Tuesday, September 11, 2012
A&E Dad's Garage announces new season amid uncertain future
Posted by Curt Holman @Curt_Holman on Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 11:20 AM
- Linnea Frye
- Dad's Garage artistic director Kevin Gillese (left) with Dan Triandiflou in 'The Revengeance'
As of today, the entirety of 280 Elizabeth St. is under contract with South City Partners/JPX Works. They're looking to turn the property into a mixed-use space and hope to close the deal as early as December of this year, which means the possibility of them breaking ground as early as April of 2013. While there are still a few approvals needed from the city, our Inman Park neighbors have recently voted for the project and there seems to be a high likelihood that everything will continue to move forward.So what does this mean for us? Well, it could mean a few different things. It could mean finding a permanent new home, finding a temporary space until we can move back into our shiny new home on the same property, or it could mean that nothing changes and we stay in our current building for years to come (it's happened before - twice in the last 6 years).
We've developed a task force made up of key staff, board, and community members who have been following this process very closely and working diligently behind the scenes over the past few months. We'll know more about where we stand in the next few months, but we want to ensure we're prepared for all scenarios. The task force has been hard at work preparing for a feasibility study as well as a capital campaign, as we'll need to raise a large amount of funding to remain stable and continue to thrive during and after a move.Members of the task force have also had some initial discussions with the new developers and at this point we're hopeful we might be able to find a home in the new development. However, as you might imagine the projected lease rates that they have quoted are significantly higher than what we currently pay and could be cost prohibitive. We're looking to find some funding opportunities that would help shoulder those costs. If we can't find a way to make that work, we'd still like to stay in Inman Park. We've just started our 18th season here and consider this our home.
That said, we know that might be a challenge and are committed to finding the best home for our artistic family and audience, should we need a new one. Our facilities task force has already done some scouting work and have identified numerous temporary space options.
Dad's Garage will continue to stage shows at 8 and 10:30 p.m. every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, including the following scripted shows:
44 Plays for 44 Presidents, opening Oct. 5 on the main stage. This is a remount of the Neo-Futurists' play that Dad's produced in 2000 (as 43 Plays for 43 Presidents), and was one of my favorite shows in the company's history.
Invasion Christmas Carol, opens Nov. 23 on the Main stage.
History of the Universe, opens Feb. 8 on the Top Shelf, offers a light-hearted treatment of science from Randy Havens and Christian Danley.
Apnea, opens May 3 on the Top Shelf, a one-man show from VIP Room's Mike Schatz.
Dementia Juice, opens June 21 on the Main stage, "a Kevin Gillese and Michael Haverty joint about hallucinations, in-laws and demonic possession."
The Elizabeth Street playhouse began as a theatrical venue in the late 1980s as the home of Actor's Express, which moved to the King Plow Art Center in the mid-1990s. For more than 20 years the venue has been a hothouse for cutting-edge stagecraft, and it's difficult to imagine Atlanta theater without it.
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