Actor’s Express announces its 31st Season. The season opens September 1 with A Doll’s House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath, a co-production between Actor’s Express and Aurora Theatre, directed by Actor’s Express Artistic Director Freddie Ashley (The Crucible, Angels in America). It is followed by the World Premiere of Reykjavík by Steve Yockey, directed by Melissa Foulger. In the fall, Actor’s Express will produce the Obie Award-winning An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, followed by Falsettos by William Finn and James Lapine. The season closes with the sensitive drama Jump by Charly Evon Simpson.
According to Artistic Director Freddie Ashley, “The new season at Actor’s Express really articulates the best of what we do. A Doll’s House, Part 2 and An Octoroon are two unbelievably smart plays that hold hands with the past while looking critically at the world we live in right now. Falsettos is as funny and touching a musical as has ever been written, movingly looking at what it means to form your own kind of family. Steve Yockey’s play Reykjavík is sexy, mysterious and ultimately has huge emotional payoff – I have described it as Steve Yockey at his absolute Yockiest. And I believe Charly Evon Simpson is a major new voice in American playwriting. It’s so exciting to be presenting her beautiful, beautiful play Jump.”
Fan favorite Libby Whittemore returns to the Express stage for the 10th year for two engagements of her popular cabaret series Libby’s at the Express. Actor’s Express will additionally present the fourth annual new play festival Threshold New Play Festival (dates TBD).
Season subscription packages are now on sale and can be purchased online at actors-express.com or by calling 404-607-7469. Single tickets will go on sale May 13, 2018.
MAINSTAGE SEASON
A Doll’s House, Part 2 By Lucas Hnath Directed by Freddie Ashley
September 1-30, 2018 Directors Rough Cut – August 29 Previews – August 30-31
A co-production between Actor’s Express and Aurora Theatre. Fifteen years ago, Nora Helmer made the shocking decision to leave her husband and family, setting out on a new independent life. Now she has come home, knocking on the same door she slammed shut a decade and a half earlier – arriving with a request for an impossible favor from her husband. Longsimmering resentments boil over in an intellectual and comedic slugfest about ideas, love – and the
rights of women in the modern world. The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, W Magazine and Time Out New York all called A Doll’s House, Part 2 “the best play of the Broadway season.”
Reykjavík By Steve Yockey Directed by Melissa Foulger
October 27-November 18, 2018 Directors Rough Cut – October 24 Previews – October 25-26
World Premiere!
Beneath the otherworldly glow of the Northern Lights, tourists and locals mingle in the shadows of Iceland’s capital city. Told through eight interconnected vignettes, we eavesdrop on lovers, siblings, hotel employees, sex workers – and even some birds with really strong opinions about honesty. In this tour-de-force collision of sex and danger, playwright Yockey propels us on a thrilling journey through a world in which the supernatural is closer than we think.
An Octoroon By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Directed by TBD
January 26-February 24, 2019 Director’s Rough Cut – January 23 Previews – January 24-25
Winner! Obie Award for Best New American Play!
Trouble has been a-brewin’ at the Terrebonne Plantation since Judge Peyton died. Money is running out, an evil overseer is up to no good, and the heir to the estate is in love with someone he shouldn’t be. MacArthur Genius Grant recipient Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (author of the AE hit Appropriate) turns a nineteenth century melodrama on its ear in this combustibly hilarious, riotously subversive romp that hurls the antebellum south into a direct collision course with 21st century cultural politics.
Falsettos Music and Lyrics by William Finn Book by William Finn and James Lapine Directed by Freddie Ashley
March 23-April 28, 2019 Director’s Rough Cut – March 20 Previews – March 21-22
Love can tell a million stories.
When Marvin leaves his wife Trina for a guy named Whizzer, they all determine to salvage something from the resulting fallout to form a new kind of family. Throw in a lovesick psychiatrist, a precocious thirteen year-old and two lesbians from next door and you get the story of a modern family learning to navigate the stress of family dinners, the pressure of planning the perfect bar mitzvah and the heartbreak of saying goodbye. With a Tony-winning score by William Finn, Falsettos is a landmark musical about how we love, live and grow.
Jump By Charly Evon Simpson Directed by TBD
June 1-23, 2019 Director’s Rough Cut – May 29 Previews – May 30-31
Sometimes in your life you have to walk the bridge.
A bridge that spans a deep gorge draws tourists, joggers and more than a few wandering souls. Reeling from the death of her mother, twentysomething Fay comes to the bridge looking for solace and a good place to vape, but what she finds is a journey of self-discovery. In the whimsically theatrical world of Jump, lights flicker, hearts heal – and you never know what surprises will literally fall from the sky.
Libby’s at the Express December 14, 15, 21, 22 and 23, 2018 May 2-5, 2019
Incomparable Atlanta icon Libby Whittemore is back for the tenth consecutive year of her one-of-a-kind cabaret series.
WE ARE GRATEFUL TO OUR SPONSORS Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta Metropolitan Arts Fund City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs Fulton County Board of Commissioners Georgia Council for the Arts National Endowment for the Arts The Shubert Foundation James Starr Moore Memorial Foundation Turner Kilpatrick Townsend Thompson Hine Holland IT Consulting The Imlay Foundation ABOUT ACTOR’S EXPRESS Since our founding in 1988, we have sought to nurture the next generation of playwrights through workshops, readings, and full productions of new plays; to develop and nurture Atlanta’s artistic community through theatre training; to catalyze the dialogue essential to the vitality of our neighborhood and our city; and to enhance Atlanta’s reputation nationally as a thriving center for live performance.
Actor’s Express is located on the west side of Atlanta in the King Plow Arts Center at 887 W. Marietta Street, Suite J-107, Atlanta, Georgia 30318.
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