Tom Key News

Theatrical Outfit continues its groundbreaking 2019 - 2020 Season with the ATLANTA PREMIERE of Slow Food by Wendy MacLeod - a new comedy with bite. Slow Food runs January 22 - February 16, 2020 only at The Balzer Theater at Herren's in the heart of Downtown Atlanta.

The board of trustees for Theatrical Outfit, Atlanta's second-oldest professional theatre, has voted unanimously to name Matt Torney as its new Artistic Director. Torney will succeed current Artistic Director Tom Key in 2020 when Key completes his 25th year at the helm of the downtown theatre. 

 Theatrical Outfit (TO) held its annual fundraising gala, 'Our Luckie Stars,' on Saturday, April 27th at its home, The Balzer Theater at Herren's on Luckie Street in the heart of downtown Atlanta. The event honored long-time TO patrons Doug and Florida Ellis and featured silent and live auctions, wonderful food, and exciting entertainment from familiar TO artists. The evening was a celebration of the theatre's mission to provide world-class conversation-starting theatre to inspire a compassionate, joyful, and just community. The gala raised over $123,000, breaking its fundraising goal and surpassing last year's success.

Theatrical Outfit, Atlanta's second-oldest professional theatre, proudly announces its 2019-2020 Season, which also marks the final season under the leadership of Artistic Director Tom Key. The season promises to be a powerful representation of the kind of work Key loves to produce at the theatre's home in the heart of downtown Atlanta:

Theatrical Outfit will enter a new era when Artistic Director Tom Key exits his longstanding position in June of 2020.  The Theatre's Board of Directors announced Key's plans to retire along with the announcement of the launch of a nationwide search to name his successor by the opening of the 2019-2020 season.

Welcome back to Theatrical Outfit's festival of play readings, The Unexpected Play Festival. Witness top notch talent bring characters and plots to vivid life as three new or newish scripts not only stir the soul but maybe even unsettle it. Think of it as TO Stage 2 - unpredictable and exciting fare that stretches The Outfit aesthetic in either content or form. Preview tomorrow's hit play today. This back-by-popular-demand programming runs January 14-15, 2019 continuing Theatrical Outfit's 2018-2019 Season of Beauty.

Theatrical Outfit continues its 2018-2019 Season of Beauty with the return of our smash holiday hit, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, Decatur native Lauren Gunderson and co-writer Margot Melcon's sparkling and romantic sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. This year, four new actors join the cast - three of whom will make their Theatrical Outfit debuts. "The Theatrical Outfit production doesn't miss a detail … likely soon to be a holiday classic," says The Atlanta Journal-Constitution of Miss Bennet, which runs November 21 - December 23 downtown at The Balzer Theater at Herren's.

Theatrical Outfit is proud to announce that Gretchen E. Butler has joined the staff as Managing Director.

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.  

 'Gentlemen. We have lived through the age of the poet and landed in the age of the hack.' - Richard Burbage in The Book of Will

This spring, Theatrical Outfit proudly presents 110 in the Shade, the sizzling Broadway musical adaptation of the beloved classic play The Rainmaker by N. Richard Nash with music and lyrics from the duo behind The Fantasticks, Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones. Directed by Artistic Director Tom Key with musical direction by S. Renee Clark (Big Fish, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill) and choreography by Angela Harris, The Outfit's 110 in the Shade features a diverse ensemble of fifteen performers and concludes Theatrical Outfit's 2017- 2018 Season of Character.

Theatrical Outfit, Atlanta's second-oldest continuously-operating professional theatre, proudly announces its dynamic 2018-2019 Season of Beauty, which includes: The Book of Will, America's most-produced living playwright and Georgia native Lauren Gunderson's love letter to theatre's timeless superstar, Will Shakespeare; The Royale, Marco Ramirez's stylized, blazingly theatrical look at the high stakes, segregated world of boxing at the turn of the twentieth century based on the true story of fighter Jack Johnson; the return of our sparkling holiday smash hit Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon; Lee Hall's The Pitmen Painters, a humorous tale of character over class in the British mining community and high society art circles set between the World Wars; I Love to Eat, Pulitzer Prize nominee James Still's salty culinary voyage around the world of love, life, and comfort food starring Atlanta stage vet William S. Murphey as celebrity chef James Beard; Five Guys Named Moe, an exuberant musical overflowing with hit songs by R&B pioneer Louis Jordan; the return of our Unexpected Play Festival; and a jazz concert series from renowned trumpeter and vocalist Joe Gransden with special guest singers. Our 2018-2019 Season of Beauty, featuring five plays, one musical, and special events, offers something for everyone.

The Alliance Theatre commits extensive resources annually to supporting and developing new work and new artists through two nationally recognized programs - the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition and the Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab.  The Alliance today announced the winner and finalists of the 16th Alliance/Kendeda Competition as well as the three projects chosen for development in the 5th annual Reiser Lab. 

Theatrical Outfit has received a grant from the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Inc. in the amount of $150,000 over a two year period to support the general operations of the Organization. The downtown professional theatre received the exciting news on October 25th, and was presented with the check by James Tobias, Major Gifts Officer at the Community Foundation, on Thursday, November 16th. In attendance at the formal presentation were Theatrical Outfit Artistic Director Tom Key, TO Board Chair Stephanie Watkins, TO Trustees Tommy Barrow, Charlie Henn, and Margaret Murphy, TO Assoc. Artistic Director Clifton Guterman, and TO Director of Communications and Development Tess Malis Kincaid.

This December, Theatrical Outfit proudly offers three unique holiday-themed outings during the run of our Southeast premiere of Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, a new holiday play and sequel to Pride and Prejudice.

This fall, Theatrical Outfit proudly stages the Southeast premiere of Boy, a recent Off-Broadway hit play by Anna Ziegler inspired by a true story of gender reassignment, featuring Tom Key, Theatrical Outfit's Artistic Director, and Clifton Guterman, Theatrical Outfit's Associate Artistic Director, with direction by Melissa Foulger.

This fall, Theatrical Outfit stages the Southeast premiere of Boy, a recent Off-Broadway hit play by Anna Ziegler inspired by a true story of gender reassignment, featuring Tom Key, Theatrical Outfit's Artistic Director, and Clifton Guterman, Theatrical Outfit's Associate Artistic Director, with direction by Melissa Foulger.

BOY breaks boundaries to share a heartfelt story that will leave you feeling emotionally vulnerable one moment then having you smile ear to ear the next.

This fall, Theatrical Outfit stages the Southeast premiere of Boy, a recent Off-Broadway hit play by Anna Ziegler inspired by a true story of gender reassignment, featuring Tom Key, Theatrical Outfit's Artistic Director, and Clifton Guterman, Theatrical Outfit's Associate Artistic Director, with direction by Melissa Foulger.

Following three successful years at Theatrical Outfit, Lee Foster will relinquish her duties as Managing Director, effective October 31, 2017.