Arts & Entertainment

Strand Singers Visit East Cobb

They offered a preview of this summer's "The Motown Sound" at Commissioner Bob Ott's town hall meeting this week.

How about some Diana Ross and the Supremes with the latest updates on local zoning and transportation issues?

That's what 50 or so East Cobb citizens got on Wednesday at District 2 Commissioner Bob Ott's town hall meeting at Walton High School. 

Three young performers taking part in "The Motown Sound," which is playing July 4-14 at the Earl Smith Strand Theatre, offered a glimpse of what will be on stage this summer. 

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Ott, who's a Strand board member and has performed there himself, said he wanted to bring -- ahem -- a strand of the Strand to the other side of the Big Chicken. 

He wants to close what he sees as an information gap between what happens on the Marietta Square from those living in East Cobb. 

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Ott invited Strand executive director Earl Reece, who grew up in East Cobb, to explain what the theater, which opened in 1935, has to offer. 

In addition to community-based programs like "The Motown Sound," the Strand has private event space to lease out as well as "The Performula," a summer music theatre lab for rising 4th through rising 9th graders July 15-19.

The Strand recently lost a regular tenant when the Atlanta Lyric Theatre announced it was leaving after five years for the Jennie T. Anderson Theatre at the Cobb Civic Center. 

Introducing "The Motown Sound" singers was Strand assistant director Catherine Rhodes, who's been giving Ott some voice lessons.

"When's Bob going to sing?" asked a citizen. 

"Not tonight," Ott replied. 


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