Lois Reitzes

Listen to Tretheway read her poem "Graveyard Blues" here:

Long before we see the slick brochure for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s new season, music director Robert Spano looks at an empty calendar.

WABE’s Lois Reitzes sat down with him to discuss just how the ASO puts together a season—and what we can expect from the ASO in 2013-2014.

The Whipping Man is a play about fractured relationships. Set in the aftermath of the Civil War, the action concerns a wounded Jewish Confederate solider returning home to his former slaves.

To go a little deeper into the themes of the show, WABE’s Lois Reitzes sat down with Rabbi Bradley Levenberg and with the Alliance Theater’s General Manager Max Leventhal.

Christmas in tough economic times. That's the theme behind O. Henry’s classic short story, “The Gifts of the Magi.” Today’s tough times made the story seem like a natural choice to Theatrical Outfit.  The theater company is presenting a musical based on the story, directed by Heidi Cline McKerley. WABE’s Lois Reitzes sat down with artistic director, Tom Key—and the play’s star, Nick Arapoglou.

She started the conversation by asking Key to explain what the play’s all about.

The Mountaintop is a play that puts its audience inside of Dr. Martin Luther King’s room at the Lorraine Motel the night before his assassination. AFter directing the show on Broadway, Kenny Leon has brought Katori Hall’s character study to his True Colors Theater Company, in a production led by director Jasmine Guy. WABE’s Lois Reitzes sat down with the director to talk about the show.

Theatrical Outfit is offering a two drink minimum. No, they haven’t opened a bar down at the Balzer Theater, Two Drink Minimum is a new comedy about the difficult relationship between a son and his mother.  Playwright Bill Balzer based the show around his own colorful stories about his mother and recently sat down with WABE’s Lois Reitzes to talk about putting his memories on-stage.

In the 2012-13 season, violinist Midori will celebrate the 30th anniversary of her performing career. She made her debut at age 11 as a surprise guest soloist with the New York Philharmonic in 1982. Today Midori is recognized as an extraordinary performer, a devoted and gifted educator, and an innovative community engagement activist. Last night, Robert Spano opened his 12th — and the Orchestra’s 68th — season with twin peaks of the repertoire: Beethoven’s grand and poetic Violin Concerto with Midori as guest soloist.

A professor of English at Emory University, Pulitzer Prize-winner…oh, and the Poet Laureate of the United States, Natasha Tretheway will be giving the keynote address for the seventh annual Decatur Book Festival.

Theatrical Outfit's latest production, My Name Is Asher Lev, tells the story of a young artist’s struggle for self-expression and self-discovery in his strict, religious household.

Based on a novel by Chaim Potok, the story takes place in post-WWII Brooklyn.

WABE’s Lois Reitzes spoke with the show’s director Mira Hirsch and lead actor Nick Arapoglou about the big ideas behind the play.