Best Theater Company

For 30 years, Actor's Express has been taking risks and breaking boundaries. They've always aimed high artistically and (almost) always meet or exceed audience expectations. Artistic director Freddie Ashley chooses challenging comedies, musicals, and dramas, and the directors he hires pull brave, gutsy performances from some of the best actors around. less...

With a Tony in its knapsack, the biggest budget in town, and a faithful core audience, the Alliance Theatre certainly has huge advantages over all theaters in the city. But such achievements can also be heavy burdens. It would be easy for the theater to sit on its laurels and deliver the same repertoire each season, but that's not what Atlanta gets from the Alliance. Artistic Director Susan V. Booth provides polish and daring in equal measure. The Alliance's Kendeda Graduate Playwright Competition cultivates young playwrights while smart productions like this year's Good People keep the audiences in the seats. less...

Downtown Atlanta's Theatrical Outfit enters its 35th anniversary season on a roll, having staged one of the best plays in its recent history with Red. Artistic director Tom Key, normally the sunniest of actors, gave a moody, impassioned performance as painter Mark Rothko, with Jimi Kocina keeping up as a hungry young apprentice eager to learn and to challenge the celebrity artist's ideas about creativity and integrity. On the other the side of the coin, the terrific family show A Wrinkle in Time offered a fusion of whimsical characters, imaginative design, and a potentially disturbing theme about the power of totalitarianism. Even such lesser shows as Freud's Last Session and the world premiere of The Green Book featured impeccable acting and a willingness to engage audiences with potent, heady ideas. The Outfit's home at the Balzer Theater gives theater fans the best reason to visit downtown. less...

For a new company to produce a distinguished season at a time of crisis for Atlanta theater is an especially impressive feat. As established theaters are struggling financially or shuttering, Fabrefaction Theatre has managed to become a formidable presence. In its third season, the small theater in West Midtown, founded by Christina and Evelyn Hoff, showed its range in the 2011-2012 season with a bloody and creepy Sweeney Todd, a Christmas-themed Rocky Horror Show, a smart, witty, in-the-round Tartuffe, and a musical Titanic. Cool shows, snazzy lobby, educational programs, productions for kids, a great theater space, and a black box to boot. The whole package helped the theater solidify a faithful core audience while reaching out to new ones. less...

An outpouring of support accompanied Actor's Express' S.O.S. fundraising drive this year, which indicates the fierce loyalty of the edgy playhouse's fans and the value of its mission. The theater has changed locations and leadership over its two and a half decades, but sustained its identity as Atlanta's most exciting playhouse. With impeccable recent productions including the insightful comedy Becky Shaw and the twisty musical See What I Wanna See, Actor's Express brings such intelligence and passion to its work that even its most challenging scripts become accessible. The company began its 24th season this fall with the hip rock show Spring Awakening. Here's hoping the youthful onstage energies will be matched by a resurgence of financial security. 887 W. Marietta St. 404-875-1606. actors-express.com. less...

Stage artists Grant McGowen and Bree Dawn Shannon co-founded Pinch 'N' Ouch Theatre in New York in 2008 but brought the troupe's name with them when they relocated to Atlanta in 2010. Since last year's inaugural production of Neil LaBute's reasons to be pretty, Pinch 'N' Ouch has set a high standard in delivering impassioned productions of sharp, trendy scripts such as Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero and Stephen Belber's Tape. Named after a term coined by famed acting coach Sanford Meisner, Pinch 'N' Ouch nudges the Atlanta theater scene with its youthful enthusiasm. pnotheatre.org. less...

An intimate venue even by the minuscule standards of black box spaces, DAD'S GARAGE TOP SHELF offers an incubator of raw local talent, notably Griefers, written by and starring Randy Havens and Christian Danley, as well as the latest work from artists such as Steve Yockey, Alison Hastings, Erin Burnett and Matt Myers. Bonus: It's easy to drink beer there. 280 Elizabeth St., Suite C-101. 404-523-3141. www.dadsgarage.com. less...

Perhaps something's in the water in Lawrenceville. Since AURORA THEATRE debuted its new playhouse there in 2007, the once-tame suburban theater has seen increasing creative dividends. In the past season, Aurora debuted the Georgia Gwinnett College Lab Series of innovative scripts at its new black box theater, where you can see the likes of the funny, quirky boom and the intriguing, upcoming The Circumference of a Squirrel, starring Daniel May. The programming has branched out from familiar theatrical warhorses and included such coups as the regional premiere of A Catered Affair with Glenn Rainey, and hit a high watermark with Tranced, a twisty political thriller on a par with the best work of Actor's Express, Horizon Theatre and Alliance Hertz Stage. Like Marietta's Theatre in the Square, Aurora strikes just the right balance between pleasing its audience and challenging its artists. 128 E. Pike St., Lawrenceville. 678-226-6222. www.auroratheatre.com. less...

As Atlanta's largest playhouse, the ALLIANCE THEATRE usually commands such big audiences and so many resources, it doesn't seem to need a boost from anywhere else. For the 2007-08 season, however, the Alliance refused to rest on such laurels as its 2007 Tony Award for Best Regional Theatre, and offered one of its most ambitious and satisfying slates in memory. Highlights included the luminous cabaret-style revue Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, the revisionist take on Greek mythology Eurydice, and artistic director Susan V. Booth's charged production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Doubt. Musicals such as The Women of Brewster Place and Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Ladies offered plenty of flash, while the world premiere of In the Red and Brown Water turned out to be the Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition's best discovery yet. The 2008-09 season looks to be even more eventful. less...