Actor's Express Launches Virtual Downstage: A Theatrical Online Experience

Actor's Express launches Virtual Downstage: A Theatrical Online Experience. Fall 2020 will include a slate of online programming including a new play reading, a weekly monologue series, and a one-woman show.

Artistic Director Freddie Ashley said, "As theatre companies across Atlanta and the nation continue to assess when we can return to live, in-person programming, we wanted to think about different kinds of work that can resonate with our audiences online. We have curated a slate of work that speaks to our current moment in thoughtful and varying ways."

Virtual Downstage: An Online Theatrical Experience is a new online initiative by Actor's Express to provide premiere theatrical entertainment to patrons at-home. Virtual Downstage is supported by Fulton County Arts & Culture COVID-19 Small Business Relief - Virtual Arts Initiative. Actor's Express will produce digital content between September 2020 and December 2020 to keep audiences entertained while the theatre is shut down due to COVID-19.

Hometown Boy by Keiko Green

Directed by Donya K. Washington

October 4, 2020 • 7:00 PM

James hasn't been back to his rural Georgia hometown in over a decade, but reluctantly returns to check in on his father, whose behavior has become worryingly erratic. And since the South has a way of holding onto secrets, he soon stumbles into a life he thought he had left behind as a child. That stench in the air isn't just his father's decaying house, but the rotten core of long-buried secrets teeming just under the surface and ready to explode. Hometown Boy boldly tackles race, class and being an outsider in the Deep South.

Monologue Series

Features work by Quinn Xavier Hernandez, Amina S. McIntyre and Avery Sharpe

Launches weekly beginning October 8, 2020; available free on Actor's Express's YouTube channel

Actor's Express commissioned three of Atlanta's most dynamic and fiercely talented young playwrights to craft short-form solo performance pieces. We asked them to consider themes of hope for the future and encouraged them to interpret these ideas as broadly or as narrowly as they like. The result is three compelling pieces from the next generation of Atlanta writers:

you are going to do amazing things

By Quinn Xavier Hernandez

A young father records a message for the newborn daughter whom he's given up for adoption and whom he may never know.

Toward Joy

By Amina S. McIntyre

A woman on the cusp of a restorative journey ponders the need for joy in the world right now.

Spongebob Spectrum Pineapple People

By Avery Sharpe

What do a trip to Mellow Mushroom, drunk-watching "Lovecraft Country" and a certain sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea have in common? You're about to find out!

Neat

By Charlayne Woodard

Directed by Eric J. Little

November 11-25, 2020

Celebrated playwright Charlayne Woodard lovingly crafts the story of her cherished Aunt Neat, a woman whose simplicity, love, energy and tenderness made a profound impact. What begins as a nostalgic personal remembrance blossoms into a magical and compelling story of embracing womanhood, Blackness and the myriad changes of life itself. This tour-de-force solo play is as inspiring as it is hopeful.

An Actor's Express Holiday Surprise!

December (Holiday) 2020

We're cooking up a fun December surprise for everyone...stay tuned to see how we're going to ring in the holiday season at Actor's Express!

Hometown Boy and the Monologue Series are both free online events. Ticket information for Neat and An Actor's Express Holiday Surprise will available in the coming weeks. For questions and more info, email tickets@actorsexpress.com.