Arts! Oglethorpe
706-202-1211 • www.artsoglethorpe.org
Housed in the historic Crawford Schoolhouse, Arts!Oglethorpe is a Georgia nonprofit corporation and has served the community as an all-volunteer organization since 1995. Over 700 community members of all ages have participated in Arts!Oglethorpe-sponsored events. The range of offerings includes musicals, plays, literary publications and various art shows. Past theater seasons have included Shakespeare’s classics, Broadway staples, children’s favorites and everything in between. Venue: Old Crawford Schoolhouse.
Athens Creative Theatre (ACT)
706-613-3628 • www.athenscreativetheatre.com
A non-profit theater company serving the Athens area under the umbrella of the ACC Leisure Services Department, ACT encourages citizens to get involved with theater by seeing and/or participating in one of the half-dozen shows produced each year. ACT provides education and experience to youths interested in all aspects of theater, including performance, set construction and script analysis, through its summer drama camps. In addition, ACT continues its Women’s Repertory Company, which stages productions using all-female casts and crews. ACT will kick off the 2011/2012 season with Disney’s My Son Pinocchio: Geppetto’s Musical Tale. Venues: Memorial Park’s Quinn Hall, Morton Theatre.
Athens Little Playhouse
706-208-1036 • www.athenslittleplayhouse.org
A theater company specifically geared toward children and young adults from ages five to 21, ALPS performs a handful of family-friendly productions each year. Recent productions include My Name Is Rumplestiltskin and There’s a Monster in My Closet! Auditions are also open to adults and parents in the community. ALPS offers drama camps during the summer and classes throughout the year to nurture creative expression and provide various opportunities for children to get involved with the theater. Venue: Athens Little Playhouse.
Black Theatrical Ensemble
706-542-8069 • http://ugabte.blogspot.com
Founded in 1976 as a showcase for the work of African-American playwrights and actors, the Black Theatrical Ensemble, under the auspices of the University of Georgia’s African-American Cultural Center, presents several productions throughout the school year. The acting troupe has performed original musicals, the celebrated drama of August Wilson, an adaptation of short fiction by Zora Neale Hurston and innovative performance-art pieces incorporating hip-hop, spoken word, dance and more. Venue: Morton Theatre.
Circle Ensemble Theatre Company
706-372-2175 • www.circleensembletheatre.com
Athens’ newest theater company, operating under the aegis of the Athens Area Arts Council, Circle is committed to producing challenging performance pieces with an artistic edge, presenting new works by playwrights from Athens and elsewhere, and serving the community through youth theater programs and job creation. The Circle Ensemble kicks off its new season with a production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). Venues: Memorial Park Quinn Hall, Ashford Manor.
Classic City Arts
706-850-1755 • www.classiccityarts.com
This recently formed community arts project is committed to producing, promoting and archiving local performance art. CCA maintains a historical theater department and presents both classic and modern works of theater such as recent productions Mr. Nightingale’s Diary and A Rose for Alice. Venue: Seney-Stovall Chapel.
JV Productions
706-543-2012
Playwright, actor, director and retired UGA English professor John Vance presents original comedies and dramas performed with his independent theater company. With 36 plays staged locally over the years, Vance is a popular fixture of the Athens theater scene. JV Productions may be best known for the annual holiday performance of A Victorian Christmas with Charles Dickens, in which Vance plays the author reading from his own work. Venue: Seney-Stovall Chapel.
Oconee Youth Playhouse
706-769-2677 • www.oypoysp.com/playhouse
Watkinsville’s Oconee Youth Playhouse stages several productions for young and young-adult casts each year, specializing in musical theater. The shows, which in past seasons have included Children of Eden, Seussical, Little Shop of Horrors and High School Musical, are known for their large casts, precise choreography and elaborate sets. The Oconee Youth School of Performance offers voice, acting, musical theater and dance instruction. Venue: Oconee County Civic Center.
Rose of Athens Theatre
706-340-9181 • www.roseofathens.org
Rose of Athens Theatre performed its first show in 2006 and has since become a frontrunner of the local theater scene. Past performances, which include The Tragedy of Macbeth, Frankenstein Lives!, and Alice in Wonderland, reflect the company’s commitment to diversity and its broad range. The theater offers education through its own academy, as well as workshops at local schools. In addition, Rose of Athens also presents No Shame Athens, a weekly open-mic performance night at Hendershot’s Coffee and Pub. Venues: Morton Theatre, Seney-Stovall Chapel.
Town and Gown Players
706-208-TOWN • www.townandgownplayers.org
Athens’ oldest community theater company, Town and Gown regularly performs at Athens Community Theatre, the company’s playhouse since 1969. The company draws talent from the university and community (hence the name) to stage several productions each year, from top-shelf musicals to edgy experimental pieces. The 2011–2012 season includes Dracula, Jesus Christ Superstar, Amadeus and Lysistrata. T&G’s more intimate Second Stage shows generally run the weekend following the closing of a Main Stage show. Venue: Athens Community Theatre.
The University Theatre
706-583-0045 • www.drama.uga.edu
UGA’s Department of Theatre and Film Studies looks forward to an exciting season of diverse shows, large and small, starting with an adaptation of The 39 Steps and including Arthur Miller’s classic All My Sons and the hit musical Chicago for the 2011/2012 season. In addition to the main company, the Graduate Acting Ensemble and the Thalian Blackfriars, two student-run performance groups, present a series of smaller productions. I Commedianti Georgiani integrates 16th-century commedia dell’arte with modern improvisational comedy, and Improv Athens performs frequently around town. Venues: UGA Fine Arts Theatre, Cellar Theatre, Seney-Stovall Chapel.
Young Actors Studio
706-255-7342 • http://youngactorsstudio.googlepages.com
This theater company is devoted to giving kids an opportunity to create and perform. Children as young as five star in the YAS’s two yearly productions, which also feature young adults and the occasional puppet in the ensemble casts. YAS is also active in children’s theatre in Gwinnett County through its independent contractor, Jay Squared Entertainment, which has conducted theater classes for three years and produced four plays: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Charlotte’s Web (‘08 & ‘11), Puss ‘N’ Boots, and Robin Hood. Venue: Seney-Stovall Chapel.
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