The Alliance Theatre Company of Atlanta: A regional theatre's first twenty-five years, 1968-1993

• Other Authors: Phillips, Mary Gaylen.
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Subjects: Theater
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/lib/digcoll/etd/3088257

The topic of this study is the history of the Alliance Theatre Company of Atlanta, Georgia. The company was founded in 1969 as part of the Atlanta Memorial Arts Center, a multi-million dollar complex built in the memory of 122 arts patrons who were killed in a 1962 plane crash in Paris, France. The Center was built by the Atlanta Arts Alliance with private contributions, much of which came from local millionaire and Coca-Cola chairman Robert W. Woodruff. At the time, members of the Arts Alliance were the High Museum of Art, the Atlanta College of Art, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. In 1968, the Center leased its theatre space to a local professional company, Atlanta Municipal Theater, which mounted a lavish production of John Dryden's King Arthur to celebrate the Center's opening in October of that year. Several months later, the Atlanta Municipal Theater went bankrupt, and the Arts Alliance founded its own theatre, the Alliance Resident Theatre, in early 1969; in 1970, the ART was renamed the Alliance Theatre Company. In 1982, the Center renamed itself the Robert W. Woodruff Arts Center. === After an opening chapter which gives the background of the Arts Center and an overview of the Alliance Theatre Company, subsequent chapters address specific topics: the Board of Directors; the Management; the Artistic Directors; the Alliance Theatre School and other programs; and a final chapter on recent developments and the celebration of the theatre's twenty-fifth anniversary season, 1993-1994. === In addition to numerous local newspaper reports and periodical articles, many current and former theatre company staffers and board members were interviewed and their comments are included throughout the study. A partial list includes: Fred Chappell, actor, from 1970, and later artistic director from 1976 to 1985; Edith Love, managing director since 1985; and Betty Blondeau-Russell, development director since 1980. === In spite of the theatre's twenty-five year history, it has been either overlooked or only lightly mentioned in American theatre history studies, and this study seeks to fill that gap. Appendices include a listing of the theatre's seasons from 1968 to 1994, and a chronology of events from the same period. === Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-12, Section: A, page: 4308. === Major Professor: John A. Degen. === Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.