Spotlight on Limelight: Transforming Atlanta’s Performance Space, One Act at a Time
You’ll find people performing in some crazy places in Atlanta. I’ve seen some incredible improv comedy in a bookstore after hours. I’ve produced a series of short plays in a barn in Covington (the place of legends). Atlanta is tight on space. It’s a city full of artists and seemingly nowhere to make art. One of the things I noticed when I moved to Atlanta is unlike NYC, LA, and Chicago, where the entertainment industry grew with the city, the industry came upon Atlanta. As a result, there aren’t those historic storefront venues and comedy clubs that helped develop your favorite SNL cast member from your youth or that iconic movie star from that movie that formed you.
Hopefully, Limelight will take a step in changing that. “We’re trying to make it an incubator for artists… but it’s baby steps.”
Aaron Shore is Limelights Imrpov Producer. He’s out there trying to find groups that have reach in the community—building audiences and performers in lockstep. There are a couple of improv theaters in Atlanta. Ranging from the largest in Dad’s Garage to local staples like Dynamic El Dorado. Limelight is closer to Dad’s, but its aspirations are much larger than improv. According to Shore, the hope is to make Limelight a home for multiple types of art—Improv, stand-up, live theater, and anything creative that may lie in the cracks.
Even at the time of the recording, Limelight had workshops, shows, and bimonthly open mics for stand-up, sketch writing classes. It’s becoming a cross-section of all things Atlanta/Performance/Creative. We’re all hoping it blows up.
Running a local performance space is a tricky business, and trying to get your name out in a city like Atlanta, where you spend a lot of time in your car and bars close shockingly early, is a big mountain Shore is willing to climb.
More importantly, Limelight is trying to do things the right way. “I was tired of seeing improvisers get screwed over.”
There was an anonymous Instagram account from Atlanta discussing all the seedy things that happened to this person based in Atlanta. After that, stories emerged from Chicago, NYC, and other cities. It’s part of a more significant trend of local arts becoming a safer space for performers. Limelight hopes to be a part of that happening. In addition to the Chicago-style workshops and the film festivals, and the actors giving workshops from out of town, it’s trying to do something else.
It’s trying to be a place where people are treated decently.
