Alliance Theatre

So like there are five other cultural partners, including us.

And that's the Hoya Playhouse in California, the University of Michigan's Theater and Dance Program, obviously in Michigan, Cincinnati's Children's Theater, the Alliance Theater in Georgia.

Uh,

And us.

John Hardman served as the Carter Center's first CEO.

His wife, Laura Hardman, served as president of the Alliance Theater and the Woodruff Art Center, among other roles.

And that's it for today's edition of Georgia Today.

Thanks for listening and thanks for hitting subscribe if you have done so.

Well, I can tell you that the School of Theater is looking forward to opening its main stage, first main stage production, which is an adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities.

It is a cooperative production with Oklahoma Children's Theater, which we try to do on a... pretty regular basis and it is a unique piece because it's adapted by Brendan Pelsue and was adapted for the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta.

OCU is the first college to do it and it is the state premiere of the play.

It's a really beautiful retelling and a very theatrical and clever retelling of this sort of classic piece of literature that is engaging and fun and upbeat and so you get all this great storytelling without it becoming sort of humdrum and

That's unbelievable.

Now, let me ask you a question, not to get too deep into the numbers, but those numbers that are tallied, do those include theater productions? I'm thinking like Alliance Theater, Fox Theater, or is this strictly streaming, movies, television, etc.? ?

As I understand it, it is just what's on the Georgia state website of those things that are getting that tax reduction.

Oh, okay.

And when I left, I said, what do I want to do? Well, I said, go back to acting.

So I took a few classes at the Alliance Theater and... booked a few little things.

And then yes, Banshee was the first big thing.

So I never saw Banshee.

So, Tom, just some tributes to your impact on people in theater.

I've watched you, Tom, in countless plays at the Alliance Theater, including your ongoing role for years as Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.

I saw you do at an incredible production of the South African playwright Adhol Fugard's play Blood Knot.

And I could go on and on with the roles I've seen you perform in, but I also should say that one of the most exciting things I've seen is the way in which you took over as Artistic Director of Theatrical Outfit, kind of a legendary theater company here, and spent 25 years With theatrical outfit culminating in a remarkable effort, you raised the money to convert the legendary downtown, historic downtown restaurant, Heron's, into a beautiful 200-seat LEED-certified theater, the first LEED-certified theater in the country.

And not just because of your work right in Atlanta, but the things that you've done that you then took literally to cities around the world.

So let's start by talking about your experience early on in Atlanta.

I think you fairly quickly began doing work at the Alliance Theater.

Is that right?

Thank you for joining us on Theater People.

This week we'll be speaking with the writers and dramaturg behind Alliance Theatre's new musical, Like Father, written by Jacob Ryan Smith and Caroline Pernick.

Like Father is a coming-of-age musical set to the backdrop of America's true crime obsession and runs from October 8th through November 15th, 2026 at Alliance Theatre.

This is Like Father, the musical.

[upbeat music] Jacob Ryan Smith, Amanda Watkins, Caroline Pernick, thank you so much for joining us on Theater People.

Thanks for having me.

I'm so happy to be here.

We're happy to get to talk to you today, specifically about Like Father, your new musical that is coming to Alliance Theatre.