If you had October 10 circled for The Taming of the Shrew on the Town Green, where did it go? It moved to Saturday, November 7. The Merchant of Venice was already set for the following Saturday, November 14, so the postponement put both shows a week apart at 64 N. Avondale Rd.
Both are free. The two Saturdays also fall in the first fall since a handful of new food spots opened within a few blocks of the lawn. In 2025 you would have packed a picnic at home. This November you can pick one up on the walk over.
How an October Opener Became a November Doubleheader
According to Commissioner Ted Terry's October 13 announcement, the October 10 performance was postponed after "last weekend's extreme weather," and the new date for The Taming of the Shrew is November 7. The city's event page now carries a "RESCHEDULED" tag and describes the series as "rain or shine." So for November, plan on the show going ahead in light weather.
The rest of the fall now lines up like this:
- Saturday, November 7: The Taming of the Shrew, moved from October 10
- Saturday, November 14: The Merchant of Venice
- Saturday, December 5: A Christmas Carol, the Dickens story that closes the season
By the time this post goes up, the first of those Saturdays is a week and a half away. The second comes seven days later, and the Christmas Carol show three weeks after that.
Third Season, New Name, New Company
This is the series' third season but its first under the name Shakespeare at Sunset. It started in fall 2025 as A Shakespeare Happening. Both that inaugural fall and the spring 2026 season were performed by the Atlanta Shakespeare Company. The spring lineup was Much Ado About Nothing on March 21, A Midsummer Night's Dream on April 18 and Romeo and Juliet on May 23, according to the city's March release.
This fall has a new troupe. Georgia Classic Theatre was founded by longtime Shakespeare actor and director Allen O'Reilly. The commissioner's release says many of its artists performed with the former Georgia Shakespeare, which ran at Oglethorpe University from 1985 until 2014. So some of the actors on the Avondale lawn come from the company that was metro Atlanta's main classical stage for nearly three decades.
Behind the scenes, the series is a partnership with the City of Avondale Estates. Terry's Super District 6 office pays for it, and Nicole Sage produces it through Bard x Sage PR. Rough Draft Atlanta reported that the new name comes with a later start, with shows timed to begin at sunset. Sage explained the reason in the commissioner's release:
"This season's performances have been rescheduled to begin at sunset, creating a more comfortable outdoor experience and an even more captivating theatrical atmosphere as audiences enjoy Shakespeare in the outdoors the way Shakespeare intended."
In the same release, City Manager Patrick Bryant tied the series back to the town's origins. He called it "especially fitting to host Shakespeare in our community, whose founders found inspiration in Stratford-upon-Avon." Founder George Francis Willis took that inspiration from a trip he and his wife made to Stratford, a link the city also cited when it announced the first fall series in 2025.
The timing is part of a bigger anniversary, too. Bryant said Shakespeare returns "as Avondale Estates begins its centennial celebration." The city's August 20 release says that celebration runs from August 2026 through January 2028. It started with a street festival on Franklin Street on August 28 and a ticketed gala at The Lake House on Lake Avondale the next night. The city is also asking residents, organizations and businesses to submit their own events or projects for official centennial recognition, so the lineup will keep growing over the next 15 months.
How the Evening Runs
The city publishes the same schedule for both November dates:
- 6:00 p.m. Live music starts on the green
- 6:15 p.m. Children's programming
- 7:00 p.m. Main performance
The event pages also list performance highlights and an audience Q&A, and they say chairs and picnics are welcome. Georgia Classic Theatre describes its community shows as abridged, family-friendly outdoor performances of about an hour, with early-career performers directed by O'Reilly. It suggests bringing a chair or blanket. Its page still lists the old October 10 date, so go by the city calendar for dates.
If the play runs about an hour, you can arrive for the music, eat during the kids' programming and be heading home not long after 8 p.m. The 15 minutes of kids' programming before the play make it easier to bring young children.
Packing the Picnic From a Few Blocks Away
This is where 2026 differs from last fall. Several of the spots below opened this summer, and all of them are a short walk from the Town Green.
Along East College Avenue. Bun & Bombay is an Indian café at 2711 E. College Ave. 285 South profiled it in early August, when it had been open a little over a week. All its seating is outdoors in a wooden pavilion beside the historic Waffle House. The menu leans on Mumbai street food like vada pav, samosa chaat and a paneer tikka panini. It takes orders online, which makes a pickup on the way to the green easy.
Next door, Galore Market is a neighborhood market from the team behind O4W Market in Old Fourth Ward. It took over a former tire shop, and the city held its ribbon cutting on July 22. A little farther down, Ford's Chicken at 2759 E. College Ave. comes from the team behind Ford's BBQ. It serves charcoal and wood-fired rotisserie chicken and opened in August, according to Rough Draft Atlanta's August openings roundup. Its site says it's now open, with online ordering and to-go service. A whole rotisserie chicken feeds a blanket of people for the length of one abridged play.
On North Avondale Road. Green Coyote lists its Avondale Estates location at 70 N. Avondale Rd. #110, open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, with online ordering. For dessert, Cremalosa Gelato is open at The Dale.
After the curtain. If you'd rather sit down once the show ends, Last Dance is in the former Rising Son space at 124 N. Avondale Rd. in Tudor Village. Decaturish reported dinner service Thursday through Monday, 5 to 10 p.m. Both performances are on Saturdays and wrap up around 8 p.m., so a post-show reservation fits inside those hours. Check with the restaurant before you count on that schedule.
Our July look at the storefronts filling in around the Town Green covered the summer tenants arriving. These two November Saturdays are an easy evening to try several of them, with free theater on the lawn in between.
The Sunday Mornings in Between
Both play weekends end with a Sunday on the same lawn. The Avondale Estates Farmers Market runs every Sunday at the Town Green. The city calendar says winter hours of 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. start November 1, but individual November listings still show 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. If you're going this Sunday, which is November 1, check the market's posted hours first.
Here's how the next five weeks on the green line up: market on November 1; The Taming of the Shrew on November 7; market on the 8th; The Merchant of Venice on the 14th; market on the 15th; and A Christmas Carol on December 5 to close the season. The Shakespeare dates and the Christmas Carol show are free.
Our team lives and works around these streets, and if you're weighing a move within Avondale Estates or nearby, we can talk through what's happening near the Town Green block by block. Find more on our Avondale Estates neighborhood page, or reach out to Golley Realty Group to Talk to a Decatur Neighborhood Expert.
