2 minute read

WELCOME

Next Article
Woodruff Circle

Woodruff Circle

JONATHON KELSO Riddle. When is a season not quite a season?

When the world is not quite the world.

As we passed the half year mark on being away from our home at The Alliance, it was a moment to reflect. And while the impulse is to focus on what was lost, I’m working on focusing on what we’ve gained.

Since March of 2020, The Alliance has gained:

Viewership in at least forty-five states and eight countries for our virtual work.

A new streaming platform that will bring you a season of rich and varied content.

A deeper knowledge of parking lots and porta-potties than we ever thought we’d have.

Artists who have learned to make film, animate graphics, and turn Zoom into an interactive, community-building platform.

What I think we’ve also gained is a redoubled appreciation for our art form — at exactly the same time that we’ve grieved the absence of being in shared space in the shared act of telling and hearing the human story. We’ve learned how big, nimble, agile, and wildly re-inventable theatre really can be.

So you’ll be coming to a drive-in where theatre collides with a live radio play. (And that’s theatre.)

So you’ll travel across Atlanta with Terry Burrell in a swinging, singing, short holiday film. (And that’s theatre.)

And your children will meet the story of our youngest protestors through animation. (And that’s theatre, too.)

For me, the expanded definition came early and was gifted to me by a treasured friend. Mid Spring — and deeply challenged by how we would safely make theatre that fed both our artists and our audiences — my phone rang. “At 5pm, go stand in your front door.” And at 5pm on the nose, an actor and musician who melts my heart got out of his car and played “Lean On Me” on my sidewalk. He finished, blew me a kiss, and got back in his car and drove away.

And that was epic theatre. Because a human need was met by a human artist. In real time. May we do that for you this season.

And may I thank you for the gift of allowing us to.

Susan V. Booth Jennings Hertz Artistic Director

NOW SHOWING

DEC 4 – 23

Summerhill (Corner of Georgia Ave & Hank Aaron Dr)

COMING SOON

NOV 27 – DEC 31

Streaming on Alliance Theatre Anywhere

This article is from: