The Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, is moving forward with its 2020–2021 season by staging a number of socially distant productions indoors, in addition to presenting works at a drive-in-style outdoor space and online through a new streaming platform. The season includes Lydia R. Diamond's Toni Stone, the world premiere of the musical Accidental Heroes – The Real Life Adventures of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, and the previously announced Hands Up—all of which will be staged indoors.
In addition, the theatre has released a multi-phase reopening plan to ensure the safety of its employees and audiences. When audiences return, Alliance will use mobile ticketing, staggered entry and exit times, and socially distant seating. Everyone will be required to wear face masks. For more information about Alliance's re-opening plan, click here.
Alliance Theatre Anywhere will bring some of the theatre's past works to the digital world. Streaming shows and exclusive content will be available on demand, with annual members receiving complementary access to the platform as part of their membership benefits. Non-members will be able to access select free and paid content. A launch date will be announced soon.
“Theatre continues to be a necessary town square for essential conversations and a balm for our souls” said Artistic Director Susan V. Booth. “Even in a pandemic and in deep and necessary civic unrest, still we are human. Still we love, we grieve, we rage, and we commune with friends and family—OK, maybe via Zoom, but still. We navigate forward, equally informed by truth and hope, and always in need of joy, dialogue, and heroes.”
The season kicks off in November at the Coca-Cola Stage with the solo show A Very Terry Christmas by Broadway alum Terry Burrell (The Threepenny Opera, Thoroughly Modern Millie). A drive-in production of A Christmas Carol, directed by Leora Morris, will be staged by Alliance for the first time as a live radio play in December, with an exact location to be announced. A cast of eight actors will play all the roles, accompanied by a foley sound effects artist.
In February 2021, Alexis Woodard and Keith Arthur Bolden will direct The New Black Play Fest’s Hands Up: 7 Playwrights, 7 Testaments at the Coca-Cola Stage. In an effort to provide a platform for Black artists and tell contemporary stories, the work depicts the realities of Black America from the perspective of varying genders, sexual orientations, skin tones, and socioeconomic backgrounds. The seven playwrights are Nathan James, Nathan Yungerberg, Idris Goodwin, Nambi E. Kelley, Nsangou Njikam, Eric Micha Holmes, and Dennis A. Allen II.
The world premiere of Data, by Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition winner Matthew Libby, will debut on the Hertz Stage in March. The drama explores what goes on behind closed doors in the tech companies of Silicon Valley.
The season continues in April on the Coca-Cola Stage with Accidental Heroes, featuring an original score by Oscar and Grammy winner T Bone Burnett (Crazy Heart, Walk The Line) and a book by Oscar-winning screenwriter Marshall Brickman (Annie Hall, Manhattan). The musical, directed by two-time Tony winner Des McAnuff (Big River, The Who’s Tommy, Ain’t Too Proud), follows the rise of two of Hollywood’s most popular Western stars.
Diamond's Toni Stone wraps up the season in June on the Coca-Cola Stage in a production directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden. The story of the the first woman ever to play professionally in a men's baseball league, premiered Off-Broadway in 2019.
The Theatre for Young Audiences productions for the season will appear on Alliance Theatre Anywhere. Beginning in October 2020 is the world premiere of Sit-In, by Pearl Cleage (Blues for an Alabama Sky). In January 2021, the theatre will stream its popular Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Rock Experience. The Kathy & Ken Bernhardt Theatre for the Very Young shows will also be streamed, with In My Granny’s Garden, (Knock, Knock) the Sounds of Winter, and The Sounds of the West End on the slate.
Casting, creative team members, and schedule details for all productions will be announced later.
April Matthis in Toni Stone
