MACON, Ga. — The Macon-Mercer Symphony Orchestra has the first show of its new season on Monday night. This performance has nods to Macon's 200-year history.
The Bicentennial Committee commissioned Mercer Professor Andrew Silver to write a documentary play called Macon Portrait.
The play features speeches from prominent Macon neighbors like Carla Redding-Andrews, Justin Andrews, Tracy Revis and more. The play is paired with a score by Aaron Copland called "Appalachian Spring".
“I think any bicentennial is not only about who we were but who we are and who we’re going to be,” Silver said.
He said he wanted the show to be a welcome and invite diverse perspectives from the community to talk about what it means to them.
Silver says he works with words primarily but he’s also a musician. He says for this show pairing his script with Copeland’s score allows for both pieces to become more beautiful.
“It’s a story that works through hardships into kind of a reconciliation for the city and I think it means something that that hope is bright to us by people who are trying to make this place an even better place for the future,” he said.
The show opens with stories of the Indigenous community, who are forced from the land and move through all the bright and dark parts of Macon’s legacy.
Silver hopes the show is a memorable and powerful experience for all who see it but he warns that you might want to bring a tissue with you. The performers do get personal as they discuss their part in Macon's history and what the city has meant to them.
“These are people who are totally committed to Macon who love Macon, who are filled with creativity, who are filled with hope for Macon and they're clear-eyed about the past as well,” he said.
Silver said the performers represent just a cross-section of some of the best of Macon. He says in the next 200 years he hopes Macon is kind and welcoming.
“If we’re kind and welcoming the creativity will follow. It always follows,” he said.
The show is tonight at 7:30 p.m. and as of now you can still get tickets at the box office at the Grand Opera House.