Freddie Ashley News

There's just one month left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Atlanta Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

Actor's Express presents An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Directed by Donya K. Washington, Associate Producer at the Alliance Theatre, this wildly imaginative new work  turns a 19th century melodrama on its ear in a riotous romp that hurls the antebellum south into direct collision with 21st century cultural politics. "Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is one of the most exciting playwrights writing for the American theatre today. This play uses crazy theatricality to cast a critical eye on the modern world through the lens of the past," says Artistic Director Freddie Ashley.

A Christmas Carol, Alliance Theatre's annual holiday production, returns for its 29th season, December 12 - 24, 2018 at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.  The most heartwarming story of the season comes to life with holiday carols, stunning stage magic, and your favorite Atlanta actors.  Directed by Rosemary Newcott, the Sally G. Tomlinson Artistic Director of Theatre for Youth and Families, A Christmas Carol has become a tradition for many families around the southeast. 

Actor's Express presents Reykjavi?k by Steve Yockey. Directed by Melissa Foulger, this tour-de-force collision of sex and danger propels us on a thrilling journey through a world in which the supernatural is closer than we think. "Steve Yockey's play Reykjavi?k is sexy, mysterious and ultimately has huge emotional payoff - I have described it as Steve Yockey at his absolute Yockiest," said Artistic Director Freddie Ashley.

The Suzi Bass Awards revealed nominations for the 2017-2018 Atlanta professional theatre season on Monday evening, August 27, to patrons and industry artists. The Suzi Nomination Party was generously hosted by Synchronicity Theatre, at 7:30pm, One Peachtree Pointe, 1545 Peachtree St. NE #102, Atlanta.  

Actor's Express presents A Doll's House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath in a co-production with Aurora Theatre. Written by the author of last season's The Christians, A Doll's House, Part 2 was one of the biggest smash hits of the 2017 Broadway season and was unanimously cheered by audiences and critics alike.

National New Play Network, an alliance of professional theaters that collaborate in innovating ways to develop, produce, and extend the life of new plays, is pleased to co-present the 13th annual MFA Playwright's Workshop (MFAPW) in association with the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and Stanford University's National Center for New Plays. The Kennedy Center will host more than 60 theater-makers from July 28-August 5, 2018 as part of the 13th annual week-long MFA Playwrights' Workshop featuring new works by graduate students or recent MFA graduates from Iowa Playwrights' Workshop, Northwestern University, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of California, San Diego.

Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT) is proud to announce that the National New Play Network (NNPN), an alliance of professional theatres that collaborate in innovative ways to develop, produce, and extend the life of new plays, has appointed Raymond Bobgan, CPT Executive Artistic Director, as President of the Board of Directors. Raymond was elected to the Executive Committee in 2016 as Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee. Raymond also served as Co-Chair of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee. Because of his work with the EDI Committee, Raymond became heavily involved in NNPN's strategic planning process, which will be completed in December 2018.

The production of The Color Purple that opened at Actor's Express over the weekend is a strong, spirited, stripped-down production that aims straight at the heart of Alice Walker's beloved story. Here, the aesthetic improvements to the stuffy and overcooked original Broadway production's concept are inspired by John Doyle's recent acclaimed minimalist revival on Broadway, and in the hands of a talented ensemble and a luminous Latrice Pace in the role of Celie, this musical becomes exactly what it should be: a heartfelt portrait of the resilience of the human heart.

Actor's Express will present a concert staging of Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along on October 5-7, 2018. Join us for a three-night-only concert event of this rarely-produced Sondheim classic about the clash of personal and professional ambitions between three old friends.

Actor's Express will co-produce A Doll's House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath with Aurora Theatre. Fifteen years ago, Nora Helmer made the shocking decision to leave her husband and family, setting out on a new independent life.

National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu has approved more than $25 million in grants as part of the NEA's first major funding announcement for fiscal year 2018. Included in this announcement is an Art Works grant of $10,000 to Actor's Express for its production of Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize Award-winning play Angels in America, currently on stage through February 17. The Art Works category is the NEA's largest funding category and supports projects that focus on the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and/or the strengthening of communities through the arts.

Actor's Express will produce the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning Angels in America Part One: Millennium Approaches and Part Two: Perestroika. Co-directed by Freddie Ashley and Martin Damien Wilkins, Angels in America will run in rep, allowing audiences some opportunities to see both plays in one day. Performances are January 12 through February 17.

The winners of the 13th Annual Suzi Bass Awards have been decided!

Actor's Express continues its 30th Anniversary season with Cardboard Piano by Hansol Jung, November 11 through December 3, 2017. The Louisville Courier-Journal says the play excavates ideas about kindness, love and faith in the midst of Civil War.

The Suzi Bass Awards revealed nominations for the 2016-2017 Atlanta professional theatre season on Monday evening, September 18, to patrons and industry artists.

Actor's Express will open its 30th Anniversary season with The Christians by Lucas Hnath, September 16 - October 15, 2017. 

National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, will co-present the 12th annual MFA Playwright's Workshop (MFAPW) in association with the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and Stanford University's National Center for New Plays.

National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, will co-present the 12th annual MFA Playwright's Workshop (MFAPW) in association with the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and Stanford University's National Center for New Plays.

Actor's Express stages Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks' Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) May 13-June 11, 2017.