SCOTT THIGPEN/Special

Atlanta's arts scene includes two African-American theater companies, a gay men's chorus, an African-American dance company, a Jewish heritage museum, Jewish- and Gaelic-themed theater troupes, French- and Spanish-language theater companies and a tiny theater company devoted to putting disabled actors onstage.

At face value, metro Atlanta's arts scene would seem to have the diversity thing down. And it does, to a point.

"Atlanta is probably one of the few cities that thinks it's arrived," said Kenny Leon, founder and artistic director of True Colors Theatre Company. Instead, he sees its diversity as being "just around the edges."

"I love the city. I love the potential of the city," he said. "But we're not there yet."

Seeing Leon's True Colors as solely African-American is an around-the-edges view. Leon, who is black, leads the company, but its managing director is a white woman. Its staff is mixed by race, gender, sexual orientation and more. Its mission is just as varied.

"We intend to be an important voice in the discussion of diversity, functioning as a movable feast of theater," the company says on its Web site (www.truecolorstheatrecompany.com). "We will explore plays and playwrights from various times, cultures and perspectives."

That means doing a play from the African-American canon — something like Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun," for example — as well as a racially mixed production of "Steel Magnolias," which True Colors did in 2004, its inaugural season. It also means doing a play by a black writer with a Jewish cast, Leon said. Or, in the future, involving Hispanic and Asian artists in True Colors' projects.

That cross-cultural approach is what Leon sees too little of in metro Atlanta, but, still, it's a start.

"Certainly there are miles yet to travel, but, racially, the greater Atlanta arts scene — and, especially in my world, the theater — has begun the journey," said Gene-Gabriel Moore, who has been active in Atlanta arts for decades. "I would say that we owe Kenny Leon, Susan Booth, Del Hamilton and everyone at Georgia Shakespeare a shout of thanks."

Booth and Hamilton are the artistic directors of the Alliance Theatre and 7 Stages, respectively.

Moore founded Not Merely Players — a theater company of, by and for men, women and children with disabilities — in 1998. Its lone production has been a 2003 world premiere staging of "Straightaway Dangerous," a two-act drama about two people on the outside of society looking in, by the company's resident playwright, Brent Darnell. The cast featured a Latino actor and an actress who has one leg.

Moore, left aphasic by several strokes, says Not Merely Players is looking for a home either downtown or between downtown and Midtown. When it finds one, productions will resume.

Moore, meanwhile, makes his return to the stage this month at 7 Stages in a production of "Struck Dumb" by John-Claude Van Itallie and Joseph Chaikin. The piece, a short play about a day in the life of a man with aphasia, is dedicated to Chaikin, who also had the illness.

Room for growth

Moore sees places where Atlanta needs to grow. Bringing Cuban, Mexican and Central American artists to the table is necessary but challenging because of language and cultural differences, he said, adding, "For me, as one of the 56 million Americans with disabilities, the picture is even less bright."

Not Merely Players is the only theater company of its kind in the country.

Atlanta's cultural diversity also can be looked at from the inside out. The Atlanta Ballet, for example, has a native Canadian, a native South African and an African-American in its company, as well as a dancer from China.

Tamila — he goes by one name — is in his fifth season with the ballet. He studied with the Beijing Dance Academy in his native country and has danced in Cuba, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia and Hong Kong as well as the United States. He's comfortable in Atlanta and finds it a flexible city with plenty of opportunities and a good climate.

"I've traveled 20 to 30 countries, and Atlanta Ballet is good," he said. "I've learned a lot from this company."

He was drawn to the city by its reputation and its star attractions, he said, citing the 1996 Summer Olympics, Coca-Cola, former President Jimmy Carter and "Gone With the Wind."

A place to sing

Atlanta also attracts gay and lesbian artists. The Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus provides many of them with a place to sing.

Its 150 or so members represent a cross-section of society, spokesman Scott Clodfelter said. They are black, white, Asian, Hispanic and Native American. They range in age from their 20s to their 70s and work as doctors, lawyers, teachers and blue-collar workers.

Even straight men have sung with the chorus since it was created in 1981.

The Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus is, in fact, one of six gay and lesbian performing arts groups in the city. There also are three other choruses, a marching band and a symphony orchestra.

"There certainly are many opportunities to experience performing arts representing a wide variety of communities, but I don't think, on the whole, that Atlantans are plugged into the arts scene as much as [people] are in other cities," Clodfelter said.

Clodfelter sees a lack of facilities to support existing arts groups and those yet to come, something arts leaders have talked about for almost a decade. And he, like Leon, wants to see more intermingling among artists and organizations.

The Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus has performed with Maya Angelou and The Atlanta Ballet, for example. Such collaboration benefits both artists and audiences.

This kind of programming, Clodfelter said, is a good example "of how we can bridge communities."