Rainy days and Thursdays
June 22 — We thought a rainy day playlist might help get you through this lingering bout of dreary weather.
☔️ Yup. More rain, including a flood watch, with a high of 77° today.
✍🏼 After a two-week delay and a lawsuit, the City of Atlanta finally approved a petition by opponents of the public safety training facility to begin collecting signatures for a referendum on this issue this November.
💰 The Atlanta City Council has voted to eliminate fines for parents and guardians whose children violate the city’s curfew.
💸 Sandy Springs has approved using $1 million in grant money to cover design costs for the PATH400 trail extension north from Atlanta to I-285.
📽️ Voltron Global has launched a new film and television production company that will operate out of Atlanta.
🥫 A new Publix has opened up in Atlanta’s Summerhill neighborhood.
🚨 A woman has been charged with shooting a man and his dog in Brookhaven.
📮 In advance of the planned renaming of Atlanta’s main post office, the U.S. Postal Service unveiled a stamp honoring the late Rep. John Lewis yesterday.
🕖 Today’s newsletter is ④ stories.
• Alliance Theatre artistic directors
• Georgia Author of the Year
• FBI director in Atlanta
AND
• Quick Bites
Have a good day,
Collin, Sammie, & Madison
🍑 The AJC Peachtree Road Race is not possible without its volunteers. As the world’s largest 10K, there are plenty of opportunities to volunteer, where you’ll get a commemorative T-shirt and pin, Chick-fil-A voucher, discounts on Atlanta Track Club merchandise, and more! Sign up for the AJC Peachtree Road Race today!
SPONSOR MESSAGE
1. Alliance Theatre names new co-artistic directors
🎭 After a national search, the Alliance Theatre Board of Directors has named Tinashe Kajese-Bolden and Christopher Moses as co-artistic directors.
The appointment follows Kajese-Bolden’s four-year role with the Alliance as the BOLD Associate Artistic Director and Moses’s twenty-year-long career with the Alliance, most recently as the Dan Reardon Director of Education and Associate Artistic Director.
The pair have been serving as interim artistic directors since Susan V. Booth’s departure last October. The appointment marks the first time in its 55-year history that the Alliance has appointed two artistic directors.
➡️ Learn more about the dynamic duo here.
Act3 Productions sets 2023-24 season
SPONSORED BY ACT3 PRODUCTIONS 
🤣 Act3 Productions in Sandy Springs has announced its 2023-24 season, which is all about laughter. The season includes a musical revue, a comedy from Atlanta playwright Topher Payne, a musical on roller skates, and a comedic farce. The Act3 2023-24 season includes:
– “Xanadu” Sept. 8-24, directed by Charlie Miller
– “Perfect Arrangement” Oct. 13-29, directed by Amy Cain
– “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” Feb. 9-25, 2024, directed by Cathe Hall Payne
– “Lend Me a Tenor” March 15-31, 2024, directed by Jared Wright
🎟️ Visit Act3 Productions for season packages and individual tickets, or call the box office at (770) 241-1905.
2. Georgia Author of the Year Awards honor local writers
📚 The Georgia Writers Association (GWA) announced the winners of the 2023 Georgia Author of the Year Awards (GAYA) during a virtual ceremony on June 17.
The 59th annual GAYA Posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award went to Valerie Boyd, biographer of Zora Neale Hurston. Boyd also won for Specialty Book Award as editor of Bigger Than Bravery: Black Resilience and Reclamation in a Time of Pandemic.
Of particular note were two self-published winners: Monica Lee Weatherly, Professor of English at Georgia State University, for her poetry chapbook It Felt Mississippi, and Susan Carlisle for her romance novel Racing to You.
“We’re thrilled to bring together such a strong group of established and upcoming Georgia authors in our lineup of winners and finalists,” said GWA’s Executive Director, Garrard Conley.
🏆 See the full list of winners here.
3. FBI Director Christopher Wray in Atlanta
🔎 On Tuesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray spoke to a joint audience of The Atlanta Press Club and The Commerce Club.
Wray’s comments focused on the FBI’s progress in stopping violent gangs and criminals, how Artificial Intelligence (AI) has impacted the FBI’s work, as well as his view on political divisions in our society.
Wray, who is a Georgia resident, talked at length about the FBI’s joint work with local police departments, specifically highlighting multiple raids conducted in Georgia over the last few years.
“Our nationwide statistics — the Bureau’s nationwide statistics — for the last couple of years confirm that the violent crime threat in this country is real and not letting up. People deserve to be able to go to work, meet with their friends, go shopping — in other words, live their daily lives without fear and when that sense of safety is undermined, everybody loses,” he said.
➡️ Click to read Madison’s full report, including what Wray thinks about calls for his impeachment.
🍑 The AJC Peachtree Road Race is not possible without its volunteers. As the world’s largest 10K, there are plenty of opportunities to volunteer, where you’ll get a commemorative T-shirt and pin, Chick-fil-A voucher, discounts on Atlanta Track Club merchandise, and more! Sign up for the AJC Peachtree Road Race today!
SPONSOR MESSAGE
4. Quick Bites
🍷 Lazy Betty is hosting its Chappellet Wine Dinner on Thurs., July 20. Get your reservations here.
🍕 Firepit Pizza Tavern is celebrating five years in Grant Park on June 25.
👨🍳 George Lopez (pictured) has come on as the new head chef at Westside Motor Lounge.
💃 Postino WineCafé invites you to “Dine With the Divas” on June 25. The Out Front Theatre Company after-party will feature Ginger Minj from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and other Atlanta queens.
🍜 After Doc Chey’s Noodle House closes in Grant Park on June 30, Chef Wang’s will soon take its place.
☕ Breakfast, brunch, and lunch chain Egg Harbor Café will soon call Brookhaven home.
🍽️ A curated dining experience led by Staplehouse’s Chef Ryan Smith will soon be coming to an outpost about an hour outside of Atlanta.
🍳 Eggs Up Grill will open its seventh Atlanta area store in Austell this summer.
🥃 A new restaurant called Sip from the owners of Johnny’s Chicken & Waffles and Spice House is opening in the former Babette’s Café space in Poncey-Highland this summer.
🍹 After eight years at Westside Provisions District, the cocktail bar Little Trouble will close on Aug. 19.
🍸 Forum Cocktail Co., a craft cocktail bar, has opened up at the The Works.
🍿 Stay in the picture with Scene by Rough Draft, our weekly newsletter about Georgia’s film industry. Movie reviews, profiles, what’s filming where, plus more. Directed by Sammie Purcell. Subscribe for free.
