March 27-May 3, 2003
By Steve Murray (1999's Rescue and Recovery)
A World Premiere Coproduction with Theater Emory
Directed by Wier Harman
It's 2002 and the world is spinning faster now. And faster still from credit cards and cell phones and phone sex and stop it all--for the love of a boy with puppy dog eyes. One sunny day little rich Lily meets Derek, a sweet boy who does research for Anna, an anthropologist who wants Richard really nastylike and he's, well, Lily's dad. Manna, the latest from the brilliant Steve Murray, turns out to be an intricate clockwork of a farce. When they tell us it's a small world, it's only because technology and "convenience" have crushed us real tight...

May 22-July 26, 2003
Text by John Cameron Mitchell
Music and lyrics by Stephen Trask
Directed by Randee Trabitz (director of Irma Vep)
In a last-chance hotel lounge, an androgynous glam-rock icon performs a lacerating valentine to the love of his life. Hedwig -- with backing band The Angry Inch -- improbably embodies the universal search for identity and completion in one boy's journey to, um, womanhood. Before the hit indie film, Hedwig was a theatrical smash across the world -- in New York and Seattle, Manila and Reykjavic. That's right, we said Reykjavic. Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a tragic, transfixing command performance that charts the rise, fall and ultimate ascendance of a rock and roll god. Shall we say, goddess . . .

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Actor's Express prides itself on four core values:


* to present an eclectic mix of classic, cutting edge and original plays and musicals

* to develop and nurture Atlanta's artistic community through theatre training

* to catalyze the dialogue essential to the vitality of its neighborhood and city

* to enhance Atlanta's reputation nationally as a thriving center for live performance


The diversity of its program - featuring stories drawn across styles, cultures, and time - reflects the company's belief in theatre's unique access to the universal elements that bind us as a society, presenting imaginative and entertaining plays that make you think with your head and your heart. Artists and audiences assume many points of view over the course of a season and see a reflection of their own lives, tilted.

Actor's Express opened its doors in the fall of 1988 in a church basement on Clairmont Road. From 1989-1994, the theatre was based on Elizabeth Street in Inman Park (a space currently occupied by Dad's Garage Theatre Company). The Express now inhabits its third home, a custom-designed facility in King Plow Arts Center to which the company moved in the summer of 1994.

In July 2000, after a national search, Wier Harman was selected as the new Artistic Director. Under Harman's leadership, the theatre deepened its commitment to non-traditional theatre programming and innovative community collaborations. Established programs - plays, classes, an Intern Program, an Extern Company Tour of area colleges, and the New Black Playwrights Festival - have been augmented by the brand-new West End Kids youth theatre project.

Actor's Express has been consistently lauded for its work. In naming its "Theatre Best Bets" for 2001, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution declared "anything and everything at Actor's Express." Wier Harman has been named "Best Director" (Creative Loafing 2001) and "Best New Talent" (Atlanta Magazine 2000). The Express' Founding Artistic Director Chris Coleman was the recipient of Creative Loafing's award for "Outstanding Contribution to the Cultural Life of the City", and the company was named "Best Theatre in Atlanta" by CL in 1995-97. The Express received a 1998 ABBY Award as the city's "Outstanding Arts Organization," as well as "Best Arts Organization of 2000" from the Greater Atlanta Business Coalition. "Elevating the local theatre scene to new levels of excellence"(CL), The Express has collected over eighty-five citations in all for outstanding acting, directing and design.

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