The Addams Family It’s a fun musical the whole family can enjoy, featuring a classic oddball American clan with problems even the most normal of mortals can find relatable. Macabre girl-next-door Wednesday (Sienna Ellenberg) falls in love with a boy (Austin Glenn) she’s sure her parents will hate because he’s basically a muggle. She’s nervous about his dull, normal family meeting hers, and especially fears what her mother (Thea Ellenberg) will say. With her dad (Cason Collier) caught between the two women he loves most, her little brother (Tricia Batal) up to no good and all her dead relatives getting involved, what could possibly go wrong? And with a real-life mother-daughter duo, how could you possibly miss it?
The Addams Family, by Andrew Lippa, Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, based on the cartoons of Charles Addams, is presented by Arts!Oglethorpe at the historic Crawford School in Lexington Thursday, June 28–Saturday, June 30 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $18 ($13 in advance) and available at 706-202-1211 or artsoglethorpe.org.
The Language Archive These days, it seems like many of us who share a common vocabulary no longer speak each other’s language. Once upon a time, there were idealistic linguists hoping for a common international tongue called Esperanto. Now, imagine one (Steve Elliott-Gower) who is better with dying languages than talking to the people he loves. His wife (Virginia Simmons) is so desperate to be heard she hides notes to him, his assistant (Shannon Crawford) would be happy to share her love language with him, and his foreign guests who speak a fictional language (Gay Griggs McCommons and Flagpole’s own fearless leader Pete McCommons) talk enough for all of them combined. Under the direction of Julia Roessing, with a cast including some of Town & Gown’s finest, these will be words you will want to hear.
The Language Archive, by Julia Cho, is presented by Town & Gown Players at the Athens Community Theatre Friday, June 29 and Saturday, June 30 at 8 p.m. with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, July 1. Tickets are $5, free for season flex pass holders and available at townandgownplayers.org.
The Most Lamentable Comedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark Speaking of family drama, Shakespeare specialized in the worst, and this one is guaranteed to be worse than your own most obnoxious relatives—unless yours are murderers scheming for a royal throne. This play will be more fun than the most seriously literary Hamlet you’ve ever seen, because as director Anna Corbould promises, you can “come see Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy reduced to a series of inappropriate jokes and lazy theatrical devices, all steeped in a generous volume of booze.” There are also rumors of a rap battle. With seasoned performers in the roles of Hamlet (Kendall Lively), Ophelia/Laertes (Ellen Everitt), Gertrude (Anna Corbould) and Claudius/Ghost (Tom von Dohlen), the musical stylings of Zac Crook for pre-show entertainment, dinner menu and a well-stocked bar, it should be a hilarious night out for all. All hail Dionysus, indeed.
The Most Lamentable Comedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark, by William Shakespeare, adapted by Anna Corbould and Tom von Dohlen, is presented by the Boozy Bard Players Saturday, July 8 at 8 p.m. at The Foundry. Pre-show music starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $12, $10 in advance, $6 for students and available at thefoundryathens.com. You can also follow them on social media at @boozybardplayers.
A Midsummer Musical Music and Shakespeare’s comedy go hand in hand, so Jefferson Community Theatre is combining the familiar story with an eclectic blend of popular music that ranges from The Beach Boys to Avicii, Hunter Hayes, Starship and more. Puck (Will Stevens) pranks some mortals (Jamie Allen, Kasey Atkins, Tate Bennett and Pete Fuller), and tricks a fairy queen (Susan DeFee) into falling for an overconfident actor (Jeff Wit) who makes an ass of himself.
A Midsummer Musical, by William Shakespeare, adapted by Diana Norton-Bagwell, is presented by Jefferson Community Theatre at Jefferson High School PAC Fridays and Saturdays, July 6–7 and 13–14 at 7:30 p.m. with 2 p.m. matinees Sundays, July 8 and 15. Tickets and information are available at jeffersoncommunitytheatre.com and 706-367-5714.
Nottingham: An American Sign Language Musical An exciting new theater group, Hands In!, is presenting an original American Sign Language musical version of the Robin Hood legend. The entire performance is deaf-accessible and deaf-oriented, with every actor (some hearing, some not) performing in sign language and voice interpreters for the hearing audience. Directors Amara Ede and Haley Beach feel “it is vital to have the ASL script written by deaf individuals—those who are native signers, as well as proponents of deaf culture.” All this with an impressive cast of theater majors, area favorites and local performers, including Christopher Carpenter as Robin Hood, Jordan Richey as Maid Marian and Zack Jarrell as the Sheriff of Nottingham, this is a show and a troupe worth showing up for.
Nottingham: An American Sign Language Musical, by Haley Beach and Amara Ede, is presented by Hands In! at Brightstone Theatre Friday, July 13 at 7 p.m., and Saturday, July 14 and Sunday, July 15 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Tickets are $10, $7 in advance and available at handsinpresents.org.
ALSO COMING UP: Into the Woods, the epic, fairytale musical by Stephen Sondheim, is presented by Onstage Walton at the Onstage Playhouse Fridays and Saturdays, July 20–21 and 27–28 at 8 p.m. with 2 p.m. matinees Sundays, July 22 and 29. Tickets and information are available at onstagewalton.org.
Like what you just read? Support Flagpole by making a donation today. Every dollar you give helps fund our ongoing mission to provide Athens with quality, independent journalism.
