Writer, choreographer, director, performer, teaching artist Sandra Hughes creates and provides artistic content for original productions and also adapts productions from existing sources. Productions are presented locally, nationally and internationally. Venues and mediums include indoor and outdoor stages, television, film and radio.
Ms. Hughes also conceives and designs large-scale visual art installations and visual art elements for exhibit and presentation in conjunction with productions.
Workshops for adults and youth facilitated by Ms. Hughes are available if needed to generate design elements for visual art items and art installations as well as content for productions.
Sandra Hughes is the Producing Artistic Director of Gateway Performance Productions.
Previous Commissions
Art on the Atlanta Beltline, Consulate General of Ireland
We Have Risen — Outdoor Production with a Large-Scale Visual Art Installation/3-Month Exhibit
Concept, Design, Writer, Adapter, Choreographer, Director, Performer
A centenary commemoration of Ireland’s Easter Rising with an historic African-American dimension.
Consulate General of Ireland, Atlanta
We Have Risen — Indoor Production
Concept, Writer, Adapter, Choreographer, Director, Performer, Teaching Artist
A centenary commemoration of Ireland’s Easter Rising with an historic African-American dimension.
Ferst Center for the Performing Arts, Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta Masonic Auditorium.
Additional Support: City of Atlanta, Fulton County Arts and Culture, Power2Give Atlanta
Art on the Atlanta Beltline
A Moveable Feast – Outdoor Production with Large –Scale Visual Art Installation/3 Month Exhibit
Concept, Design, Writer, Adapter, Choreographer, Director, Performer, Teaching Artist
The impact of food on families, cultures and communities
Additional Support: City of Atlanta, Fulton County Arts and Culture, Power2Give Atlanta
24 Grievances — Outdoor Production with Large Scale Visual Art Installation/3 month Exhibit
Concept, Design, Writer, Adapter, Choreographer, Director, Teaching Artist
Classic quotes and contemporary community grievances are given artistic expression.
Additional Support: City of Atlanta, Fulton County Arts and Culture
Year of the Dragon — Outdoor Production with a 40′ Floating Dragon/Art Installation on a Small Lake
Concept, Design, Choreographer, Director
A commemoration and celebration of the Chinese Year of the Dragon.
Additional Support: City of Atlanta, Fulton County Arts and Culture
Hidden Springs, Atlanta — Water is Life – Outdoor Production with 13 Visual Art Bowls
Concept, Design, Choreographer, Director
A commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of the U.S. Civil War and a tribute to 12 Natural Springs located in Atlanta.
City of Dalton, Georgia
Simple Gifts — Indoor Production with Peacock Alley Exhibition and Photography Exhibit
Concept, Writer, Adapter, Choreographer, Director, Teaching Artist
First Presbyterian Church
The birth of Dalton’s worldwide textile industry emerges from a handcrafted gift made by a local resident.
Additional Support: National Endowment for the Arts, Alternate ROOTS, Creative Arts Guild, Whitfield-Murray Historical Society, Brookwood School and PTA, Prater’s Mill Foundation, Charter Media, Peacock Alley Antique Gallery.
The McCracken Cultural Society — Belfast, Northern Ireland
A Mummer’s Tale of the Seasons — Indoor Production
Concept, Writer, Choreographer, Director, Performer
Duncarin Complex (Currently the Duncarin Center for Culture and Arts)
Created for an annual Peace and Reconciliation Project in N. Belfast.
In ancient Ireland there were only two seasons – ruled over by two sisters, The Summer Queen and The Winter Queen. Their sibling rivalry creates the changing seasons.
Singing Shy — Indoor Production
Concept, Writer, Choreographer, Director, Performer
Duncarin Complex (currently the Duncarin Center for Culture and Arts)
Created for an annual Peace and Reconciliation Project in N. Belfast.
A bevy of fantastic mask characters perform dramatic enactments of events in Irish history as well as whimsical works full of comedy and physical humor. Performed in the English and Irish languages.
A Few Words in Irish — Indoor Production
Concept, Writer, Choreographer, Director, Performer
Duncarin Complex (Currently the Duncarin Center for Culture and Arts)
Created for an annual Peace and Reconciliation Project in N. Belfast.
Learning a few words in the Irish language while experiencing a dramatic enactment of the ancient Irish Ulster myth of Emain Macha restore a despondent lad to his most cheerful self.
The Gallup Area Arts Council — New Mexico
Great Moments in Gallup’s History — Indoor Production
Concept, Writer
The (Historic) El Morro Theatre
A tribute to Gallup’s history and people that includes The Diné Code-Talkers (often referred to as the Navajo Code Talkers), the closing of the Japanese school during World War II, the building of the railroad and the impact of the film industry.
Comments and Quotes
Sandra,
Your hugely ambitious project (We Have Risen) was entirely successful and perfectly timely. It is ideal for Atlanta in this centenary year.
Shane Stephens, Consul General,
Consulate General of Ireland, Atlanta
Dear Sandy,
I just wanted to congratulate you again for a superb production (We Have Risen). I found it deeply moving, entertaining and educational. The Irish and African-American parallels were brought forward very powerfully, yet without forcing them at all. Telling the Irish story is in itself massive, but to bring in the African-American and even Scots- Irish stories was utterly daunting. In doing so with a vast array of musical, poetic, histrionic, dance, mimetic, masked and dramatic voices presenting a number of different perspectives from Atlanta communities, white and black, was yet another layering. It’s hard to imagine anyone but you carrying it off. The work deserves to be seen by a much larger audience, and in many different locales.”
Dr. James W. Flannery
Director, W.B. Yeats Foundation
Winship Professor Emeritus of the Arts and Humanities
Emory University, Atlanta
The McCracken Cultural Society aims to include different age groups, social, ethnic and cultural backgrounds and to provide a forum where people can feel free to come participate, learn and exchange points of view in a positive and tolerant environment. A Mummers Tale (of the Seasons) dealt with a Celtic perspective on the changing seasons with music, commentary and mime. The Great Hall was filled to capacity … children plus adults … and while Gateway (Performance Productions) encouraged audience participation they could scarcely have foreseen the lively enthusiasm and overwhelming response shown by the young people in attendance, especially when the sweets and fruits were produced! This proved to be a highly successful family event — and we must also thank Gateway for their very full participation in other aspects of the school, as they attended the beginners’ Irish class. They were the perfect guests in every aspect.
Dr. A. J. Hughes, MA, MesL, PhD
McCracken Cultural Society
Belfast, Northern Ireland
I wanted to write to express my thanks to everyone involved in the organization of the McCracken Summer School. I had a wonderfully enjoyable and stimulating week … I hope the North Belfast Tourism Project can continue to support the development of the school as a beacon of what can be done to bring visitors from all around the world to North Belfast.
Geraldine Wilkins
Coordinator,
North Belfast Tourism Project
Belfast, Northern Ireland