody. Ticket prices vary. www.atlantajcc.org/
— Contributed by Andrew Alexander, Wendell Brock, Bo Emerson, Felicia Feaster, Helena Oliviero, Cynthia Bond Perry, Melissa Ruggieri
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