The Next Big Idea

Who hasn’t sat in a room with a loved one and engaged in some spit balling around a great idea for a small business start up? 

The term “small business” is a misnomer, as there is certainly nothing small about its impact. Small businesses fuel economic flexibility, create jobs, foster innovation and fill many needs within our local economies. In a global economy that is dominated by big businesses, it is even more imperative that entrepreneurial initiatives focus on seeds of business ideas that provide services based on real consumer needs, not necessarily profit margins. 

And of course, many times these seedlings take off and become the Next Big Idea. 

Here in our very own Atlanta, CEO and Founder Pinky Cole started the cheekily named Slutty Vegan as a way to provide healthy vegan food options for the community, and Sara Blakely (founder of Spanx) was looking for the right undergarment to provide a smooth look under pants. Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank dreamed up The Home Depot from a coffee shop in Los Angeles, with the vision that employees would personally walk customers through home repair or improvement. In Australia, Melanie Perkins (co-founder and CEO of the free-to-use online design platform, Canva) and her boyfriend Cliff Obrecht saw classmates struggling with design software at university and dreamed up a more accessible tool. 

In the early 2000’s, when many cultural organizations in Atlanta were struggling, longtime arts supporter and financial advisor of the Kendeda Fund, Barry Berlin, approached the Fund’s founder, Diana Blank, about creating a program to strengthen the arts in Atlanta. They invited multiple arts organizations in the city to submit their own big idea that they would execute if finances were not a consideration. Susan Booth pitched the idea of a program that would result in a world premiere by an emerging playwright fresh out of graduate school. From there, the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Program took flight. 

Previous Alliance/Kendeda Competition winners Furlough’s Paradise, DREAM HOU$E, and The Many Wondrous Realities of Jasmine Starr-Kidd. Photos by Greg Mooney.

Over the course of 21 years, this big idea has led to 21 world premieres of new plays and a total of 107 up and coming playwrights gracing our rehearsal halls and stages. What started as an acknowledgment of a need (we must continue to invest not only in the development of emerging playwrights’ work, but also the producing of the work) has become a yearly steadfast commitment to five writers from various MFA playwriting programs across the country. Each year, one play graces the Hertz Stage, and four finalist plays receive rigorous development attention by way of workshops and public readings. What started as a dream became a reality, and this nationally renowned initiative has become a staple in the canon of Alliance Theatre’s new work initiatives. 

Here’s to 21 more years of dreaming up the Next Big Idea. 

Business Ideas will premiere on the Hertz Stage November 16 through December 15, 2024 – learn more.