James Allen McCune as Jamie, proper, and India Tyree as Cathy in “The Final 5 Years,” a presentation of the unique Overture Collection. Within the background are dueling pianists Holt McCarley and Gamble.
(Photograph by Katie Cathell Pictures)
The Overture Collection, funded in 2019 by Cobb PARKS to current live performance variations of not often staged musicals, could also be gone, however Jono Davis — who conceived and produced the unique collection — hopes it might ultimately return to his new house at Aurora Theatre. The primary child step in making an attempt to resurrect the collection is a July 26 model of Little Store of Horrors, produced as a live performance by Aurora because the closing act for town of Lawrenceville’s Night of the Arts competition. Aurora will likely be adopting the mannequin used efficiently by the Overture Collection.
After leaving Cobb PARKS final 12 months, Davis — who was the inventive director and supervisor of the county’s Jennie T. Anderson Theatre — has been with Aurora for a year-and-a-half. He started because the complicated normal supervisor and transitioned to the chief director place earlier in 2025. Davis will likely be directing Little Store of Horrors with Mary Nye Bennett, and lots of acquainted faces from earlier Overture productions are a part of the forged and inventive workforce. The ensemble consists of Leo Thomasian as Seymour; Isa Martinez as Audrey; Skyler Brown as Orin Scrivello, DDS; and Trevor Rayshay Perry as Audrey II.
Davis guarantees simplified manufacturing components however a singular emphasis on the storytelling, with some twists and turns. Directing Little Store of Horrors has been a straightforward method of getting again into the swing of issues for the defunct collection. “It’s an Aurora manufacturing, however the theater firm is letting us hitch our wagon to it and do the live performance Overture model, the best way we might have achieved it,” he says.
Ann-Carol Pence, Aurora’s co-founder and producing inventive director, is happy with the historical past the corporate has created in Gwinnett for out of doors performances. “The Overture collection, beneath Jono’s management, created those self same memorable experiences for Cobb County for a few years,” she says. “Watching [their] streaming content material saved me and the remainder of the Atlanta theater neighborhood hopeful throughout the pandemic.”
That is the second 12 months Aurora has participated in Lawrenceville’s Night of the Arts occasion. Final 12 months, town wasn’t fairly able to make the leap to permit the corporate to do a scripted present and compromised on a well-received cabaret. That success earned Aurora some “goodwill,” and, this 12 months, town agreed to extra. Davis hopes it will result in related collaborations.
The unique Overture collection led to controversial style. Davis’ former Cobb PARKS boss, Marie Jernigan, instructed him in 2023 that whereas the county had the price range, they in all probability wouldn’t fund the collection for one more total 12 months. That fall, she made it official, though nothing ever changed it. Cobb County Communication Director Ross Cavitt indicated new management was coming to the theater after Davis’ departure however gave no motive for the Overture’s demise.
Extra on ArtsATL: Jono departs Jennie T. Anderson for Aurora.
Davis says he left his job on good phrases to go work for Aurora, however his separation discover signifies he was not eligible for rehire. Cavitt declined to reply.
In keeping with Davis, the division wished to go in one other route. “They thought [The Overture Series] was very expensive, which it was, and administration wished one other path to avoid wasting them cash, which I respect, however they didn’t change it with the rest. I nonetheless have many associates over there, and it’s unlucky that [nothing has taken its place].”
For greater than 4 years, Davis shepherded the Overture Collection, the primary occasion of its sort within the Southeast. The acclaimed collection featured 17 stagings and gained a Suzi Bass Award in 2022. For Davis, the best attribute was the enter it had from all artists. He took delight in permitting all artists — actors, designers, artistic workforce members — to have a voice within the course of. “We had been constructing one thing collectively. The trade as an entire latched onto it in a really endearing method as a result of that they had a private funding in it. After we gained a Suzi Award a number of years in the past, it was devoted to all artists. It was an us venture.”
However Davis doesn’t need the Overture Collection again only for private causes; he feels there’s a distinct void, a necessity for programming of its sort. “It’s not like I wish to carry it again as a result of it felt unfinished … I feel it had a stupendous send-off. I miss it. What we beloved concerning the collection is that it was doing exhibits most theater corporations can’t danger nowadays.”
He added that Queen Metropolis Live shows, a theater firm in North Carolina, has adopted the Overture mannequin and is producing the identical exhibits.
Pence and Davis have shared roughly a dozen conversations about how they might work the Overture collection into the Aurora Theatre schedule, and Davis has pitched some concepts to town of Lawrenceville. “We’ve the individuals; we now have the imaginative and prescient,” he says.
One possibility proposed has been a ticket cut up, with town of Lawrenceville placing up the price of the present and Aurora/Overture producing it. A number of titles have already been mentioned. Davis would like to carry again beforehand staged Overture titles, resembling The Final 5 Years and Sunday within the Park with George. However lots must be negotiated, and it may take time.
Moreover, within the present economic system, Davis must be cautious. Given what’s occurring within the arts now with numerous cuts and lack of funding, it looks like an additional part — and he doesn’t wish to take away from how Aurora is making an attempt to make it by means of this time. “I’m selfishly making an attempt to look out after Aurora, within the sense of letting that expense come from one other investor the place we will associate. I hope [Little Shop of Horrors] can present [the city] that is what the essence and spirit of the Overture Collection was. My purpose for them is to love it and wish to take a leap and do a full manufacturing with us sooner or later.”
The place & When
The Overture Collection presentation of Little Store of Horrors is a part of the Second Annual Night of the Arts in Lawrenceville on July 26. Free admission.
210 Luckie St. Lawrenceville
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Jim Farmer is the recipient of the 2022 Nationwide Arts and Leisure Journalism Award for Greatest Theater Characteristic and a nominee for On-line Journalist of the Yr. A member of 5 nationwide critics’ organizations, he covers theater and movie for ArtsATL. A graduate of the College of Georgia, he has written concerning the arts for 30-plus years. Jim is the competition director of Out on Movie, Atlanta’s LGBTQ movie competition, and lives in Avondale Estates along with his husband, Craig.