Author: Jim Farmer

Technically, it’s already begun. Aurora Theatre kicked off the new theater season in July with its crackling version of Mary Poppins, but most 2014–2015 productions will be opening over the next month. A lot has us excited and here are 14 productions we simply can’t miss. And trust us, there could be dozens more on…

It’s a comedy, a drama, an ode to sisterhood. Heck, it’s even something of a musical. It proudly has a lot of tones it wants to embrace, but the joy of Darren Canady’s new play Right On is that even when it’s swirling around it’s never less than entertaining.  Now playing at Horizon Theatre through…

I’ve always subscribed to the theory that the addition of actress Patricia French into any project automatically thrusts it in a highly credible direction. The new Ravens & Seagulls — written by local playwright Karla Jennings — features French and a slew of other talented performers navigating a satisfying drama about loss and family, courtesy…

It wasn’t terribly long ago that Aurora Theatre was in Duluth, producing quality work but in a very small venue. With the company’s move to its current location in downtown Lawrenceville in the spring of 2007 and a larger stage, it’s given Aurora the opportunity to take chances and mount heftier-scale musicals, a clear and…

In tackling Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic musical Oklahoma! director Brian Clowdus, artistic director of Serenbe Playhouse, has a slew of challenges ahead of him — working with a large cast; employing his customary outdoor setting; staging a venerable piece of musical theater most people have definitive ideas and opinions about. Yet his biggest obstacle might…

Long a mainstay of finding and producing rich scripts from playwrights around the state courtesy of its annual playwriting award, Essential Theatre has just opened the 16th season of its yearly festival with the topical, buzz-worthy That Uganda Play. It’s a bold drama by a talented playwright, but its shaky narrative structure prevents it from being…

It’s similar to the annual Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition — only with local artists. Representatives from the Alliance Theatre talked about the inaugural Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab at a press conference yesterday afternoon with the artists chosen for this year’s showcase.  Launched last year across the theater disciplines for local artists without producing homes,…

Hezekiah Green, a character at the center of the new drama Levi, makes a religion of his stubbornness — and how seriously he takes his religion. A pastor who has lost his family and is about to lose his church as well, he is holding onto his faith when all else fails. Running through June…

Hoping to fill a void left by the late great Theatre Gael, which for more than a decade staged lovely Irish/Celtic work in the area, the new Arís Theatre has just opened its maiden production, Enda Walsh’s comedy drama The New Electric Ballroom. The company deserves props for tackling something a bit unorthodox and for…