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.
(Picture 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 probably ultimately return to his new residence 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 the town of Lawrenceville’s Night of the Arts pageant. Aurora will probably be adopting the mannequin used efficiently by the Overture Collection.
After leaving Cobb PARKS final yr, Davis — who was the creative 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 advanced basic supervisor and transitioned to the chief director place earlier in 2025. Davis will probably be directing Little Store of Horrors with Mary Nye Bennett, and lots of acquainted faces from earlier Overture productions are a part of the solid and artistic crew. 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 parts however a singular emphasis on the storytelling, with some twists and turns. Directing Little Store of Horrors has been a simple manner 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 accomplished it,” he says.
Ann-Carol Pence, Aurora’s co-founder and producing creative director, is pleased with the historical past the corporate has created in Gwinnett for out of doors performances. “The Overture collection, underneath Jono’s management, created those self same memorable experiences for Cobb County for a few years,” she says. “Watching [their] streaming content material stored me and the remainder of the Atlanta theater neighborhood hopeful throughout the pandemic.”
That is the second yr Aurora has participated in Lawrenceville’s Night of the Arts occasion. Final yr, the 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 yr, the town agreed to extra. Davis hopes this can result in related collaborations.
The unique Overture collection led to controversial vogue. Davis’ former Cobb PARKS boss, Marie Jernigan, instructed him in 2023 that whereas the county had the funds, they in all probability wouldn’t fund the collection for one more total yr. 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 response to Davis, the division needed to go in one other route. “They thought [The Overture Series] was very expensive, which it was, and administration needed one other route to save lots of them cash, which I respect, however they didn’t substitute it with anything. I nonetheless have many pals 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 variety 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 crew members — to have a voice within the course of. “We had been constructing one thing collectively. The trade as a complete latched onto it in a really endearing manner as a result of they’d a private funding in it. Once we gained a Suzi Award a number of years in the past, it was devoted to all artists. It was an us undertaking.”
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 variety. “It’s not like I want to carry it again as a result of it felt unfinished … I believe it had a fantastic send-off. I miss it. What we liked concerning the collection is that it was doing reveals most theater firms can not danger nowadays.”
He added that Queen Metropolis Concert events, a theater firm in North Carolina, has adopted the Overture mannequin and is producing the identical reveals.
Pence and Davis have shared roughly a dozen conversations about how they’d work the Overture collection into the Aurora Theatre schedule, and Davis has pitched some concepts to the town of Lawrenceville. “We have now the folks; we have now the imaginative and prescient,” he says.
One choice proposed has been a ticket break up, with the 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 so much must be negotiated, and it may take time.
Moreover, within the present financial 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 element — and he doesn’t need to take away from how Aurora is making an attempt to make it via 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 are able to companion. I’m hoping [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 need 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 Finest Theater Function and a nominee for On-line Journalist of the 12 months. 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 pageant director of Out on Movie, Atlanta’s LGBTQ movie pageant, and lives in Avondale Estates together with his husband, Craig.
