‘Seasons of Strength’ showcases destruction, beauty in Newnan tornado five years later

NEWNAN, Ga. — Springtime at Unity Baptist Church in Newnan is a time of rebirth and a time of reflection. Gwendolyn Kuhlmann took her first steps in Newnan, the city in need of a fresh start after an EF-4 tornado tore through the tight-knit community in 2021.

“Seasons of Strength is a show to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the tornado that hit some of the most populated areas of Newnan and Coweta County,” Kuhlmann said. “It left quite a wake of destruction. That entire canopy was gone, so many trees, historic buildings, homes were destroyed or had their roofs ripped off.”

Kuhlmann was away from home at the time, but within a week rushed back to her hometown to find it damaged and destroyed. She said she was also inspired by the way the people of Newnan, and surrounding areas banded together to rebuild the community.

“I thought how can I use my art as a tool to give my community a mouthpiece? I’m either going to be sad about this, and I’m tired of being sad because I’d already been sad for a year with the pandemic,” Kuhlmann said. “So my other option is to make something beautiful out of this.”

In Seasons of Strength, Kuhlmann took more than 100 interviews with people impacted by the storm and wove them over a live orchestral performance of a modified version of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. The orchestra was comprised of some LaGrange Symphony Orchestra members. David Kinrade, who has lived in Newnan for 44 years, directed the live orchestra using music to transport an audience to a place and time words couldn’t express.

“It’s the chainsaw cavalry,” Kinrade said. “It’s a great piece of music and it relates that feeling of energy and help so well. I remember it was an eerie silence. You could see the horizon. We could see this church, Newnan High School. There were pieces of this church in our neighborhood. Now, it’s like rebirth and regrowth, and we’re definitely in that stage here today.”

Paulo Manso Desousa, artistic director at Southern Arc Dance, choreographed the production with local dancers portraying the devastation, heartbreak, hope and healing from community ravaged by the storm.

“It’s made me feel closer to our community,” Desousa said. “It’s inspired me to see how our community comes together. It’s an evolving community. It’s still growing, people are coming together, the expression of fear, love, the caring, the protection of one another.”

David Boyd was tasked with painting a scene showing the tornado wiping out the landscape. Played in reverse during the production, Boyd’s landscape is wiped away, leaving a blank canvas and a new beginning symbolic of Newnan’s road over the last five years after the tornado. Born and raised in Downtown Newnan, Boyd called himself a survivor. He said the tornado, ensuing recovery and working on Seasons of Strength taught him that he’s more versatile than he thinks.

“Seeing the initial destruction was just cataclysmic,” Boyd said. I just didn’t think it would ever look the same again. To see, day after day, people coming over that bridge bringing water, bringing tools, bringing food really kept us going, that we weren’t alone in all this.”

A tornado won’t define a town strengthened by scripture, renewed in its hope and resolve and rebuilt day-by-day, neighbor by neighbor, hand-in-hand.

“We’re able to give context to suffering and through giving that context, we’re able to help people see the beauty and beauty of what came from it and what’s possible after this,” Kuhlmann said. “The faith they had in each other and the faith they had in a higher power that was bringing them through this and granted them the grace to survive – it gave this perspective of the worst didn’t happen to me, so how can I show up for you? I want this to be something that settles something in their soul.”