Notable 9 in theater in 2025: Tradition, but give it a twist 

The 2025 calendar year saw a lot of re-introductions to characters from history (Young John Lewis), plays written long ago (Fiddler on the Roof) and new looks at old authority (Doubt). And while every performance felt fresh, Atlanta’s creatives had their audiences questioning in new ways — which is what exceptional theater is all about. 

Again for this year, ArtsATL’s theater critics put their heads together and came up with the nine productions — a difficult task, given the top-notch performances this season — that stood out and stayed on our minds long after curtain call. 

In calendar order, these nine highlight what Atlanta artists are capable of — whether they’re actors, playwrights, directors or crew — and what audiences are hungry for. The answer is new ideas. 

The Lehman Trilogy
Theatrical Outfit, February 2025

Though ArtsATL critic Andrew Alexander opens his review with the quip — “Anyone up for a three-hour play about investment banking?” — this heavyweight show on the history of three brothers seizing, then losing, the American dream was “portrayed with ease and conviction” by Brian Kurlander, Eric Mendenhall and Andrew Benator. 

Hot Jambalaya
Dad’s Garage, March 2025

Reviewed by ArtsATL critic Benjamin Carr as “a delicious, Cajun-flavored show,” this Dad’s production was five years in the making — yes, since the pandemic — and simmered just the right length of time to create a comedic musical that is “layered, surprising, fun and funny.” 

I Carry Your Heart With Me
Horizon Theatre, March 2025

Jennifer Blackmer’s I Carry Your Heart with Me, named for the poem by e.e. Cummings, hit the stage at Horizon Theatre as a one-woman show performed by theater mainstay Carolyn Cook. Following the story of a young military stenographer during the Vietnam War, the production was well-paced and gripping, according to Benjamin Carr, and enhanced by the set design of Isabel and Moriah Curley-Clay.

How to Make a Home
Out of Hand Theatre, April 2025

Written by Amina McIntyre and focusing on Iraqi veteran Antonio and his daughter as they search for secure housing, this solo show traveled to various Atlanta metro homes, where audiences were treated to Markell Williams’ “lightning bolt of a performance and chameleonic flexibility,” according to ArtsATL critic Luke Evans. 

The Reservoir
The Alliance Theatre, April 2025

A finalist in the 2023/2024 Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, this world premiere written by Jake Brasch dealt with the realities of addiction and aging and employs, according to Luke Evans, a funny script with “an Amy Sherman-Palladino-like quickness.” Evans also praises “a superb cast” and says it’s “Philip Schneider as Josh and Wilner as Beverly, his snarky but wise paternal grandmother, who make up the emotional core of the show.” 

Doubt: A Parable
Actor’s Express, May 2025

Written by John Patrick Shanley, this production about dark secrets hidden behind religion engaged audiences with its open-ended mystery. Benjamin Carr praised the cast in his review, calling Tess Malis Kincaid “one of the city’s best performers [who] tackles some of the most difficult roles in the canon with relish,” while Justin Walker “betrays nothing with his excellent approach” and Tiffany Denise Hobbs commands a “particularly intense and surprising single scene.”

Young John Lewis
Theatrical Outfit, June 2025

John Lewis, a key figure in Civil Rights, was depicted during his younger years of making “good trouble” in this world premiere musical starring Michael Bahsil. With lyricist Psalmayene 24, director/choreographer Thomas W. Jones II and composer Eugene H. Russell IV, the successful show continues touring the state this winter. ArtsATL critic Leon Stafford reviewed the production as “part comedy and part history lesson but mostly a love letter to the leader in musical form.”

Fiddler on the Roof
Alliance with the Atlanta Opera, September 2025

You’ve probably seen this 20th century classic written in 1964 by Jerry Bock, but the 2025 staging from Atlanta Opera and the Alliance Theatre was, according to Luke Evans, “simultaneously a delight and a gut punch, with director Tomer Zvulun leaning fully into the highs and lows of the classic musical.”

The Glass Menagerie
Theatrical Outfit, November 2025

Selected as a personal favorite by Artistic Director Matthew Torney, this staging of Tennessee Williams’ first play was a “simple but effective production,” according toArtsATL critic Jim Farmer, who praised the four-person cast as a “tight ensemble” and Torney’s direction as “unrushed and natural.”