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To View Performance Photos Click Here .   Water is Life Part 1 Hidden Springs   Atlanta Spirit of the Springs Inspiration Two major influences, history and healing, inspired the creation of Hidden Springs - an original, outdoor, site specific performance work. In September 2000 I became the Artistic Director of The MASK Center - located on the ground floor of The Little Five Points Community Center in Atlanta. During renovation into an exhibit, studio and performing venue Joe Shifalo, the then building manager, told me the space was directly above a spring that had once been part of a field hospital that treated injured soldiers during The Civil War. I think of this often as I work and create in the space. This historic reality has been aching to express itself artistically for over a decade and especially now as 2011 begins the 150th anniversary of The Civil War. Water to Heal During the summer of 2009 with support from Alternate ROOTS and the Ford Foundation I returned...

Honeybees are Important! written and directed by Sandra Hughes was performed by Gateway Performance Productions in Atlanta, Georgia on February 25th. The production was  presented  by Young Audiences at the Woodruff Arts Center.  Principal performer and master gardener  Jerilynn Bedingfield portrays an Italian Honey Bee. Italian honeybees are favorites of  beekeepers in the USA.  Honey Bee is in trouble! Comic characters from the Italian Commedia del' Arte Theatre - Michael Hickey as Arlequino and Sandra Hughes as Columbina - are determined to do everything they can to help Honey Bee stay healthy and able to pollinate to keep all the delicious, nutritious foods she makes possible in their diet... Photos: Bunny Vrooman ... and in their beloved chicken Sylvia's diet as well. Sylvia is portrayed by Fieldtrip- a particularly gentle chicken who lives at Oakhurst Community Garden in Decatur, Geor...

"Frida and Diego in 4" -a tribute to Mexican visual artists Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera - is a dance theatre piece choreographed and directed by Sandra Hughes, performed by Jerilynn Bedingfield and Michael Hickey to original music by Tom Spach in hand-carved masks created by Mr. Hickey. It previews on Sat., May 30th as part of the Southern Order of Storytellers Spring Story Fest. The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy Theatre in Atlanta. "Frida and Diego in 4" then premieres in Denmark on June 18th at the Aeroe International Maskfestival . The Journey to "Frida & Diego in 4" What emerged during rehearsals for "Frida & Diego in 4" lead to the creation of a piece about Frida's essential passions - her art and Diego Rivera. It lasts a 4 little over minutes. The journey to these handful of minutes took years. Photo: Sandra Hughes Performer: Jerilynn Bedingfield Frida Kahlo said there were two great accidents in her life....

A Winter Celebration for Transformation produced by Gateway Performances Productions in collaboration with the Dancing Flowers for Peace, the New Acropolis Cultural Association of Atlanta and performing artists from String Theory was performed on December 29, 2008 to a capacity audience at The Academy Theatre. Guest spoken word artist and musician from Santa Fe, New Mexico Robert Poorman - accompanied by David Hirschorn's inspired guitar music - was a wise and, at times, whimsical ring master. Mask theatre performed by Gateway's director, choreographer Sandra Hughes and mask maker Michael Hickey conjured the duo's ancient Irish ancestors. String Theory performed by poet Alice Teeter, violinist Chip Epsten, choreographer-dancer Priscilla Smith and dancers Eleanor Brownfield, Jaehn Clare, Steve Seaberg and Sally Wylde evoked cheers from the crowd. Atlanta's beloved Dancing Flowers for Peace - represented by Karen Adler, Lynn Hesse, Sandra Hughes, Randy Hyman, Leila La...

Here are photo images of Michael Hickey and I in my new play Coyote and the Bees at the Chat tahoochee Nature Center in Roswell, Georgia on Saturday, July 5th. Honeybees are currently dying all over our planet. In the play when the coyotes fin d out about this they are determined to find a way to help the honeybees. Coyote and the Bees is a perfect show for youth and family audiences. It's now available to tour nationally and interna tion ally. Please contact Gateway Performance Productions in Atlanta for more information: email: gatewaypp@masktheatre.org phone: 404 222 9262 or fax: 404 222 9680. Photos by: Michael Birnbaum

Coyote and the Bees - premiered Saturday, July 5 at the Chattahoochee Nature Center in Atlanta. Award-winning and featured nature photographers - Michael and Nat Birbaum - assisted us with set up as coyote and bee masks waited patiently for Michael Hickey and I to donn them to be gin the show. I wrote the play to address the current world-wide challenges to our honeybee population. Coyotes once faced near extinction and now thrive well beyond their original geographic areas. In the play the coyotes come to the assistance of the dying and disappearing honeybees and encourage humans to do the same. With masks and puppets created by Michael Hickey, movement and music Coyote and the Bees is ideal for family and youth audiences. It's now available to tour statewide, regionally, nationally and internationally. For more information or to arrange a performance please contact Gateway Performance Productions phone: 404 222-9262.

Here's a recent review written by Barbara Knott about our production of the Heart of Rumi with (from left to right) David Hirschorn , Hilda Willis, Alireza Danaie as the poet Rumi, myself, Michael Hickey and Melanie Anderson. Photo: Elham Danaie

Company co-founder Michael Hickey and I met at The MASK Center to finalize artistic plans for two new productions next year. While I organized my sketches and outlines Mike fell into a musical mood and noodled on his Irish tin whistle. ... Half the items in this studio will soon have a new home at the Sandra L. Hughes Theatre Collection housed at the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Institute at Ohio State Univeristy.

Michael Hickey, resident mask maker at The Mask Center, created an exhibit of his masks for the May 2 in-house Open House at the Little Five Points Community Center. This event and others like it promote awareness and connectedness within the diverse community of artists and non-profit organizations at the community center.

I attended a conference in Washington D.C. hosted by the National Performance Network in 2002. Since it was post 9/11 there were plenty of new topics that included - the ongoing importance of individual artists and small performing arts groups as creators of some of the most meaningful community arts projects in this country and the sense of isolation many of these same artists experience. I'm part of the artistic leadership for a small arts organization based in Atlanta called Gateway Performance Productions. The company's 34 years old and has toured performances, residencies, workshops and mask exhibits to 30 states in the U.S. and 12 other countries with a nu mber of programs created for Public Television to its credit. I'm also an individual artist for internationl, national, regional, statewide and local residency programs. Each year I perform for and teach thousands of people from diverse backgrounds with a special commitment to under-served and low-income populations...