Fresh Loaf

During the Christmases of my childhood, I always enjoyed advent calendars and the daily ritual of opening a little door to reveal a new surprise for each day of December until the 25th. Taking the advent calendar as inspiration, this month I’ll offer some tongue-in-cheek holiday blog entries, with the idea that clicking on, say, embedded video or “For the rest of this entry” lines are the online equivalent to opening a cardboard calendar window. First up is Invasion: Christmas Carol at Dad’s Garage, which is the only version of the Scrooge story where you may hear a word like “bacne.” Or “turduckephant.”

The Christmas Carol satire rejiggers the “invasion” concept the theater used in last year’s Invasion: Our Town. Both shows turn a theatrical classic upside down by the addition of a mid-show “invader” who’s not only new to the text, but hasn’t been seen by the rest of the cast, who have to incorporate the visitor on the fly. Dad’s likes to draft current or defunct roles from its long-running improvised soap opera Scandal! as the invader, and on Christmas Carol’s opening night Scott Warren played the Ghost of Christmas Past as a blustering barbarian in a loin clout. The nightly invader, isn’t the most surprising aspect of Invasion, however, but the casting of Ebenezer Scrooge himself. I’ll put the detail behind the cut to avoid spoilers, although the end of Dad’s trailer for the show gives it away:

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Today’s Air Loaf features Max Arbes and CL’s Curt Holman chatting about the high school election comedy Class at Dad’s Garage (through Nov. 1).

Air Loaf is broadcast weekdays on 1690 WMLB-AM at approximately 8:10 a.m., 12:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.

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1) The Loseling Dolls and Traditional Costumes of the Tibetan World opens at Emory Visual Arts Gallery.

2) Songwriter’s Open Mic at Eddie’s Attic.

3) Pay-what-you-can night for Class at Dad’s Garage Theatre.

4) Maureen McCormick discusses Here’s the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice at Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse.

5) Noot d’Noot DJs at the Highland Inn Ballroom Lounge.

(Photo courtesy Emory Visual Arts Gallery)

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Uncle Grampa’s Hoo-Dilly Story Time, the children’s show at Inman Park’s Dad’s Garage Theatre, offered both a surprise guest and some surprisingly cogent economic commentary at Saturday’s performance. Each installment features an improvised children’s story enacted by such human characters as Larry Lederhosen (Matt Horgan) and Fritz the Evil Butler (Ryan Lucas) as well as various puppet friends including Jambles the Donkey (Christian Danley) and Quackers the Wrong-Way Duck (Lucky Yates).

On Saturday, the gang prepared to improvise the tale of “The Princess of Candy” when who should appear but Sean Daniels, the theater’s former artistic director and current associate artistic director at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Daniels emerged on a walker, festooned with bandages and arm braces, claiming to be “David Dow Jones,” who had suffered many “falls.” Larry Lederhosen et al concluded that  Dow Jones could be revived if the children in the audience clapped and chanted “Bail-out! Bail-out! Bail-out!” The applause magically rejuvenated Dow Jones, who jumped into the air and clicked his heels together. Jambles and Quacker remarked that the children should be applauded for taking bold, decisive action to save Dow Jones, but added that they’d be paying for the bail-out until they’re 70.

Daniels wasn’t just in town for a cameo in a kid’s show, however: he’s directing the staged reading of Bellwether, a new play by former Creative Loafing employee Steve Yockey. From the official description: “The disappearance of 6-year old Amy Draft shocks the modern, affluent suburb of Inverness. And as questions go unanswered, initially sympathetic neighbors begin to whisper suspiciously about the girl’s distraught parents, Alan and Jackie. When the abduction abruptly leaps in magnitude, the entire community unravels into a seething mass of confusion and media frenzy.” The reading of Bellwether features a plethora of terrific local stage actors — Kate Donadio, Maia Knispel, Park Krausen, Jonathan MacQueen, Daniel May, Stacy Melich, Meghan Moonan, Joe Sykes, Kathleen Wattis and Rachel Winograd — so the $5 admission seems a real bargain for Monday night’s performance at 7:30 p.m. at Actor’s Express.

Image courtesy of Actor’s Express

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1) Dad’s Garage Theatre launches World Domination Theatresports Tournament.

2) Features play the Earl.

3) A New View of Realism continues at Oglethorpe University Museum of Art.

4) DJ Red Alert is at Center Stage.

5) W Midtown hosts readings and signings in conjunction with Black Gay Pride.

(Photo courtesy Linnea Frye)

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Today’s Air Loaf features CL’s Chanté LaGon and Curt Holman chatting about two current shows: Hallelujah Street Blues at Horizon Theatre (through Aug. 24) and FWD: at Dad’s Garage (through Aug. 2).

Air Loaf is broadcast weekdays on 1690 WMLB-AM at approximately 8:10 a.m., 12:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.

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The big world-premiere musical of the Alliance Theatre’s 2008-2009 season will mark a collaboration between a pair of all-American icons, rock star John Mellencamp and horror novelist Stephen King. Ghost Brothers of Darkland County takes place in 1957 Mississippi and dramatizes an old legend about the deaths of two brothers and a young girl. The Alliance Theatre officially announces the rest of its season Feb. 29.

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