Freed Spirits
Horizon Theatre
through October 30, 2016

Halloween is soon upon us, and quite a few venues are offering up some scary stuff; but this one is quite a bit different. The play by Daryl Lisa Fazio is set in Atlanta at the Oakland Cemetery; and while I don’t like to give away plot twists, just know that these actors are not in stage just to scare you.

We meet up with Susan Dickey (Suehyla El-Attar) who you may know as a winning playwright, but here she’s on the boards, or the grass, as somebody who’s digging into the facts and history of the Cemetery, especially after the tornados struck it in 2008.

The Cemetery is the oldest around here, founded in 1850 before the War Between the States, and it was originally on 6 acres but grew over the years to the current 48 acres it spans these days. Dickey meets up with a strange gal, M.J.(Bryn Striepe) who is also into the history of the Cemetery as well anybody she happens to meet up with. We don’t really get her situation at the outset. Dr. Finch (Marguerite Hannah) is working her way around restoring some damage, and she’s disinclined to get into a lot of the tings of interest to others. But, there is one guy snooping around, the photographer, Byron (Jonathan Horne) who’s kind of interested to find out if there are supernaturals visiting, and if so, who they may be.

The show is staged on a magnificent set by Moriah and Isabel Curley-Clay, and directed by Lisa Adler. I assure you that as the show moves into Act II, you will not quite know what the plots in the plot produce.

It’s not your usual trick or treat show, and is very well done. More info at their website, HorizonTheatre.com

Evil Dead – Musical
Out of Box Theatre
through October 30, 2016

This camped up musical based on the old film version, hit the stage in Canada and started going around the world, in the style of Rocky Horror Picture Show.

This is one of the most prodigious productions at this small local theatre in Marietta. Under the direction of Zip Rampy, a cast of nine players pull off the story of 5 college students who head off into the woods to a vacant cabin for a holiday; and where all hell literally breaks loose.

Jack Allison plays Ash, the group leader, and he has to deal with the macho-man, Scott (Jim Dailey) who has a one-track mind relating to his girlfriend. MK Penley, Kristin Storla and Lisa Hatt are the female leads, and they can be pretty gruesome. Trevor Perry is a riot as a local, Jake, who gets involved although he would have preferred not to; and Daniel Pino is a ghostly type who gets killed except he just doesn’t get too into it.

There are some really cool scenes where people may lose their heads, or a hand, and the lyrics can be enough to make Ms. Prim lose her cool. So know that there is an abundance of expletives, and this probably is not for the wimps, prudes, or kiddies. But, with All Hallowed’s Eve soon upon us, it is a fine preparation for the trick part of the usual demand when the doorbell rings. Just hope the callers are not necronomicons.

Out of Box is located on Cobb Parkway near the Big Chicken. Lots more info and tickets at OutOfBoxTheatre.com

Hamlet
Theatre in the Square
through October 16,2016

This isn’t exactly how the Bard may have imagined his opus to be staged. For most of the roles are sexually reversed; ergo Hamlet is female while the Danes are ruled not by a King but by a Queen.

Emil Thomas designed this work and directed a cast of a dozen players, who exude great energy in their drive to get the story across to an audience. Shay Alexi plays the Prince of Denmark and she is quite talented in remembering such an exhausting routine.

While the cast and crew put their all into this, it isn’t one for the school kids nor the elders with fading memories; since it is very confusing for those who are familiar with the plot; even though many pronouns have been changed from masculine to feminine in the show.

The stage is somewhat basic, for as the Bard had said; the play’s the thing.

The new Marietta Theatre in the Square is easy to get to with plenty of parking nearby. More info and tickets at TheatreInTheSquare.net

Thurgood
Theatrical Outfit
through October 16, 2016

Thurgood Marshall, born in 1908 in Baltimore became the first black Associate Justice on the US Supreme Court, when LBJ appointed him in 1967. Before that he had been deeply involved with civil rights, worked with the NAACP, and won his case in Brown v. Board of Education which theoretically got rid of segregation in public schools. Albeit took a while to be fully enforced.

This is an exceptional work by George Stevens, Jr. who started the Kennedy Center Honors and founded the American Film Institute. This play first hit the stage in 2006 with James Earl Jones playing Thurgood. While he is a wonderful actor, there is nobody who may ever have played the role who could have done a better job than that done right here in Atlanta by Geoffrey D. Williams.

I usually don’t get excited about monologues, as they’re a little short on sets, cast, dance, music, etc. But, when you run into one like this, which captures your senses from the get-go; it is a rare treat. Directed by Eric J. Little, the show is staged as Justice Marshall addresses the people at Howard University and relates to them (us) the story of his life. Growing up in Baltimore, deciding to practice law, his marriages, personal habits and some of the fights he got into along the way.

He inherently knew that the law wasn’t always about truth nor justice, and that the Bar was an old boys club, for lawyers are one of the few remaining guilds in western societies.

The show opened to a pretty full house, and it was comforting to see that the patrons were just about 50-50 by ethnicity, so we were all people with a common desire for our lives and families. You could not leave the theatre without thinking how much you would have wanted to have actually had the honor of meeting Justice Marshall. He served on the Court from 1967 to 1991, and we lost him 2 years later.

More info at TheatricalOutfit.org