The Alliance Theatre Podcast

Tomi Martin has worked with musicians including Madonna, Justin Bieber, T-Pain, and more. With Martin set to man the guitar for DARLIN' CORY – the time seemed more than opportune to discuss his love of music and art, how that love can influence what matters, and what it means to be the cool guy.

Tomi Martin is a native of Louisville, KY, and grew up as a preacher’s kid listening to the radio and developing a love for the music as well as the artists. His exposure to gospel, rock, soul, and jazz made a lasting impression and made him certain that he wanted to be a professional musician. Tomi transitions easily from studio to stage, which helped develop his reputation as both a session guitarist and musical director for concert tours, television specials, and feature film projects. As a music director, Tomi blends rock, pop, R&B, and hard funk into solid tracks with musical hooks that help make hit records. His unique guitar work and creative support have been a huge part of successful records and world tours for such artists as: John Legend, OutKast, Justin Bieber, Madonna, TLC, Stevie Nicks, Miley Cyrus, and The Indigo Girls.

Aniska Tonge is the social media manager and content producer at the Alliance Theatre, where she offers audiences an inside look at the who, how and why of the stories we tell. An artist at heart, her writing and photography highlights her endless love of the arts. And as she continues to fall in love with the culture created by the city of Atlanta she hopes that theatre is a way to highlight the inspiring people behind it. 

Set against the backdrop of 1920s Appalachia, DARLIN’ CORY is a haunting new musical by playwright & novelist Phillip DePoy (EDWARD FOOTE) and Sugarland's Grammy-Award winning front man, Kristian Bush (TROUBADOUR). In a tiny mountain town with no road in – and no road out – a community carries secrets of all sizes. But when a young woman with ambition and intelligence collides with a pastor deeply committed to preserving the status quo, cracks begin to appear in the town’s well-constructed façade. And when a stranger appears with a mysterious backstory and the best moonshine anyone’s ever tasted – some of those secrets threaten to spill. With an original folk-country score, this modern-day myth inspired by local lore promises to leave audiences on the edge of their seats.

For tickets and more info: alliancetheatre.org/cory

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Learn more about WORKING: A Musical at the Alliance Theatre.

MARGARITA KOMPELMAKHER, PhD, is a Mellon/ACLS Public Fellow and Community Engagement Manager at the Alliance Theatre, where she runs programs that connect theatre to issues that matter most to communities across Atlanta. She is a regular contributor to the Alliance Theatre blog and her writing also appears in Modern Drama and various scholarly anthologies. She believes theatre is a "rehearsal" for realizing the society we want to live in!

DEBORAH SCOTT, CEO of Georgia STAND-UP, a “think and act tank” for working families, and a 2012 “White House Champion of Change,” is an accomplished advocate of economic inclusion, community empowerment, and progressive civic engagement. A master organizer, strategist, and highly skilled trainer, she has been on the front lines of progressive social transformation for more than 25 years. Deborah has shaped and molded a generation of social activists. https://www.georgiastandup.org/about-us

ERIC RICHARDSON is the President of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, a fiercely independent voice of black workers within the trade union movement, challenging organized labor to be more relevant to the needs and aspirations of Black and poor workers. https://cbtu.nationbuilder.com/

ALEXIS WOODARD is an Atlanta-based Director, proud Spelman College Alumna and current Spelman Leadership Fellow at the Alliance Theatre. Her Directing Credits include: Romeo + Juliet, Eurydice (Spelman College), Finished What We Started (Morehouse College), Hamlet (The Tiny Theatre Company), as well as assistant directing for the Suzi Award winning play, Hands of Color (Synchronicity Theatre), A Kids Play About Racism (Bay Area Children’s Theatre), and Associate Director for A Christmas Carol: The Live Radio Play (Alliance Theatre). Upcoming Credits include: Co-Director for Hands Up (Alliance Theatre), and Co-Director for Othello (The Tiny Theatre Company). She has also worked backstage on several productions such as Holler If You Hear Me (True Colors Theatre) and Hospice + Pointing At The Moon (Alliance Theatre). Film Credits include: Hands Up Teasers (Co-Director) and When Morning Comes (Writer). She also wrote and shot her first short film, When Morning Comes, which discusses sexual assault on college campuses.

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TAMILLA WOODARD is the co-Artistic Director of Working Theater, former BOLD Associate Artistic Director at WP Theater, and the co-founder of PopUP Theatrics. She also served as the associate director of Hadestown _on Broadway. This very digital season, her work includes _American Dreams by Leila Buck for Working Theater, Theater for One’s Here We Are series with plays by Nikole Salter and Delanna Studdi, PopUP Theatrics Long Distance Affair, Parsnip Ship and MCC’s This Is Where We Go and the Lucille Lortel nominated, Where We Stand by Donnetta Lavinia Grays for WP Theater, Baltimore Center Stage and Steppenwolf. Recently named one of 50 Women to Watch on Broadway, Tamilla is a graduate of Yale School of Drama, where she currently teaches. She is also a recipient of the Josephine Abady Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women.

ALEXIS WOODARD is an Atlanta-based Director, proud Spelman College Alumna and current Spelman Leadership Fellow at the Alliance Theatre. Her Directing Credits include: Romeo + Juliet, Eurydice (Spelman College), Finished What We Started (Morehouse College), Hamlet (The Tiny Theatre Company), as well as assistant directing for the Suzi Award winning play, Hands of Color (Synchronicity Theatre), A Kids Play About Racism (Bay Area Children’s Theatre), and Associate Director for A Christmas Carol: The Live Radio Play (Alliance Theatre). Upcoming Credits include: Co-Director for Hands Up (Alliance Theatre), and Co-Director for Othello (The Tiny Theatre Company). She has also worked backstage on several productions such as Holler If You Hear Me (True Colors Theatre) and Hospice + Pointing At The Moon (Alliance Theatre). Film Credits include: Hands Up Teasers (Co-Director) and When Morning Comes (Writer). She also wrote and shot her first short film, When Morning Comes, which discusses sexual assault on college campuses.

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How does one manage a theatre? How does one manage a theatre during a pandemic when audiences can’t gather in traditional spaces? How does one manage a theatre while meeting the demands of the WeSeeYouWAT document in order to create a more equitable theatre-making practice for BIPOC artists and beyond? Find out from two of the country’s finest in this episode of the Alliance Theatre Podcast: Managing Director Edition. Join Daviorr Snipes, Alliance’s Director of Diversity, Inclusion, & Engagement as he dives into conversation with Emika Abe, Managing Director of the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington DC, followed by Mike Schleifer, Managing Director of the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta.

EMIKA ABE (Managing Director; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company) comes to Woolly after three years as the Associate Managing Director of the Alliance Theatre (Atlanta, GA), the largest regional theatre in the Southeast. At the Alliance, Emika led a portfolio of projects that guided the theatre's organizational strategy, culture, and general management. These included stewarding the 70-person Advisory Board, co-chairing the Alliance's Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee, and defining the theatre's mission, vision, and values. Emika is on the Advisory Board of Found Stages, she served as Mentorship Co-Chair of LORT's EDI Initiative, and she is an alum of LEAD Atlanta, Arts Leaders of Metro Atlanta, and Theatre Communications Group's Young Leaders of Color. Emika holds an MFA in Theater Management from Yale School of Drama, an MBA from Yale School of Management, and a BA in Theater from UCLA. At Yale, she was the recipient of the Morris J. Kaplan Award for Theater Management and Co-Chair of the Internship Fund. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Emika has previously held positions at Yale Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and the Palo Alto Children's Theatre, as well as fellowships at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Center Theatre Group, and Artists Repertory Theatre. Emika is passionate about the intersection of art and business, and the essential role that theatre can play in activating individuals and strengthening communities.

MIKE SCHLEIFER (Managing Director; Alliance Theatre) joined the Alliance Theatre in 2014 as General Manager, and in 2016 became Managing Director. While at the Alliance, Schleifer has led the administrative team on more than 50 productions and was one of the architects of the “On the Road” season, in which the Alliance produced 12 shows at 12 venues. He is proud to have started the Alliance’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and to serve on the League of Resident Theatre’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative. Previously, he spent 13 years at Baltimore’s Center Stage, working as Associate Producer, Production Manager and Resident Stage Manager. While in Baltimore, he spent seven years as an adjunct faculty member at Towson University and guest lectured all over the East Coast. Schleifer began his career as a Stage Manager and has dozens of stage-management credits in New York and regionally. He is married to theater director and educator Laura Hackman and is the proud father of two boys, Jack and Ben.

DAVIORR SNIPES (Director of Diversity, Inclusion, & Engagement; Alliance Theatre) is Theatre graduate from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He is also a member of Actor's Equity Association. He currently serves as the Director of Diversity, Equity & Engagement for the Alliance Theatre. As a professional actor he as appeared Off-Broadway with the Ensemble Studio Theatre and has toured nationally with Theaterworks USA. He is a Peabody Award winner for his work on the NPR Podcast, Buried Truths, and has also appeared in the BET tv series, American Soul. In addition to his work at the Alliance he regular performs around Atlanta with companies such as Vanguard Repertory Theatre and Working Title Playwrights.

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Maya Lawrence is a NYC born- Atlanta based multidisciplinary artist and activist, specializing in theater, performance, and poetry. As an actor, teaching artist, and facilitator with an audience range from newborns to as long as one can be alive, she uses her superpowers of creativity, curiosity, and compassion to facilitate theatre-based experiences rooted in Anti-Bias work for youth, families, individuals, corporations, and organizations in pursuit of becoming the most authentic & empathetic versions of themselves. As a proud Spelman College alumna, she uses theater to build alliances as a Resident Artist and the Allyship Program Director at the Tony Award winning Alliance Theatre. Maya is on a mission to liberate the world through art using Love to light the path.

Patrick Myers is a freelance writer and playwright who also serves as the Education Process Manager for the Alliance Theatre at the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia, where he manages the Press Play digital theater initiative. A graduate with honors of the Savannah College of Art and Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performing Arts, his work has encompassed a variety of disciplines, including but not limited to writing, producing, criticism, and teaching. He is a proud facilitator for the Alliance Theatre’s Allyship Training, an introductory two-hour course on cultivating anti-bias thought, and specializes in developing strategies for increasing access to the arts through virtual spaces. His work has appeared in American Theatre, HowlRound Theatre Commons, and ARTS ATL, and in his free time he writes and records for Ghost Light: The Serialized Horror Podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts.

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SUSAN V. BOOTH (Jennings Hertz Artistic Director) joined the Alliance Theatre in 2001 and has initiated the Palefsky Collision Project for teens, the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, the Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab, local producing partnerships and regional collaborative productions, as well as commercial partnerships on projects such as The Prom; Tuck Everlasting; Ghost Brothers of Darkland County; The Color Purple; Bring It On: The Musical; Twyla Tharp’s Come Fly Away; Sister Act: The Musical; Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk; and _Jesus Christ Superstar GOSPEL, and has directed world premieres by writers including Pearl Cleage, Janece Shaffer, National Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey, Stephen King, John Mellencamp, and Kristian Bush. As a director, she has worked at such theatres as the Goodman, La Jolla Playhouse, New York Stage and Film, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Northlight Theatre, Victory Gardens, Court Theatre and many others. She holds degrees from Denison and Northwestern universities and was a fellow of the National Critics Institute and the Kemper Foundation. She has held teaching positions at Northwestern, DePaul, and Emory universities. She is a past president of the board of directors for the Theatre Communications Group, the national service organization for the field, is a trustee of Denison University, and a member of the Carter Center’s Board of Councilors. Susan’s leadership is underwritten by the BOLD Theater Women’s Leadership Circle, an initiative to support and promote women’s theater leadership funded by The Pussycat Foundation. Susan is married to Max Leventhal and is the proud mother of Moira Rose Leventhal._

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Step through the stage door and gather around the GHOST LIGHT, the new Alliance Theatre podcast dedicated to the weird, the paranormal, and the downright spooky things that can happen in the world of the theater.

Join hosts Patrick Myers and Elliott Folds as they dive into two creepy stories: the first, a group of actors sneak into a cemetery after a late-night rehearsal; the second, a backstage curse threatens to turn a missed entrance into something darker.

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Join artist & activist Maya Lawrence leading a conversation with Mellon Playwright in Residence, Pearl Cleage, as they explore the role of art & activism in our world, how to have the courage to invite in truth, and then how to live it.

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