The 2022 Fall Season Preview: Six Atlanta artists to watch

Danielle Deadwyler

When the powerful first trailer for the film Till went public in late July, the reaction was immediate. The response to Danielle Deadwyler’s starring turn as Emmett Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, was so strong, you would’ve thought that the full biographical drama had been released instead of two-and-a-half minutes of quick-cut scenes. For instance, this Vanity Fair rave: “What Deadwyler’s performance captures . . . is not horror or even strength in the face of adversity, but an emotional depth that comes across even when her character is completely silent.”

Atlantans who have seen this highly individualistic native daughter act for years for local companies including Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre, Horizon Theatre, Synchronicity Theatre, Theatrical Outfit, Aurora Theatre and Alliance Theatre, as well as in her own independent films, could nod knowingly. ArtsATL named her as one of our “Maker’s Dozen” in 2015. She’s come a long way since. Deadwyler has been so busy piling up increasingly prestigious film and TV credits the last few years that her artist website looks overdue for an update. Her CV doesn’t list more recent work such as HBO Max’s Station Eleven, Starz’s P-Valley or Netflix’s The Harder They Fall. For that matter, it doesn’t mention the much-anticipated Till, due for release October 14. It’s OK, world; Atlanta will share her. 

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Nathalie Stutzmann

Nathalie Stutzmann is a rock star in the classical-music world (take a moment to watch the video below of her singing contralto on a Handel piece while also, at the same time, conducting the orchestra). When she was named music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra last year, she became only the second woman ever to lead a major American symphony. In guest appearances that doubled as auditions, Stutzmann energized the orchestra. Following a performance the week she was named music director, ArtsATL reviewer Jordan Owen said Stutzmann brought a “triumphant and exuberant shot of vitality in the arm of a symphony orchestra long constrained by a sense of genteel, crowd-pleasing politeness.”

Stutzmann is the only woman currently leading a major symphony orchestra and with Jennifer Barlament as the executive director, the top ASO leadership is all female. After a decade of losing money, the orchestra has experienced a profound righting of the ship under Barlament, and Stutzmann is expected to elevate the musical prominence. “Nathalie is a conductor of historic significance,” Barlament said. “Her focus on making magic happen while providing liberty to the musicians, along with her uncompromising standards, will bring the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra into a new era.” Stutzmann makes her debut October 6, conducting Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

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Tinashe Kajese-Bolden 

Tinashe Kajese-Bolden’s online bio for Everybody, the Alliance Theatre season opener that she is co-directing with Alliance artistic director Susan Booth, doesn’t mention one of her bigger career credits. With Booth departing in mid-September to helm Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, Kajese-Bolden has been tapped, along with fellow associate artistic director Christopher Moses, to handle artistic initiatives (under managing director Mike Schleifer) while a national search continues for the leader who will guide Atlanta’s biggest theater to its next stage. There’s buzz around the city that the best choice might already be right here, but Kajese-Bolden would seem to be doing just fine no matter how that quiet drama plays out. 

The Zimbabwe native directed one the Alliance’s best shows last season, Toni Stone, another in a growing list of directing-acting-producing credits. Kajese-Bolden is a Princess Grace 2019 Award Winner for Directing, and Map Fund Award recipient to develop her All Smiles, centering the experience of children on the autism spectrum, for the Alliance’s Theater for the Very Young (it opens in late January). She also serves on ArtsATL’s Artist Advisory Council. “My mission is the pursuit of what connects our different communities,” she says, “and how we create art that serves that.” (Photo by Aniska Tonge)

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Western-Li Summerton

One of Gennadi Nedvigin’s goals since joining Atlanta Ballet as artistic director in 2016 has been to include live music at every performance. Enter pianist Western-Li Summerton, affectionately known as “Westy.” He joined Atlanta Ballet in February in the new role of company pianist/music administration coordinator. His experience includes stints with The Portland Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre and Alonzo King LINES Ballet in San Francisco.

He made his Atlanta debut in May with Claudia Schreier’s Pleiades Dances, his fingers artfully doing their own dance with the music of contemporary Japanese composer Takashi Yoshimatsu. Says Nedvigin: “Western-Li brings a fresh breath into our performances. Having a live touch by a musician like Western-Li provokes dancers and audience alike to feel his interpretation of performed compositions mirrored on stage.” On September 16-18, Summerton will be one of the pianists playing Philip Glass’ Four Movements for Two Pianos for the Atlanta Ballet premiere of Justin Peck’s In Creases.

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Leo Briggs

Leo Briggs (she/they) has been described as “an out and proud nonbinary dancer and choreographer who is making unapologetically queer dance in the Atlanta community.” ArtsATL dance writer Robin Wharton experienced Briggs’ first evening-length work, Search History, this year as “spellbinding” and Briggs’ performance in Catherine Messina’s Weave in the 2021 Dance Canvas was a standout.

Briggs’ commitment to dance as a means of “love, pleasure and liberation” has been making waves for a while: Briggs’ solo Backtalk was selected for the gala performance of the American College Dance Association regional conference in 2018. Briggs is a recipient of the Sudler Prize in the Arts from Emory University and this year is an Emory Arts and Social Justice Fellow. Briggs will be a principal dancer in Nathan Griswold’s work-in-progress Tile at the Windmill Arts Center November 4 and 5.

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Dr. Liz Andrews

Named executive director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in fall 2021, Dr. Liz Andrews has impressive plans for the museum’s permanent collection: immersive installations by Firelei Báez, one bronze sculpture by Elizabeth Catlett, quilts by Faith Ringgold and postmodernist paintings by Emma Amos, the last living artist and only female member of Romare Bearden’s Spiral collective.

Andrews anticipates collecting more pieces by 2025 than were added in the past 15 years. The daughter of a prominent civil rights lawyer who worked on the Brown v. Board of Education team, Andrews is poised to recharge the 26-year-old museum’s commitment to art by women of the African diaspora, especially those committed to social change. The current exhibit, Lava Thomas: Homecoming, marks the reopening of the museum after being closed for almost two years.

Read our entire 2022 Fall Season Preview HERE.