My hometown of Atlanta, Ga. is a fascinating city bursting with theatre. After a 22 year absence, I returned home this past weekend for the opening of MRS. JOHN MARSH - Melita Easter's one woman show about GONE WITH THE WIND author Margaret Mitchell, starring Kandace Christian. (www.mrsjohnmarsh.com) for which I have served as dramaturg.
Being tied to the theatre trying to get the show up and running, I didn't have a chance to get around the city to check out the theatre scene for myself, but I did have the pleasure of hosting quite a few of my Atlanta playwright associates as our guests for the opening weekend performances. There was much gratifying talk about new play readings and development and working with dramaturgs.
On Friday, June 3, I was fortunate enough to hang out with Hank Kimmel, one of the founders of Atlanta's Working Title Playwrights. Our theatre, The Ansley Park Playhouse, is located right next door to The Temple on Peachtree Street, known to most of us thanks to Alfred Uhry's DRIVING MISS DAISY. So Hank and I went to Temple and then to see the play together. Originally from New York, Hank is a member of Atlanta's growing crew of theatre folk who have moved from The Big Apple to The Big Peach.
Working Title Playwrights( www.workingtitleplaywrights.com) has been on my radar for about 3 years, but the organization was formally initiated in 2003 and pretty much every one of my Atlanta playwright friends is either a current or past member. In addition to the expected role of giving playwrights a forum in which to develop their work, Working Title has become an amazing force for developing community in Atlanta theatre and for connecting Atlanta's non-theatre population to the joys of the "legitimate stage" I spent most of the weekend chatting with playwrights connected to Working Title, learning not only about their work but also the work of their friends and colleagues. Based on what I heard, I wouldn't be surprised if Atlanta's next major export is playwrights.
While Atlanta may never rival New York for the sheer number of theatres, it is still a wonderland of theatrical delights, boasting such long time companies as Theatrical Outfit, Horizon Theatre, Actors' Express, 7 Stages, Onion Man, True Colors and, most recently, The New African Grove Theatre - along with the internationally acclaimed Alliance Theatre, where I once worked briefly as Assistant to the Directors in the early 80's. Atlanta also boasts several fine university theatre departments including Georgia State, Emory and Oglethorpe. A great overview of Atlanta's companies can be found at www.atlantaperforms.com
Atlanta's theatre companies are scattered across the city from Decatur to Marietta and even to Cumming, where my associate Mercury runs The Gypsy Theatre Company.
Back in the 1980s, Atlanta's acting community came together to form a group called Actors in Renaissance, which met on Saturday mornings on a monthly basis. Though A.I.R. eventually faded out, it's legacy is strong in the wonderful community of artists it birthed and the fantastic theatre companies which were born out of it's communions.
Two fascinating new works out of Atlanta that have hit my radar in recent times both come out of The Theatrical Outfit. These are Tom Key's adaptation of CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES of a year or so ago, and a new work which opens in August - THE GREEN BOOK by Calvin Ramsey. For those of you unfamiliar, "The Green Book" was a travel guide for African Americans published during the era of segregation. I have yet to read Ramsey's play but am intrigued to see how he approaches his subject.
One jewel of a venue on Peachtree Street is The Ansley Park Playhouse, where our production of MRS. JOHN MARSH runs until June 19th. Ansley Park is an absolute treasure of a 130 seat blackbox with an outstanding young staff lead by the amazing Stan Gentry. It is also home to Atlanta's longest running play, PEACHTREE BATTLE, which debuted just before 9/11 and resumes performances later this summer. The play is about the "Old Atlanta" street that I grew up on, Peachtree Battle Avenue. It' s slightly scandulous and reminds me of the days when I turned my grandmother's home into a Dramaturgy Center back in 1981 - much to the horror of the neighbors! Especially when we started rehearsals for an African version of ROMEO AND JULIET in the back yard!
PEACHTREE BATTLE's authors, John Gibson and Anthony Morris, have found the ultimate location for a Peachtree Street Theatre - right in the nook of a curve about a mile north of The Alliance, where Peachtree Street does a 90% angle on the journey from Mid-Town to Buckhead.
Speaking of Buckhead, 30 years ago I wrote a musical called MANHATTAN BLUES. The central character, Tallulah Buckhead, was an Atlanta deb who wanted to be an actress - NOT very Junior League - but Tallulah follows her dream and makes her mark, and if she were with us today (and maybe she is), I think this is what Tallulah would say about Atlanta:
When I'm dancing at The Shubert Theatre
I'm dancing on Broadway
And when I'm singing at The Shubert Theater
I'm singing on Broadway
But when I'm dancing on Peachtree Street
I'm still dancing on my Broadway feet:
I'm doing Broadway
Where ever I go.
Come to Atlanta and Go to the Theatre!
Jaz Dorsey
Dramaturg
MRS. JOHN MARSH
www.mrsjohnmarsh. com
Showing posts with label Melita Easters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Melita Easters. Show all posts
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
AAPEX Founder Jaz Dorsey does Margaret Mitchell this Friday, June 3rd (Atlanta)
Dramaturg Jaz Dorsey will join playwright Melita Easters and actress Kandace Christian this coming Friday evening at The Ansley Park Playhouse after the performance of Easter's MRS: JOHN MARSH - THE WORLD KNEW HER AS MARGARET MITCHELL.
Dorsey is a native of Atlanta, the grandson of Governor Hugh M. Dorsey and a great nephew of Cason Callaway, founder of Callaway Gardens outside of LaGrange, Gerogia. He did his undergraduate work in international studies at Chapel Hill and pioneered the graduate dramaturgy program at Virginia Commonwealth University. After leaving graduate school, he worked briefly as the assistant to the directors at The Alliance Theatre, From 1981 - 1989. Atlanta credits from those years include a "Best Supporting Actor Award" from the AJC, thanks to Director Carey Bynum, designing the set for JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL for Director Greg Abbot at Georgia Tech and producing Strindberg's MISS JULIE in conjunction with the royal visit of the King & Queen of Sweden to Atlanta.
Dorsey is also the author of a collection of musicals set in Atlanta, including CAFE ESCARGOT, MANHATTAN BLUES, ALICE IN AMERICA, BABBLEHAGGLE & VAN DR BICH and DON'T ASK/DON'T TELL, all of which have enjoyed popular cabaret runs in NYC.
ALICE IN AMERICA, which was first produced in conjunction with Geroge Lawes at The Performance Garage, was made into a film by Broadway producer Bonnie Comley. Lawes also starred with Janet Metzger as Grant Park and Tallulah Buckhead in a mid 80's version of MANHATTAN BLUES titled DESTINY CALLS COLLECT.
From 1990 - 1997, Dorsey served as production manager in the New York office of Biggs Rosati Productions, sending out bi-lingual productions of French and Spanish classics to high schools across the United States. He also collaborated as composer and lyricist on several of these bi-lingual shows.
In 1999, NELLIE, a musical about America's first female investigative journalist, was produced at The Lamb's Theatre on Times Square, with book by Bernice Lee, music by Jaz Dorsey and lyrics by Dorsey and Lee.
Since 2000, Dorsey has lived in Nashville, Tennessee and is proud to be a part of one of the most exciting theatre communities in history. He is also the 2011 Director of Education for The Southern Appalachian International Film Festival (www.soapiff. com) which is where he first met Melita Easters and learned of MRS. JOHN MARSH.
He is also the founder/dramatug of The African American Playwrights Exchange.
Dorsey is excited to be joining the author and the star of MRS. JOHN MARSH to share with everyone our incredible journey on the road to Atlanta, including a year of readings in New York & Nashville and the play's journey to The Margaret Mitchell Symposium at the University of Georgia on May 7 of this year, where an audience full of authors of books about Margaret Mitchell gave Kandace Christian an instant standing ovation for her performance of MRS. JOHN MARSH.
Dorsey is a native of Atlanta, the grandson of Governor Hugh M. Dorsey and a great nephew of Cason Callaway, founder of Callaway Gardens outside of LaGrange, Gerogia. He did his undergraduate work in international studies at Chapel Hill and pioneered the graduate dramaturgy program at Virginia Commonwealth University. After leaving graduate school, he worked briefly as the assistant to the directors at The Alliance Theatre, From 1981 - 1989. Atlanta credits from those years include a "Best Supporting Actor Award" from the AJC, thanks to Director Carey Bynum, designing the set for JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL for Director Greg Abbot at Georgia Tech and producing Strindberg's MISS JULIE in conjunction with the royal visit of the King & Queen of Sweden to Atlanta.
Dorsey is also the author of a collection of musicals set in Atlanta, including CAFE ESCARGOT, MANHATTAN BLUES, ALICE IN AMERICA, BABBLEHAGGLE & VAN DR BICH and DON'T ASK/DON'T TELL, all of which have enjoyed popular cabaret runs in NYC.
ALICE IN AMERICA, which was first produced in conjunction with Geroge Lawes at The Performance Garage, was made into a film by Broadway producer Bonnie Comley. Lawes also starred with Janet Metzger as Grant Park and Tallulah Buckhead in a mid 80's version of MANHATTAN BLUES titled DESTINY CALLS COLLECT.
From 1990 - 1997, Dorsey served as production manager in the New York office of Biggs Rosati Productions, sending out bi-lingual productions of French and Spanish classics to high schools across the United States. He also collaborated as composer and lyricist on several of these bi-lingual shows.
In 1999, NELLIE, a musical about America's first female investigative journalist, was produced at The Lamb's Theatre on Times Square, with book by Bernice Lee, music by Jaz Dorsey and lyrics by Dorsey and Lee.
Since 2000, Dorsey has lived in Nashville, Tennessee and is proud to be a part of one of the most exciting theatre communities in history. He is also the 2011 Director of Education for The Southern Appalachian International Film Festival (www.soapiff. com) which is where he first met Melita Easters and learned of MRS. JOHN MARSH.
He is also the founder/dramatug of The African American Playwrights Exchange.
Dorsey is excited to be joining the author and the star of MRS. JOHN MARSH to share with everyone our incredible journey on the road to Atlanta, including a year of readings in New York & Nashville and the play's journey to The Margaret Mitchell Symposium at the University of Georgia on May 7 of this year, where an audience full of authors of books about Margaret Mitchell gave Kandace Christian an instant standing ovation for her performance of MRS. JOHN MARSH.
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