GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY Included in 38th Season at Actor's Express

Actor’s Express has announced its 38th Season full of bold and exhilarating theatre. This five-show season includes a World Premiere play, an Atlanta Premiere musical and the fifth annual collaboration with Oglethorpe University. In addition to the five-show subscription season, AE welcomes back its longstanding, popular cabaret partnership with Atlanta icon Libby Whittemore, as well as the sensational Candybox Revue as well as the second year of hilarious drag duo Olive & Agatha.

Season 38 opens in January with Girl From The North Country, an incredibly beautiful juke-box musical packed with 20 of Bob Dylan’s most beloved songs reimagined by Connor McPherson. Girl From The North Country will be presented in partnership with Oglethorpe University. Girl From The North Country will be directed by AE’s Artistic Director, Freddie Ashley who most recently directed AE’s productions of Cabaret and Doubt, A Parable. “With every play we produce at AE, we interrogate how it engages with the current moment”, Ashley noted, “With Girl from the North Country, you see a group of people coming together by circumstance and creating community in the midst of a tough time.”

In April, AE continues its 38th season with the celestial pitch-black comedy Venus by one of Atlanta’s favorite playwrights, Steve Yockey. Venus will star Kate Donadio McQueen and Suehyla E. Young, who were most recently seen in Yockey’s hit production, Mercury at Actor’s Express in 2024. “Steve Yockey’s work often walks a delicate balance of fiendish comedy and real heart. Venus captures so bitingly the complexities of love and connection in the modern world,” AE’s Artistic Director Freddie Ashley notes. “In Venus, you get to explore how hard it can be to connect with another person, but how urgently necessary it is.”

The season continues in June with the Pulitzer-Prize winning masterpiece Wit by Atlanta’s own Margaret Edson, starring Atlanta theatre icon and AE vet Carolyn Cook (Mercury, Prayer for the French Republic, Angels in America, Blackberry Winter) and directed by AE Artistic Director Freddie Ashley. “Atlantan Margaret Edson’s landmark play is as powerful now as it was 25 years ago. And to see Carolyn Cook play Vivian Bearing is a remarkable opportunity whose time has come,” Ashley remarked.

Up next,  Tarrell Alvin McCraney’s beloved coming-of-age play Choir Boy returns to Atlanta on the AE stage in June. AE Artistic Director Freddie Ashley noted, “Atlanta loves the work of Tarell Alvin McCraney, and Choir Boy is among his most trenchant plays. With glorious music and tenderly observed writing, it transcends the coming-of-age trope as a paean to the heroism of self-discovery.” Choir Boy will be directed by AE Associate Artistic Director Amanda Washington, who has directed critically acclaimed Actor’s Express productions A Strange Loop, Blues For An Alabama Sky and cullud wattah.

AE’s 38th season closes with the world premiere of Jayne Deely’s warmhearted comedy i never asked for a gofundme. In Mobile, Alabama chaos ensues when a nosy, evangelical neighbor mistakes gender-affirming top surgery for breast cancer, and creates a GoFundMe in the name of doing the Lord's work. i never asked for a gofundme was workshopped at the La Jolla Latinx New Play Festival and New Harmony Writers Conference, and it was a finalist for the Dramatist Guild Foundation’s National Fellowship.

In addition to these productions, AE will present a full slate of hilarious holiday specials, including a winter burlesque show with the Candybox Revue in December. And then, following their sold-out AE debut in 2024, AE is excited to welcome back drag duo Olive & Agatha and their campy and irreverent A Gay in a Manager.

And of course, AE welcomes back Libby’s at the Express with Atlanta icon Libby Whittemore, who will present her 19th annual holiday show Ho Ho Home for the Holidays and a Connie Sue Day Christmas.