COMMUNITY
“ Nightmare on 14th St .” The Bard Show Returns !
EMILY MOLINIÉ Bloom Parham LLP emolinie @ bloom-law . com
I nstant partnership – just by casting a spell ? What sounds like a dream for the summer associate who just got ditched by the shrewd shareholders of R . S . V . P . (“ sorry , no offer for you ”) and is now sifting through a bunch of old books at the firm ’ s library , quickly turns into a nightmare for the partners – the “ Nightmare on 14th Street .” This is the plot of the newest edition of the Atlanta Bard Show , a musical theater production created in 1999 by the late Cathy O ’ Neil and since then traditionally entirely written , produced , and performed by Atlanta lawyers . After a six-year hiatus , the beloved show on November 8 and 9 , 2024 at the Porter Sanford III Arts and Community Center , came back with a “ bang ” – or should we say , a scream ?
Because once recited , the spell releases a horde of creatures from the underworld : Ghosts and goblins , mummies and monsters , werewolves and witches , villains and vampires , all represented by Atlanta lawyers , leap into our dimension , led by the indomitable witch and vampire duo “ Ting & Loudly ” ( exquisitely
evil : Caroline Milby and Loren Collins ) that manages to convince the well-meaning but chronically overlooked R . S . V . P . associate ( saintly soulful : Alan Bakowski ) to sign a takeover contract – of course , by promising him partner status at the newly established firm to which all R . S . V . P .’ s lawyers are now bound for eternity - and beyond .
Throughout the show , we meet a hilarious cast of characters that any lawyer will immediately recognize . Besides the young and pretty summer associates , there is the soon-to-be-retired partner focused on his new beach house in Florida ( very convincing : Joe McLaughlin ) and his gatekeeper secretary “ Ms . Doubtfire ” ( Meghann K . Humphreys ), the cut-throat associate Mark ( Kevin Weimer ), the partner who learned nothing from # metoo ( hilarious to watch : Elizabeth Story and The Hon . Michael Jacobs as HR managers reigning him in ), and the red-blooded , all-American partner who sees a desire for work-life balance as yet another sign of the younger generation sliding into socialism . And , because no story is complete without some romance , we witness a young-and-in-love attorney-
18 NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2024