This summer, local audiences can escape to an extraordinary place hidden deep within a forest at the summit of a volcano — the world of “Varekai.” Here they’ll watch fantastical creatures come to life and witness the impossible become reality.

Cirque du Soleil will transform The Arena at Gwin-nett Center into the enchanted world of “Varekai,” from July 29 through Aug. 2 when its latest arena touring production comes for eight performances.

The word “Varekai” means “wherever” in the Ro-many language of the gypsies, the universal wander-ers. Written and directed by Dominic Champagne, the production is described as paying tribute to the nomadic soul, the spirit and art of the circus tradition as well as to those who quest with infinite passion along the path leading to “Varekai.”

The production combines drama and acrobatics to tell the story of Icarus, a young man who flies too close to the sun with wax wings and ends up falling out of the sky and into the world of “Varekai.” After landing in the enchanted forest, he embarks on an adventure both extraordinary and unbelievable, meeting a variety whimsical creatures along the way.

Helping to bring the exotic creatures of “Varekai” to life are the original cos-tumes designed by Japanese visual artist Eiko Ishioka, who has received many accolades for her designs including an Oscar Award for her costume designs seen in “Bram Stoker’s Dracula.”

Head of Wardrobe, Tanya Jacobs, feels Ishioka’s unique designs help to create a visual experience that’s unlike any other show.

“She was a very impressive costume designer and an amazing visual artist … and I think that influenced her designs a lot, and she took it to a whole new category, which makes it really exciting to work on this show because it’s not like any of the other shows that I’ve worked on,” she said.

Ishioka incorporated vibrant colors as well as unusual shapes and forms in order to accentuate the performers movements and help visu-ally enhance their acts.

“She went quite deeply into having the costume support the move-ment,” Jacobs said. “She used a lot of silk … she wanted to get a very soft and fluid line finish, and she also used mytex, which was new at the time the show was being created. You apply it upon the fabric and you put a shine on it, so it’s a sheen. It almost looks scaly or wet but it gives it an all around shine that’s not glitter.”

It’s difficult for Jacobs to pick a favorite act from the show but she really enjoys watching the thrilling finale, the Russian Swings. The act

ENCHANTED WORLD

Cirque du Soleil’s latest arena touring production of “Varekai” will be at The Arena at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth from July 29 to Aug. 2, featuring a variety of thrilling acrobatic acts including the Russian Swings. (Special Photo: Rick Diamond)

spotlight on

SPRING & SUMMER ARTS

Cirque du Soleil’s latest arena tour-ing production of “Varekai” features a variety of whimsical characters like La Promise, or The Betrothed. (Special Photo: Eric Piché)

Cirque du Soleil’s latest arena touring production of “Va-rekai” also features a variety of thrill-ing acrobatic acts including The Flight of Icarus. (Special Photo: Marco Cis-aria)Cirque du Soliel’s

‘Varekai’ to come to life at the Gwinnett arenaBy Katie Morris

katie.morris@gwinnettdailypost.com

Cirque du Soleil’s “Varekai” will feature a variety of thrilling acrobatic acts includ-ing the Solo on Crutches. (Special Photo: Marco Cisaria)

The Arena tour will also feature a variety of thrilling acrobatic acts including the Georgian Dance that takes its inspira-tion from a long tradition of resistance in the Republic of Georgia. (Special Photo: Rick Diamond)

See VAREKAI, Page 2C

communitygwinnettdailypost.com

SECTION C • SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2015

IF YOU GOWhat: Cirque du Soleil’s “Verakai”Where: The Arena at the Gwinnett Center, 6400 Sugarloaf Park-way in Duluth.When: July 29 - Aug, 2Tickets: $40 to $145 More Info: www.gwin-nettcenter.com or www.cirquedusoleil.com

2C SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2015 • gwinnettdailypost.com

Varekai

includes 11 acrobats who are propelled by two Rus-sian swings and hurled high into the air by their partners’ crossed arms or a landing canvas. During the act, performers even soar from one moving swing to another.

Uladzimir Maliutsin is from the Republic of Belarus, and has been an acrobat for almost 22 years. He’s performed in “Varekai” as a flyer in the Russian Swings act for eight years and says it’s still his favorite act of the show.

“It’s the last act of the show, and I really love when the people are afraid for us jumping and flying,” he said. “I love when I can see them afraid for me.”

Maliutsin says it takes a lot of practice and training with his fellow performers to develop the level of trust needed to feel safe onstage — there are still times when he gets a little nervous before performing, but he always enjoys being on stage.

“I love what I’m doing

and am really excited to be on the stage and to per-form while the audiences watch me,” he said.

Jacobs believes an arena is the perfect venue for watching “Varekai” because there really isn’t a bad seat in the house.

“It’s quite a good show because even if you don’t have seats that are close to the front, from far away the overall image is also very beautiful and the costumes have a big part to play in that,” she said.

Jacobs also encourages people to take advantage of the rare oppotunity to see Ishioka’s unique designs live.

“She has a very strong signature in all of her de-signs that you’ll never see anywhere else, and this is really the only forum where you can see her costumes live,” she said. “It’s quite an impressive and unique opportunity to see them on stage — es-pecially with the artists in them.”

•From Page 1C‘VAREKAI’ COSTUME FUN FACTS• The show has over 600 costumes, shoes, wigs, hats and accessories.• The design of “Varekai’s” costumes involved finding technical solutions to ensure comfort and safety. The highly skilled costume makers fashioned the original creations after no less than 33,000 hours of hard work.• Moleskin (Lycra) continues to be one of the most popular fabrics used, on account of its flexible, elastic and easy care properties. Some special materials were also used, such as flexible titanium rods, sponge nylon and different types of fire-resistant materials.• The artists’ make-up is so complex that it can take between 45 minutes to an hour and a half to apply and each artist does their own.• The “Varekai” wardrobe team consists of four perma-nent touring staff and two local wardrobe employees in each city who launder, repair, iron, repaint the shoes and retouch the hats.• It takes a total of 250 hours a week to keep the cos-tumes impeccable on tour.

Cirque du Soleil’s latest arena touring production of “Varekai” will be at The Arena at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth from July 29 to Aug. 2, featuring a variety of thrilling ac-robatic acts including the Russian Swings. (Special Photo: Rick Diamond)

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spotlight on spring & summer arts‘Pippin’ to bring circus style to audiences

Audiences can witness a feast for the eyes when circus meets musical at the Fox Theatre this May.

The National Tour of “Pippin” will bring thrill-ing acrobatics, daring stunts, vibrant costumes, fosse-style dancing and a beloved musical score to Atlanta May 5-10.

Winner of four 2013 Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival, “Pippin” tells the story of a young prince embarking on a journey of self-discovery and searching for meaning in his existence. He longs to do something extraor-dinary with his, but is he willing to risk everything for a singular flash of glory?

Sam Lips plays the part Pippin and says it was exciting — and at the same time terrifying — step-ping into the role for the National Tour after under-studying it on Broadway.

“This role in particular, he hardly ever leaves the stage and his emotions are all over the place. It’s exhausting. When I would go on as the understudy, I would prepare for like two days prior to going on,” he said. “On the road when you are doing it every night, you have to find ways to pace yourself … that was definitely a big skill to learn, but on the flip side the great thing about doing it every night is you really get to find who this character is.”

Lips says one of his favorite aspects of the show is that The Players, or circus performers, are able

to form a connection with audience members.

“We address them and run out into the house a bunch, so the line there is very blurred,” he said. “I love it because it makes every night different. We

get so much energy from the audience and every au-dience is different, so that means every show is going to be different.”

Sasha Allen, seen in the Top 5 on Season 4 of NBC’s “The Voice,” plays

the role of the Lead Player, which is the narrator or ringmaster of the show.

“I’m talking to the audi-ence throughout the whole show, so I think I get the most interaction with them, which is fun,” she said.

Allen describes the score by Tony nominee Stephen Schwartz (“Wicked”) as “gorgeous,” saying it’s hard for her to pick a favorite song.

“I can’t pick just one — they all have fun moments in them for me. The ballads I can stretch out and do a little more, but the fast stuff is more choppy but really fun,” she said.

Both Allen and Lips had to train in acrobatics for their part in the show, say-ing they had to work hard to master their stunts.

“I get on the trapeze, and no I’d never done that before. I’m in great shape right now because of all the fun stuff we get to do,” Al-len said. “You don’t realize how weak you are.”

Lips just recently worked his way up to performing all of his stunts in the show

to their full intensity, say-ing the other acrobats were a big help during training.

“They are so good about teaching you, and honestly the hardest thing for me was to learn how to trust them and let (the other acrobats) do most of the work,” he said.

Allen and Lips agree that “Pippin” is truly a show that has something for everyone to connect with — whether it be the relatable storyline, the beloved musical score or the spectacle of acrobatics and dancing.

“I think the greatest thing about ‘Pippin’ is that a lot of people don’t know anything about it. And that’s good,” Lips said. “Thats kind of where we want you because there are going to be a lot of things that you won’t expect.”

By Katie Morriskatie.morris @gwinnettdailypost.com

The cast of the National Touring Production of “Pippin,” which plays the Fox Theatre in Atlanta May 5-10. (Special Photo: Terry Shapiro)

Sasha Allen as Leading Player (in the center) and the cast of the National Touring Pro-duction of “Pippin,” which plays the Fox Theatre in Atlanta May 5-10. (Special Photo: Terry Shapiro)

SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2015 3C •gwinnettdailypost.com

spotlight on spring & summer arts4C SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2015 • gwinnettdailypost.com

Real-life romance comes to the icePortraying the charac-

ters Ariel and Prince Eric from “The Little Mermaid” comes easily to skating partners Bertalan Zákány and Agota Zákány-Szabo — they just use their own love story as inspiration.

“It’s a classic love story, and it’s so easy for us because we’re married and we love each other,” Zákány said.

Local audiences can see the husband and wife skating partners bring the classic love story to life when Disney on Ice pres-ents “Worlds of Fantasy” at the Arena at the Gwinnett Center for nine perfor-mances May 13-17.

Zákány and Zákány-Sza-bo have know each other since they were young, having grown up skating in the same shows and competitions back in their native country of Hungary. They both joined Disney on Ice in 2010, growing closer and closer before eventually tying the knot in 2011.

The couple remembers it was challenging get-ting used to married life at first because they spend a lot of time together on tour. Zákány said they try to keep their work and personal lives separate, and they also spend time apart enjoying activities with castmates, like table tennis or soccer.

Zákány-Szabo also remembers the roles of Prince Eric and Ariel com-ing with a few challenges. Both spouses were pre-dominantly single skat-ers before Disney on Ice,

having performed together in previous shows and at competitions but not as a pair.

“It was a little challeng-

ing in the beginning, and we are still learning new things all the time. All the tricks that we do together and skating together, we

have to work on the tim-ing,” she said.

According to Zákány-Szabo, performing in Dis-ney on Ice has been very different experience from

competition skating.“There’s more acting, so

you have to put that part into it as well because it’s not just skating and techni-cal wise. You also have to give 100 percent in acting, you have to learn how the character, or whoever you play, moves,” she said.

Disney on Ice presents “Worlds of Fantasy” in-corporates skating, special effects and beloved char-acters to bring favorite Disney moments to life.

In addition to “The Little Mermaid” charac-ters, audiences will be able to witness thrilling stunts from Lightning McQueen, Mater and the crew of Disney Pixar’s “Cars.” Enter the enchant-ed world of Pixie Hollow with Tinker Bell and the Disney fairies, and join Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Jessie and the rest of the “Toy Story” gang as they escape from the rambunc-tious tots of Sunnyside

Daycare during their adventure home.

Both skaters say it’s very rewarding to perform in front of audiences and watch their faces light up as they enjoy their act.

“We both like skating, but it’s always an extra when you can look around and see that everybody likes you and is enjoy-ing what you do. It’s just a really nice feeling,” Zákány-Szabo said.

Zákány-Szabo and Záká-ny are looking forward to returning to the Gwin-nett Arena and encourage everyone to come enjoy “Worlds of Fantasy.”

“We can just say that everybody is more than welcome to come be-cause Disney movies aren’t just for kids, and also it’s for both boys and girls,” Zákány-Szabo said. “There’s not just one type of person we’d like to see in the audience, we would like to see everybody.”

By Katie Morriskatie.morris@ gwinnettdailypost.com

Married couple Agota Zakany-Szabo and Bertalan Zákány bring real life romance to the ice as they perform the roles of Ariel and Prince Eric from “The Little Mermaid” during Disney on Ice presents “Worlds of Fantasy,” at the Arena at the Gwinnett Center May 13-17. (Special Photo)

Disney on Ice presents “Worlds of Fantasy” will bring beloved characters like Buzz Lightyear, Woody and Jesse from “Toy Story” to the Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth May 13-17. (Special Photo)

Disney on Ice presents “Worlds of Fantasy” will bring beloved characters like Sebastian from “The Little Mer-maid” to the Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth May 13-17. (Special Photo)

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Opening Night Tickets $15!Restrictions, exclusions and additional charges may apply. Subject to availability. Excludes premium seats.

MAY 13 – 17

Buy Tickets: GwinnettCenter.com • 770-626-2464 • Venue Box Office

DisneyOnIce.com

spotlight on spring & summer artsGWINNETT BY VENUE

AURORA THEATRE128 E. Pike St., Lawrenceville678-226-6222

www.auroratheatre.com

• May 7-31: “Hands on a Hardbody”

• May 9: Aurora Children’s Playhouse “Hawthor’s Dragon”

• May 15 - 16: Auro-ra Comedy Nights with headliner Rob Haze

• May 29 - 30: Au-rora Comedy Nights with headliner Darryl Roades

• May 16: Aurora Children’s Playhouse “Cinderella”

• June 18: Aurora Swing Nights “Rock the Depot”

• June 20: Aurora Comedy Nights with headliner Henry Cho

• July 23 – Aug. 30: “Memphis”

HUDGENS CENTER FOR THE ARTSGwinnett Center,

6400 Sugarloaf Park-way, Suite 300, Duluth

770-623-6002www.thehudgens.org• Through June 27:

2015 Hudgens Prize Finalist’s Exhibition

• Through June 27: The Art of Theatrical Design: Aurora The-atre’s Sets & Costumes

• May 16: Hudgens Prize Finalist’s Artists Talks: Bethany Collins & Rylan Steele

• May 30: Hudgens Prize Finalist’s Artists Talks: Scott Ingram &

Orion Wertz• June 13: Hudgens

Prize Awards Cer-emony

• July 14 – Sept. 19: “The Cup Show:” The Hudgens’ 1st National Juried & Invitational Cup Exhibition

KUDZU ART ZONE116 Carlyle St., Nor-

cross770-840-9844

www.kudzuartzone.org

• Through May 16:

“Night Lights” exhibition• July 24 - Aug. 29:

“Memory Awakened” exhibition

LIONHEART THEATRE

10 College St. N.W., Norcross

678-938-8518www.lionheartthe-

atre.org• May 1-3, 8-10, 14-

17: “Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean”

• July 23-26: “The

Hundred Dresses”• Sept. 11-13, 18-

20, 24-27: “Laughing Stock”

NEW DAWN THEATER

3087 Main St., Duluth

404-625-0361www.newdawnthe-atercompany.com

• April 30 - May 3: “Sense and Sensibility”

• May 23: Mark Pitt’s Tribute to Elvis: “Sup-port to Our Troops &

Veterans”

NEW LONDON THEATRE

2338 Henry Clower Blvd., Snellville

770-559-1484www.newlondonthe-

atre.org• May 8-24: “Harvey”• June 12-28: “Plaza

Suite”• July 10 - 26:

“Damn Yankees”

PERFORMING ARTS CENTER AT

GWINNETT CENTER6400 Sugarloaf

Parkway, Duluth770-813-7500

www.gwinnettcenter.com

• May 2 - 3: Buford School of Ballet pres-ents “Cinderella & Friends”

• May 9: ALL STARS Performing Arts presents “Malefi-cent, The ALL STARS Version”

• May 10: GEET - RUNG School of Dance and Music’s An-nual Recital

• May 15-17: North-east Atlanta Ballet presents “The Little Mermaid”

• June 13: Home By Dark: JP Williams & James David Carter

SYLVIA BEARD THEATRE

Buford Community Center, 2200 Buford

Highway, Buford770-945-6762

www.bufordcommu-nitycenter.com

• April 16-May 3: “Boeing Boeing”

• May 16: Francine Reed

• July 16 - Aug. 2: “Steel Magnolias”

TANNERY ROW ARTIST COLONY554 West Main St.,

Buford770-856-8145

www.tanneryro-wartistcolony.com

• May 2 - June 5: “Lines”

“Boeing Boeing” will run from April 16-May 3 at the Sylvia Beard Theatre, Buford Community Center. (Special Photo)

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SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2015 5C •gwinnettdailypost.com

spotlight on spring & summer artsBY VENUE

ALLIANCE THEATRE1280 Peachtree St. N.E.,

Atlanta404-733-4650

www.alliancetheatre.org• Through May 10: “Blues

for an Alabama Sky”• Through May 9: Girls of

St. Catherine’s “Antigone”• Apr 30 - May 9: “Anti-

gone,” presented by the Girls of St. Catherine’s

• May 16: A Tony Evening• May 27 - June 21:

“Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical”

• May 29 - May 31: Tod-dler Takeover 2015

• Sept. 2 - 20: “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”

ATLANTA BOTANICAL GARDENS

1345 Piedmont Ave. N.E., Atlanta

404-876-5859www.atlantabg.org

• April 25 - May 1: Atlanta Museum Week

• May 2 - Oct. 3: Bruce Munro: Light in the Garden

• May 9 - 10: Atlanta Rose Show, Gardens for Connois-seurs Tour

• May 30: Endangered Species Day

• Sept. 26: The Garden of Eden Ball

CENTER FOR PUPPETRY ARTS

1404 Spring St. N.W., Atlanta404-873-3391

www.puppet.org• Through May 24: “Paul

Bunyan and the Tall Tale Medicine Show”

• May 14 - 17: Xperimental Puppetry Theater (XPT)

• May 26 - June 7: “My Life as a Fairy Tale: The Ugly Duckling”

• June 11 - July 26: “Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type”

• July 28 - Aug. 9: “The Reluctant Dragon”

• Aug. 13 - Sept. 20: “The Tortoise, the Hare, & Other Aesop’s Fables”

CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF ATLANTA

275 Centennial Olympic

Park Drive, Atlanta404-659-5437

www.childrensmuseum atlanta.org

• Through May 3: Super

Kids Save the World exhibit• May 2 - 3: Meet the

Holidays: Cinco de Mayo• May 3 - July 26: Once

Upon a Time … Exploring

the World of Fairy Tales exhibit

• May 9 - 10: Meet the Holidays: Mother’s Day

• Ongoing: Fundamen-tally Food exhibit

• Ongoing: Eat a Georgia Rainbow series

• Ongoing: Crawl Space• Ongoing: Leaping into

Learning• Ongoing: Let Your Cre-

ativity Flow• Ongoing: Tools for

Solutions

COBB ENERGYPERFORMING ARTS

CENTRE2800 Cobb Galleria

Parkway, Atlanta770-916-2800

www.cobbenergycentre.com

• May 1: Lewis Black• May 2: Bill Cosby 77

• May 15 - 17: Atlanta Ballet presents “MAYHEM”

• May 29: An Evening of Praise: Marvin Sapp & Tamela Mann

• May 30: Lisa Lampan-elli

• June 20: Anderson Cooper & Andy Cohen

• July 17 - 19: Atlanta Lyric Center presents “Cats”

• Sept. 19: Jeanne Rob-ertson

FOX THEATRE660 Peachtree St. N.E.,

Atlanta404-881-2100foxtheatre.org

• May 5-10: “Pippin”• June 7: The Fox Theatre

Block Party• July 11: Anthony Bourdain• Aug. 18-23: “Motown the

Musical”

FERNBANK MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

767 Clifton Road N.E., Atlanta404-929-6300

www.fernbankmuseum.org• April 26: Dangerously

Delicious Tasting Event• Through May 3: The

Power of Poison exhibition• May 8 and 23: Fernbank

Forest Night Walk • May 16 - 17: Tadpole

Tales• June 6 - August 23:

Brain: The Inside Story exhibit

• June 6: Brain: The Inside Story Opening Day Celebra-tion

• June 13: Lost Oasis 2015: Night of Illusions

• June 21: Superhero Day• July 11: Reptile Day• Aug. 22: Dinosaur Birth-

day Bash

HIGH MUSEUM OF ART1280 Peachtree St. N.E.,

Atlanta404-733-4400www.high.org

• May 10: Family Fun Day: Celebrate Mother’s Day

• Through May 24: José Parlá: Segmented Realities

• Through May 24: “Imag-ining New Worlds” Wifredo Lam, José Parlá, Fahamu Pecou

• Through May 10: Dox Thrash: An American Journey exhibition

• Through May 31: African Art: Building the Collection

• Through June 7: Gordon Parks: Segregation Story

• Through June 7: Earl Pardon’s “Portable Art”: Jew-elry and Design exhibition

• Through June 7: Leon-ard Freed: Black in White America exhibition

• Through June 21: Helen Levitt: In the Street

• Through July 5: A Painter’s Profile: The High Celebrates Romare Bearden

• Through Oct. 4: The Coca-Cola Bottle

• Through Nov. 29: Los Trompos (Spinning Tops): Interactive Setting on the Sifly Piazza

The Atlanta Botanical Garden will be aglow this spring when it hosts the outdoor art exhibition “Bruce Munro: Light in the Garden,” featuring unique installations created from hundreds of miles of fiber optics May 2 through Oct. 3. (Special Photos: Mark Pickthall)

The Atlanta Botanical Garden will be aglow this spring when it hosts the outdoor art exhibition “Bruce Munro: Light in the Garden,” featuring unique installations creat-ed from hundreds of miles of fiber optics May 2- through Oct. 3.

6C SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2015 • gwinnettdailypost.com

spotlight on spring & summer artsAurora Theatre presents new musical as finale

Aurora Theatre is driv-ing home its 2014-15 Peach State Signature Series with comedy and competion, presenting the regional premiere of the musical “Hands on a Hardbody.”

Inspired by true events from the 1997 documen-tary of the same name, “Hands on a Hardbody” explores just how far a group of small town people are willing to go in order to win a brand-new Nissan “hardbody” truck. The rules are simple: whoever keeps their hands on the truck the longest will drive home its owner.

The 10 strangers’ lives become intertwined dur-ing the four-day battle of wills that’s filled with sleepless nights and plenty of laughs. The dramatic

comedy takes audiences through a rollercoaster of emotions, as hours become days and the truck turns into a symbol of much more than just winning a

contest.Directed by Brian Clow-

dus, “Hands on a Hard-body” features an original score from renowned musician Trey Anastasio

of the Grammy-nominated band Phish under the award-winning musi-cal direction of Aurora’s Resident Musical Director Ann-Carol Pence.

“When we have a collection of voices that sound this great, I know the audience is going to be in for a truly special expe-rience,” Ann-Carol Pence Aurora Theatre Associate Producer said in a release. “Adding in a soulful, rockabilly score by Trey Anastasio and Amanda Green gives it a lot of musical horsepower. And to be honest, I love a show that reminds us that every-one deserves a chance at the American Dream.”

The production’s

upbeat, moving numbers are enhanced with chore-ography from Jen Mac-Queen and designs from an award-winning creative team.

“Hands on a Hardbody” will be presented May 7-31 at the Aurora Theatre located at 128 East Pike Street in Lawrenceville. A discount weekday matinee will be offered on Wednes-day, May 27, at 10 a.m. for $20 to $30 per person.

Regular show time tickets can be purchased for $30 to $50 per person online at tickets.aurora-theatre.com or by calling the Box Office at 678-226-6222.

For more information, visit auroratheatre.com.

By Katie Morriskatie.morris@gwinnettdailyp-ost.com

Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville will close out its 2015-16 season with the musical “Hands on a Hardbody,” featuring perfor-mances from (Front row left to right) Jessica Meisel, Jer-emy Aggers, Diany Rodriguez (back row left to right), Rob Lawhon, Eric Moore, Ben Davis and Randi Garza. (Special Photo: Chris Bartelski)

Aurora announces 20th seasonThe Aurora Theatre

recently announced its 20th anniversary season, featuring two hit musicals, a Pulitzer Prize-winning play and a world premiere comedy.

The 2015/16 Peach State Signature Series will include:

• Winner of the 2010 Tony Award for Best Musical, “Memphis,” a co-production with Theatrical Outfit with music by David Bryan, lyrics by David Bryan and Joe DiPietro and book by Joe DiPietro. The birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll in the South happened in Mem-phis but there is a lot more to this story than Graceland. Inspired by true events, pio-neering disc jockey Huey Calhoun moves this iconic sound from radio to TV. — July 23 through Aug. 30

• The 2013 Tony Award-winner for Best Play, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” a co-production with Horizon Theatre Company. — Oct. 1 through 25

• “Christmas Canteen 2015,” Gwinnett’s longest-running theatrical holiday tradition returns for its 20th season. — Nov. 19 through Dec. 20

• Atlanta teacher Mar-garet Edson wrote only one play, the 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winner “Wit,” which chronicles the life of cancer patient Dr. Vivian Bearing, a teacher who becomes a student of life as she under-goes an experimental treat-ment. — Jan. 14 through Feb. 7

• The multiple Tony Award-winning musical, now Oscar-nominated

Disney motion picture, “Into the Woods” with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. — March 10 through April 17

• “The Kim Basinger Project” by Topher Payne, Suehyla El-Attar and Johnny Drago, a world premiere comedy commis-sioned by Aurora Theatre and inspired by true events. — May 5 through 29

The Aurora will also present its highly popular Harvel Lab Series spon-sored by Georgia Gwinnett College, featuring three contemporary plays in Aurora’s intimate 90-seat studio.

For more information, call the theatre box office at 678-226-6222 or visit auroratheatre.com.

— From staff reports

SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2015 7C •gwinnettdailypost.com

spotlight on spring & summer artsHudgens Center for the Arts features new exhibit

Considering the close-knit arts community in Gwinnett, The Hudgens Center for the Arts and Aurora Theatre have always shared a significant relationship. The partner-ship has led to the creation of an exhibit which seam-lessly blends two separate forms of art, “The Art of Theatrical Design: Aurora Theatre’s Sets and Cos-tumes.”

According to Hudgens’ Director of Exhibitions and Programs, Angela Nichols, there are many reasons why the partnership be-tween The Aurora Theatre and Hudgens Center for the Arts makes sense.

“Both are arts non-profits in the area and the partnership creates a cross between performing and visual arts,” she said.

Every year the Au-rora Theatre in downtown Lawrenceville presents two series of theatrical produc-tions and is home to over 600 events. While the the-atre has certainly received many accolades for it’s on stage performers, it is rare that the artists working behind the scenes of each production are highlighted.

This is the purpose be-hind “The Art of Theatrical Design: Aurora Theatre’s Sets and Costumes,” which features set designs, props and costumes from many of the productions Aurora has put on throughout the years including “Mary Poppins” and “Les Mi-sérables.”

The Aurora and Hud-gens are hoping the exhibit

will help to garner more appreciation for the artistry of the scenic, costume, props, and lighting design-ers.

“This exhibition ex-plores the process of the artistic vision behind the phenomenal sets, detailed costuming and props that

transport theatregoers into the world of actors. The technical design and con-struction of each produc-tion starts with a pen and

paper and goes from there. This exhibit is a wonder-ful exploration of the detail and the craft behind technical theatre,” Hudgens Center Executive Director Teresa Osborn said in a press release.

Nichols said one of her favorite features in the exhibit are the props from Aurora’s production of “Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat” for their playful and whimsical appeal. She also finds it fascinating to see the props before your eyes

alongside photos of how the cast used the props and set during each production.

The exhibit will be on view until June 27 at the Hudgens Center located at 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Bldg. 300, in Duluth. The Hudgens Center hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students and seniors.

For more information, visit the hudgens.org or call 770-623-6002.

By AAliyAh WeAthersStaff Intern

Costumes from past Aurora Theatre productions can be seen at “The Art of Theatrical Design: Aurora Theatre Sets and Costumes” exhibit on display at The Hudgens Center for the Arts in Duluth through June 27. (Staff Photo: Aaliyah Weathers)

Props from past Aurora Theatre productions can be seen at “The Art of Theatrical Design: Aurora Theatre Sets and Costumes” exhibit on display at The Hudgens Center for the Arts in Duluth through June 27. (Staff Photo: Katie Morris)

8C SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2015 • gwinnettdailypost.com