Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre
2022 | FACTBOOK 145
FACTBOX
eyes return to limelight
Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre
2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway
Atlanta, GA 30339
Phone number: 770-916-2800
Website: cobbenergycentre.com
Capacity: 2,750
Parking: 1,000 spaces
Opened: September 2007
Resident companies:
The Atlanta Ballet, The Atlanta Opera
Staff report
The parent company of the Cobb Energy Performing Arts
Centre began its 2020 year-in review with a quote: “It was the
best of times, and it was the worst of times.”
The opening line of Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities”
summed up a year that, at its outset, was shaping up to be
among the best in the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum & Exhibit Hall
Authority’s history, said Michele Swann, authority CEO.
Then the pandemic struck.
Live performance venues the world over struggled in 2020,
and the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre (CEPAC) was
no exception. But the venue was as well-positioned as any to
weather the storm, according to its leadership. And with the
debut of vaccines, CEPAC is gearing up to retake its position as
the county’s premier destination for live entertainment.
The Performing Arts Centre is beginning to fill out its fall
lineup, with appearances from a suite of performers, including
comedians Bert Kreischer, Bill Burr, Jeanne Robertson, Rickey
Smiley and George Lopez.
CEPAC was the first major performing arts venue built in
metro Atlanta in four decades when it opened in 2007, and
became one of metro Atlanta’s premiere venues for Broadway
shows, ballet, concerts, operas, educational shows, family
performances, corporate meetings, wedding receptions and
galas. It also hosts two resident companies: the Atlanta Ballet
and the Atlanta Opera.
In June 2019, Vickie Hubbard took the helm as managing
director, bringing over 30 years of progressive, hands-on
experience in the overall management, promotion and
operation of arts, entertainment and sports venues. Before
CEPAC, she was executive director of the H. Ric Luhrs
Performing Arts Center on the campus of Shippensburg
University in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.
The CEPAC venue includes the 2,750-seat John A. Williams
Theatre, the 10,000-square-foot Kessel D. Stelling Jr. Ballroom,
a terrace, 1,000 parking spaces including a 700-space parking
deck, and full-service food and beverage capabilities.
But those seats remained empty for more than a year after the
pandemic first shuttered its doors.
As Swann noted in an interview this spring, the very features
which make the Performing Arts Centre such a compelling
venue for artists and guests alike hindered its ability to reopen
its doors. She compared the venue’s setup with that of the
nearby Roxy.
“They’ve got a flat floor … and what they’re capitalizing on
and very successfully doing, is that they’re doing almost like a
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