From the very first moment I heard about "Freed Spirits" coming to Horizon Theatre—squirming in my seat—I knew that I had to see this mystery-comedy set in Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery!
Later, I learned more of its significance: that it was commissioned by Horizon Theatre for its annual New South Play Festival, that it's been in the works for three years, that it's a world-premiere, and that it's directed by Lisa Adler and written by Playwright Daryl Lisa Fazio.
There are four principal characters, a tour guide, a steampunk sleuth, a photographer and a retired pathologist-turned-master gardener...and a couple of "ghosts".
The only thing scary about Freed Spirits would be missing it!
This play is delightful, it's thought-provoking, has some pretty awesome special effects, the set is absolutely spectacular and the acting is brilliantly superb!
The show begins in Oakland Cemetery with Keisha (Jimmica Collins), a super energetic entrepreneurial videographer, interviewing Susan Dickey (Suehyla El-Attar), an Oakland Cemetery tour guide, for a documentary.
Like Susan, I too have been a tour guide (four years at the Atlanta Botanical Garden), but I do not have an eidetic memory like Susan or Sheldon Cooper. If I did, I would hope that I'd use it as hilariously as the two of them do!
The opening sounds pretty simple, right? It's not. The mystery begins as soon as the lights come up and the first word is uttered.
As they're talking and filming, the wind picks up. It really picks up. And there's lightening. Lots of lightening. There's a storm. No...there's a tornado! And it tears right through Oakland Cemetery!
I was living in Washington, DC when the 2008 tornado hit Atlanta. I was so incredibly scared for my friends. I can't imagine how scared they were.
Actually, I can image...I don't have to imagine, actually. I was in a tornado when I was in 5th grade. I remember quite vividly how scary it was. It hit just as we were getting off the school bus and my mother was grabbing as many kids as she could an harboring them in our house until the dangerous winds passed.
The special effects in this show totally engage you!
The play resumes with the introduction of M.J. Bell (Bryn Striepe), a sleuthing steampunker, who iterates time and again that her attire is not a fashion statement but a "way of life".
I'm not going to give away too much, but suffice it to say that there are many, many layers of stories in this play...within the plot and the players.
M.J. is one of my favorite. I love her independence, her brilliant talent for deducing—she'd be awesome on any of the CSI television shows—and that her character introduces a reference to my personal favorite event of the year...Dragon Con!
M.J. gets nicknamed "Corset" somewhere along the performance. I believe most of the characters get a nickname, and they're brilliant.
As you can imagine, a tornado unearths more than we sometimes expect, and human nature demands that we investigate, right?
Mid-initial post-tornado investigation enters Byron White (Jonathan Horne), a photographer and wanna-be hipster. He's immediately infatuated with M.J. and everyone sees it. Not that he's trying to hide it, but he's painfully shy. And...he does an awesome Yoda impersonation.
Byron is another of the characters that I related to. He's a photographer, he's shy, he's helpful and he's innocent. Okay, okay...I used to be innocent. Really. Anyway, this character too has many layers below his meek demeanor.
Jonathan Horne, the actor, I'd met at another play earlier this year. When I found out that there were interview opportunities for this play, I immediately asked if I could connect with Jonathan. He graciously granted me an interview and that will be my next post. Look for it...I think you too will be highly impressed with his talent and aspiration!
"I ain't afraid of no ghost," says no one in this play!
Netta and Susan are, in my opinion, the funniest characters in the play, and not just through punchlines. We're talking gestures, looks, actions, twitching, running...it goes on and on, and you don't want it to stop! The whole cast is hilarious...there's as much comedy as there is mystery in this show!
On one of my visits to see Freed Spirits my guest was Margaret Mitchell. She looks amazing for 115 and to be interned at Oakland Cemetery.
Actually, my friend Sally portrays "Margaret Mitchell" occasionally for special Oakland Cemetery tours. She also "is" Margaret Mitchell for Atlanta Movie Tours' "Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind Tour". Sally, like Netta and Susan, has a wonderful sense of humor. And she loved the play, too!
Marguerite Hannah, who plays Dr. Netta Finch—a Grady Hospital retired pathologist turned Master Gardener at Oakland Cemetery—is an actress whose every word you hang on...she commands attention and you're so glad you give it to her because she's going to make you laugh, again and again.
I saw Marguerite in "Waffle Palace" at Horizon Theatre a few years ago...she was absolutely delightful. I'm thrilled to see her again! My best friend Barry went with me to see that show and also to see Freed Spirits...he loved both!
I'm in love with the four main characters, but would be totally remiss if I didn't note the wonderfully performed ghosts.
This play is set in a cemetery and the show's run is leading up to Halloween, so it's no surprise that there are ghosts on the playbill...well, ghost characters, that is. There's a young slave girl portrayed by Jimmica Collins—was is also the documentarian I mentioned earlier—and Spencer Miller who portrays a Civil War soldier. Both are excellent and quite fun...especially as ghosts.
As I've shared, there are lots of layers, twists and surprises in this show. Keep your eyes open...and ready yourselves for an evening of laugh-out-loud good times!
Playwright, and graphic designer, Daryl Lisa Fasio said in an AJC.com interview:
I had the opportunity to briefly meet and talk with Daryl at the Opening Night reception after the show. She's delightful and super excited about her first Atlanta production. I hope there will be more. I can share that the audiences I've sat in on are loving it! I think you will, too.
The very first announcement for Freed Spirits alone was enough for me to want to see it. But seeing it commanded seeing it again, and even once more...and, truth be told, I may go see it again.
You too can see Freed Spirits at Horizon Theatre, now through Sunday, October 30. Don't dare miss this one!
Later, I learned more of its significance: that it was commissioned by Horizon Theatre for its annual New South Play Festival, that it's been in the works for three years, that it's a world-premiere, and that it's directed by Lisa Adler and written by Playwright Daryl Lisa Fazio.
There are four principal characters, a tour guide, a steampunk sleuth, a photographer and a retired pathologist-turned-master gardener...and a couple of "ghosts".
 |
| MJ, Byron, Netta, Susan | Freed Spirits | Horizon Theatre | Photo: Lisa Adler |
The only thing scary about Freed Spirits would be missing it!
This play is delightful, it's thought-provoking, has some pretty awesome special effects, the set is absolutely spectacular and the acting is brilliantly superb!
 |
| Suehyla El-Attar as Susan | Freed Spirits | Horizon Theatre | Photo: BreeAnne Clowdus |
The show begins in Oakland Cemetery with Keisha (Jimmica Collins), a super energetic entrepreneurial videographer, interviewing Susan Dickey (Suehyla El-Attar), an Oakland Cemetery tour guide, for a documentary.
Like Susan, I too have been a tour guide (four years at the Atlanta Botanical Garden), but I do not have an eidetic memory like Susan or Sheldon Cooper. If I did, I would hope that I'd use it as hilariously as the two of them do!
The opening sounds pretty simple, right? It's not. The mystery begins as soon as the lights come up and the first word is uttered.
As they're talking and filming, the wind picks up. It really picks up. And there's lightening. Lots of lightening. There's a storm. No...there's a tornado! And it tears right through Oakland Cemetery!
 |
| M.J. and Susan | Freed Spirits | Horizon Theatre | Photo: Lisa Adler |
I was living in Washington, DC when the 2008 tornado hit Atlanta. I was so incredibly scared for my friends. I can't imagine how scared they were.
Actually, I can image...I don't have to imagine, actually. I was in a tornado when I was in 5th grade. I remember quite vividly how scary it was. It hit just as we were getting off the school bus and my mother was grabbing as many kids as she could an harboring them in our house until the dangerous winds passed.
The special effects in this show totally engage you!
 |
| M.J. Bell (Bryn Striepe) | Freed Spirits | Horizon Theatre | Photo: BreeAnne Clowdus |
The play resumes with the introduction of M.J. Bell (Bryn Striepe), a sleuthing steampunker, who iterates time and again that her attire is not a fashion statement but a "way of life".
I'm not going to give away too much, but suffice it to say that there are many, many layers of stories in this play...within the plot and the players.
M.J. is one of my favorite. I love her independence, her brilliant talent for deducing—she'd be awesome on any of the CSI television shows—and that her character introduces a reference to my personal favorite event of the year...Dragon Con!
M.J. gets nicknamed "Corset" somewhere along the performance. I believe most of the characters get a nickname, and they're brilliant.
 |
| Cast | Freed Spirits | Horizon Theatre | Photo: Lisa Adler |
As you can imagine, a tornado unearths more than we sometimes expect, and human nature demands that we investigate, right?
Mid-initial post-tornado investigation enters Byron White (Jonathan Horne), a photographer and wanna-be hipster. He's immediately infatuated with M.J. and everyone sees it. Not that he's trying to hide it, but he's painfully shy. And...he does an awesome Yoda impersonation.
 |
| Byron White (Jonathan Horne) | Freed Spirits | Horizon Theatre | Photo: BreeAnne Clowdus |
Byron is another of the characters that I related to. He's a photographer, he's shy, he's helpful and he's innocent. Okay, okay...I used to be innocent. Really. Anyway, this character too has many layers below his meek demeanor.
Jonathan Horne, the actor, I'd met at another play earlier this year. When I found out that there were interview opportunities for this play, I immediately asked if I could connect with Jonathan. He graciously granted me an interview and that will be my next post. Look for it...I think you too will be highly impressed with his talent and aspiration!
 |
| Freed Spirits | Horizon Theatre | Photo: Lisa Adler |
"I ain't afraid of no ghost," says no one in this play!
Netta and Susan are, in my opinion, the funniest characters in the play, and not just through punchlines. We're talking gestures, looks, actions, twitching, running...it goes on and on, and you don't want it to stop! The whole cast is hilarious...there's as much comedy as there is mystery in this show!
On one of my visits to see Freed Spirits my guest was Margaret Mitchell. She looks amazing for 115 and to be interned at Oakland Cemetery.
Actually, my friend Sally portrays "Margaret Mitchell" occasionally for special Oakland Cemetery tours. She also "is" Margaret Mitchell for Atlanta Movie Tours' "Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind Tour". Sally, like Netta and Susan, has a wonderful sense of humor. And she loved the play, too!
 |
| Dr. Netta Finch (Marguerite Hannah) | Freed Spirits | Horizon Theatre | Photo: BreeAnne Clowdus |
Marguerite Hannah, who plays Dr. Netta Finch—a Grady Hospital retired pathologist turned Master Gardener at Oakland Cemetery—is an actress whose every word you hang on...she commands attention and you're so glad you give it to her because she's going to make you laugh, again and again.
I saw Marguerite in "Waffle Palace" at Horizon Theatre a few years ago...she was absolutely delightful. I'm thrilled to see her again! My best friend Barry went with me to see that show and also to see Freed Spirits...he loved both!
 |
| Cast of Freed Spirits | Horizon Theatre | Photo: Lisa Adler |
I'm in love with the four main characters, but would be totally remiss if I didn't note the wonderfully performed ghosts.
This play is set in a cemetery and the show's run is leading up to Halloween, so it's no surprise that there are ghosts on the playbill...well, ghost characters, that is. There's a young slave girl portrayed by Jimmica Collins—was is also the documentarian I mentioned earlier—and Spencer Miller who portrays a Civil War soldier. Both are excellent and quite fun...especially as ghosts.
As I've shared, there are lots of layers, twists and surprises in this show. Keep your eyes open...and ready yourselves for an evening of laugh-out-loud good times!
 |
| Daryl Lisa Fasio | Freed Spirits | Horizon Theatre | Photo: BreeAnne Clowdus |
Playwright, and graphic designer, Daryl Lisa Fasio said in an AJC.com interview:
"Oakland is the most interesting reflection of Atlanta," Fazio said. She chose to set her latest play there because she’s been fascinated with Oakland ever since she moved to town six years ago. "I can't imagine anything more perfect. It's got everything. It's got community involvement, it's got this long history, and it's got the juiciest stories to dig into.”
I had the opportunity to briefly meet and talk with Daryl at the Opening Night reception after the show. She's delightful and super excited about her first Atlanta production. I hope there will be more. I can share that the audiences I've sat in on are loving it! I think you will, too.
 |
| Cast | Freed Spirits | Horizon Theatre | Photo: BreeAnne Clowdus |
The very first announcement for Freed Spirits alone was enough for me to want to see it. But seeing it commanded seeing it again, and even once more...and, truth be told, I may go see it again.
You too can see Freed Spirits at Horizon Theatre, now through Sunday, October 30. Don't dare miss this one!
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