Jennifer Garner visited with Richard Garner, left, and his wife Karen Robinson while she was in town shooting a film recently.

As you may recall, actress Jennifer Garner and husband Ben Affleck spent time in Atlanta earlier this year with their two girls, while she worked on a film called “The Odd Life of Timothy Green.”

It was a homecoming of sorts for Garner. In 1994, she was an acting intern during Georgia Shakespeare’s Summer Festival, appearing in the chorus of “Shrew: The Musical, ” and playing Jessica in “The Merchant of Venice” and one of the fairies in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

During her more recent stint here, Garner got in touch with her old buddy, Georgia Shakespeare producing artistic director Richard Garner (no relation). She wanted to know how she could help the organization, and made a contribution to support the internship program that helped launch her career.

The two Garners also put together a bang-up live auction item for the troupe’s upcoming gala: two tickets to Los Angeles, accommodations and a lunch with Jennifer Garner and Annette Bening, another Richard Garner pal (that guy knows everybody!).

The gala, themed “Pharaoh’s Fete: An Evening in Cleopatra’s Court, ” as a nod to the summer performance of “Antony & Cleopatra, ” is planned for 6:30 p.m. May 21.

The event chair is Christy Hull Eikhoff; patron chairs are Margaret Baldwin, Paul Pendergrass, Carolyn Carr and Michael Gibson.

We’re going to go out on a limb and declare Jennifer Garner the honorary auction chair.

For tickets, see www.gashakespeare.org or e-mail donna@gashakespeare.org.