Jennie T. Anderson Theatre Launches Fourth Concert Season With ASSASSINS

Cobb PARKS and the award-winning Jennie T. Anderson Theatre are back with the southeast's only concert musical series. They're beginning their fourth season with the Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman classic, ASSASSINS. Featuring a cast of 11 actors and 13 musicians, this is the first time ASSASSINS has been produced in Atlanta in over a decade.

The musical centers around a handful of historical figures, notably Presidential assassins or attempted assassins, and explores what their presence in American history says about the ideals of their country. Actor Craig Smith, the production's John Wilkes Booth, is thrilled to share his first Jennie T. Anderson Theatre concert with patrons. "After hearing some of the concepts and ideas from the production team, I'm excited for patrons to experience this one-of-a-kind show," he says. "Their ideas seem new, innovative, and relevant for a contemporary society. It's refreshing to be a part of a creative group that strives to breathe fresh life into this show and challenges audiences to see these characters from a modern perspective.

"This is also Ithica Tell's first concert with the Jennie T. Anderson Theatre. There's another layer of history in the making, as she leads the show as The Proprietor, the framing device of the story and salesperson who provides the characters with their weapons. Ithica adds, with excitement, "As far as I know this is the first time a black woman has played the Proprietor AND the first time a woman has sung the music as written."

Clifton Guterman is returning to the director's chair, having last worked on 2022's THE WILD PARTY. "I hope attendees who know the show will be thrilled by our dynamite cast in a sleek and bold concert version that focuses on character and story over the spectacle and bells and whistles of a full production, even though we'll have our fair share of those too!" Clifton adds, "For ASSASSINS newcomers, I predict they'll be surprised at how theatrical, thought-provoking, and eerily timely this rarely-seen gem from master storyteller Sondheim is and how, contrary to occasional criticism that the musical glorifies infamous criminals, it actually very chillingly (and sometime humorously) illuminates what has happened (and could again) when fellow citizens felt robbed of the American Dream promised to them and acted out, horrifically, in the extreme."

ASSASSINS stars Ithica Tell* as The Proprietor and Craig Smith as John Wilkes Booth. The ensemble cast is filled with Atlanta favorites: Jordan Patrick, Marcus Hopkins-Turner*, Jessica Miesel, Lukas Chaviano, Cameron Scofield, Skyler Brown, Michael Joshua Williams, Claudio Pestana, and Chase Sumner. This concert-staging is directed by Clifton Guterman, music directed by Holt McCarley, production managed by Bobby Johnston, stage managed by Amanda Perez, assistant stage managed by Jackie Lenz, costumes designed by Cole Spivia, weapons and safety managed by Monty Davis, properties by Clifton Guterman, Golbanoo Setayesh, and Jono Davis, lighting designed by Michael Carver, and sound designed by Bobby Johnston.

 

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