GTA continues season with 'Pygmalion'

The Gainesville Theatre Alliance (GTA) will begin its spring performances with "Pygmalion" on Feb. 10-18 in the Hosch Theater on Brenau University's Campus at 429 Academy St. NE in Gainesville, Georgia.

Written by George Bernard Shaw, "Pygmalion" is Shaw's Nobel Prize-winning dramatization of a Cockney flower girl's metamorphosis into a lady. The show is both a fantasy and a platform for Shaw's views on social class, money and women's independence. "Pygmalion" inspired the musical "My Fair Lady."

The production is special to its director, Elisa Carlson, a UNG professor of theatre who is also a speech and dialect teacher.

"The character of Henry Higgins was based primarily on the dialectician Henry Sweet, who taught William Tilly, who taught Edith Skinner, who taught Susan Sweeney, who taught me," Carlson said. "The wonderful GTA actors have trained for years to take on Shaw's dialogue and dialects and spin them into story-telling gold." 

The production is recommended for ages 8 and older.

Tickets will go on sale Jan. 16. A discounted ticket of $5 is available to UNG faculty, staff and students by calling or stopping by the box office, not online, Keri McClain, GTA marketing manager, said. 

"1984," which will run from April 14-22, is the stage adaptation of George Orwell's classic dystopian world. It is true to the novel in which Orwell depicts a society where Big Brother is always watching — where everything that is not prohibited is compulsory. 1984 is a cautionary tale of an omnipresent government. It was adapted for the stage by Robert Owens, Wilton E. Hall Jr. and William A. Miles Jr. It is recommended for ages 13 and older. Tickets will go on sale March 20.