Aurora Theatre will present Waitress, a Broadway musical featuring music and lyrics by Grammy Award-winner Sara Bareilles, running May 22–June 15, 2025, at the Lawrenceville Arts Center.
Based on the motion picture written by Adrienne Shelly, Waitress tells the story of Jenna, a talented pie-maker who dreams of a fresh start away from her small town and troubled marriage. When a pie-baking contest offers a chance at a new beginning, Jenna must summon her strength to reshape her life. With a heartfelt score and relatable characters, Waitress has been praised as “a little slice of heaven” by Entertainment Weekly.
Waitress is directed by Amanda Wansa Morgan who serves as the artistic director of the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies at Kennesaw State University. With music direction by Aurora Co-Founder and Producing Artistic Director Ann-Carol Pence, Waitress delivers a story of resilience, friendship, and the family we choose, told with Bareilles’ signature warmth and humor.
Says Pence: ”What I love about Waitress is how honest it is. It’s about the real struggles we as women face – juggling work, families, life’s pressures and how we still try to hold onto a piece of ourselves. When our patrons walk into Joe’s Pie Diner they will see themselves on stage. Since the show is set off of U.S. Highway 27, which runs right through Georgia, our story will be about our friends, our neighbors; it’s a story about us.”
For the run of Waitress, Aurora Theatre is proud to be partnering with local bakery Puzzle Piece Pastries of Gainesville to offer mini pies at the bar—perfect for enjoying during the show! Pies will be available for purchase the day of and are also available for pre-order. Flavors may vary.
Puzzle Piece Pastries is a non-profit organization that empowers individuals with special needs by providing job opportunities, delicious desserts, and supporting programs for children with disabilities.
Graduate finds calling by taking care of teachers
Sumayyah Yoonas planned to finish medical school long before her children started kindergarten, but, as she said, “Life has a way of taking our carefully drawn maps and scribbling new routes in permanent marker.”
Yoonas
Yoonas grew up in Dubai and immigrated to the U.S. in 2005 with her husband, Adnan, who works in health care administration. Yoonas put her dreams of being a doctor on hold to raise the couple’s three children.
In 2010 she passed the GED exam, which allowed her to start working as a pharmacy technician. She worked in that field to keep herself plugged into the world of health care as she raised her children, always determined to pursue medical school once her kids were older.
After 14 years, it was time. Yoonas enrolled at Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) in 2020, when she was 33.
“That first semester tested every ounce of my resolve,” she said. “As the pandemic raged, my youngest daughter was diagnosed with a serious condition that landed her in the ICU. There I was – navigating online classes for the first time while sitting beside her hospital bed, struggling with subjects like math that I hadn’t touched in over a decade.”
Amazingly, the pandemic that threatened to derail her education led her to her true calling. As a pharmacy technician, she became immunization-certified to help during the crisis. She worked at the vaccination clinic at St. Philip AME Church in Atlanta, where she administered shots to dozens of schoolteachers. Between injections, they would share stories about their classrooms and students.
“Something awakened in me during those conversations,” said Yoonas. “The desire to heal that had drawn me to medicine suddenly found a new expression – education.”
The notion that she should become a teacher made more sense with each passing day.
“It turns out that after years of managing three teenagers’ homework, schedules and attitudes, and also training new pharmacy technicians, I had unknowingly been in teacher training mode all along!” she said.
Yoonas switched gears and enrolled in GGC’s School of Education (SOE). Her carefully drawn map now had a new path leading her to where she was meant to be.
She fell into her studies with ease and excelled in her classes. She was selected as a resident through a Teacher Quality Partnership grant, was nominated for one of GGC’s Outstanding Student Awards and was featured in SOE’s newsletter for implementing AI in her teaching practice. Her 4.0 GPA earned her a Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society membership.
“These opportunities weren’t just lines on a resume – they were affirmations that I had finally found my path,” she said.
Yoonas and her family will celebrate another milestone when she receives her diploma May 10. Her oldest son, Asim, will graduate from Peachtree Ridge High School two weeks later.
“After he upstaged me by being born one day before my birthday 18 years ago, I finally get my moment back!” she says. “I realize the journey that seemed so interrupted – from the U.A.E. to America, from medical aspirations to teaching, from mother to student, and back to mother – wasn’t interrupted at all. It was simply taking the time it needed to unfold as God planned.”
Lilburn Woman’s Club awards four scholarships
Lilburn Woman’s Club Scholarship recipients from left are Tina Karmon from Gwinnett Technical College; Vicky Le from Parkview High School; and Allison Wong and Makenna Hollis from Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology.
The Lilburn Woman’s Club recently made a significant investment in the future of its community by awarding three $2,500 scholarships to exceptional female graduating seniors at their recent monthly meeting. These scholarships celebrate students from public, private, and home schools who have demonstrated outstanding leadership, active engagement in their school and community, and a strong commitment to pursuing higher education. In addition, they awarded a $1,500 scholarship to a deserving student graduating from Gwinnett Technical College.
This year’s accomplished scholarship recipients are: Makenna Hollis and Allison Wong, both representing Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology; Vicky Le from Parkview High School; and Tina Karmon from Gwinnett Technical College.
Kathy Mattox, president of the Lilburn Woman’s Club, says: “We are incredibly proud to support these bright young women as they embark on their higher education journeys. Their dedication and achievements are truly inspiring,”
In addition to recognizing these promising students, the Lilburn Woman’s Club also honored the Teachers of the Year from local Elementary, Middle, and High Schools in the Lilburn area for their dedication and impact on the community’s youth.
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