Luminescent Wires Bring Dunwoody Community Center Performance to Life

This February, Dunwoody’s Marcus Jewish Community Center will stage two performances from Lightwire Theatre, a theater company that uses electroluminescent wires in its illuminated puppetry show.

Lightwire Theatre’s performance at the community center will combind puppetry, music and dazzling choreography to breathe new life into two timeless tales: Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling, and Aesop’s fable, The Tortoise and the Hare.

It was with a mutual appreciation of art, theater and technology that Lightwire Theatre creators Ian Carney and Corbin Popp dreamed up their company. After meeting while dancing in Movin’ Out on Broadway, the pair stumbled across electroluminescent wire, a technology powered by batteries that, unlike string lights, creates a continuous line of visible light.

“The ancient art of full-body puppetry gets a magical, luminous update,” New York Post dance writer Leigh Witchel wrote of Lightwire’s productions. “Children will love the clear, fast-paced stories … and adults will enjoy the musical in-jokes and marvel at how the heck Lightwire Theater does it all with only four people!”

The community center will hold two performances of The Ugly Duckling and The Tortoise and the Hare at the Morris & Rae Frank Theatre on Sunday, Feb. 8: the first at 11 a.m. and another at 2 p.m. The play lasts approximately two hours and is recommended for children ages four through ten.

Both members and non-members can purchase tickets to this event in person at the front desk, from the Marcus Jewish Community Center’s online box office, or by calling 678-812-4002. Ticket prices range from $10 to $20.

Located at 5342 Tilly Mill Road in Dunwoody, the Marcus Jewish Community Center hosts a number of art events and theater productions throughout the year. Earlier this month, the center produced a lively musical rendition of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and January 2015 will see productions of Rain Pryor’s solo performance, Fried Chicken & Latkes, as well as a performance from jazz group Bonaventure Quartet.

Find more upcoming events on the Marcus Jewish Community Center’s event calendar.

Photo courtesy of the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta; video via Lightwire Theatre’s YouTube channel.

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