1) MacHomer opens at Georgia Shakespeare.
2) The Flaming Lips play Chastain Park Amphitheatre.
3) The Underground Atlanta Film Festival kicks off.
4) The Queer Literary Fiction Book Group meets at Charis Books & More.
5) The Rescues play Eddie’s Attic.
(Photo by Michael Cooper Photographic Shoots)
1) The annual Fringe Binge music fest returns to the Star Bar.
2) Alice in Wonderland opens at Georgia Shakespeare.
3) Rockshow 2: Rock ‘n’ Roll Photography opens at Composition Gallery.
4) The Center for Puppetry Arts celebrates Jim Henson Day.
5) The Westside Arts District holds its monthly Art Walk.
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
1) Todd Snider plays at Eddie’s Attic.
2) Cat on a Hot Tin Roof continues at Georgia Shakespeare.
3) Steve Kramer, Andi Smith and Mike Speenberg perform at the Punchline.
4) TINY Bistro hosts Hop City’s National Wine Tasting.
5) The Star Bar holds Big Trouble in Little Five.
(Photo by Todd Purifoy)
1) Bill Maher performs at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.
2) Museum of Design Atlanta hosts Peaceably to Assemble: Protest in Film and Video, 1961-2006.
3) Atlanta Symphony Orchestra performs the music of Led Zeppelin at Chastain Park Amphitheater.
4) Georgia Shakespeare’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opens at Conant Performing Arts Center.
5) Jennie C. Jones’ Red, Bird, Blue opens at Atlanta Contemporary Art Center.
(Photo by Janet Van Ham)
1) Monet Water Lilies continues at the High Museum of Art.
2) Taking Back Sunday performs at the Masquerade.
3) Tom Edwards discusses his debut novel, Blue Jesus, at Blue Elephant Books.
4) Shakespeare Crashers combines happy hour and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Georgia Shakespeare.
5) Lou Battle & Milkshake perform for Wednesday WindDown at Centennial Olympic Park.
(Art by Claude Monet/© Museum of Modern Art, New York)
1) A Midsummer Night’s Dream opens at Georgia Shakespeare.
2) Al Green and Etta James perform at Chastain Park Amphitheatre.
3) Flicks on 5th kicks off with Quantum of Solace.
4) Femi Kuti performs at Variety Playhouse. *
4) The Young Antiques play 529.
5) The Atlanta Braves host Bark in the Park at Turner Field.
(Photo by Bill DeLoach)
* Update: Oops. Femi Kuti actually performs tomorrow. Don’t go tonight.
Georgia Shakespeare has announced the cancellation of Shake at the Lake, the company’s open-air theater production held for the past five years at the Lake Clara Meer dock of Piedmont Park. Producing artistic director Richard Garner cites the difficulty in raising the funds underwrite the popular event, which had been scheduled for May 7-11.
“It has become clear over the last month that we will not be able to secure the full funding needed to present Shake at the Lake in 2009,” Garner said. “While we are saddened that the event will not happen this year, we feel this is a fiscally responsible action taken to ensure ongoing stability of the company as we continue to serve our core mission of mainstage and educational programs. We look forward to working with our donors, the City of Atlanta, and our friends at the Piedmont Park Conservancy to ensure that Shake at the Lake is back in the park in 2010 as we celebrate our 25th Anniversary Season.”
As if offering a consolation prize, Georgia Shakespeare adds something fun to its 2009 season: a one-week engagement of Rick Miller’s MacHomer, a one-man production that recasts Macbeth with characters from “The Simpsons.” MacHomer runs Aug. 26-30.
The rest of the company’s 2009 season, which runs June 10 through Nov. 1 at the Conant Performing Arts Center, includes: A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare(June 10-July 31); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams (June 25-Aug. 1); Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare (July 9-Aug. 2); Alice in Wonderland based on the work of Lewis Carroll (July 18-Aug. 1); and Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare (Oct. 8-Nov. 1).
1) The Fox Theatre screens Cleopatra in conjunction with the Michael C. Carlos Museum and Atlanta Film Festival.
2) Georgia Shakespeare hosts its annual fundraiser, Fools for Love, at Woodfire Grill.
3) Christopher Dickey discusses counter-terrorism in his latest book, Securing the City, at the Jimmy Carter Library & Museum.
4) Thriving Ivory plays Vinyl.
5) Susan Rebecca White discusses her debut novel, Bound South, at Margaret Mitchell House & Museum.
(Photo courtesy Fox Theatre)
Today’s Air Loaf features CL’s Chanté LaGon and Curt Holman discussing Georgia Shakespeare’s production of Antigone.
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) Talib Kweli, Nas and Jay Electronica perform at Center Stage.
2) Beep Beep Gallery hosts Another Evening with the Garbageman, a night of supershort stories with CL’s very own Chad Radford.
3) “Flight of the Conchords’” Arj Barker begins a four-day stint at the Funny Farm.
4) James McWilliams signs and discusses American Pests at Wordsmiths Books.
5) Georgia Shakespeare hold its penultimate performance of As You Like It.
(Photo courtesy Bros. Records)
Saturday I saw Tom Thumb The Great, this year’s show in the Family Classics Series of Georgia Shakespeare, playing through August 2. Local playwright Margaret Baldwin’s world premiere offered a fleet, irreverent take on Tom Thumb, the diminutive fairy tale hero.
Directed by Clint Thornton, Tom Thumb creatively addresses the logistic challenges in a story that involves besieging giants, a kingdom of normal-sized people and a protagonist (Derrick Ledbetter) the size of an iPhone. For much of the play, Ledbetter scoots around on a bucket on wheels, remade to look like the thimble, to represent his smaller stature. Some scenes in the middle of the play use an impressively articulate Tom Thumb puppet about the size of a Ken doll, while huge costumes worthy of Carnival parades put the giants onstage. Shadow puppets frequently fill in the narrative blanks, and it’s to the credit of the cast and crew that they can switch between so many outfits and performance styles without leaving the audience hopelessly confused.
In my story this week about Georgia Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (which I review alongside Essential Theatre’s Valhalla), I praise Chris Kayser’s acting as Shylock, the play’s despised, sadistic moneylender. I wanted to double-down on that commentary by saying not only does Kayser (left) give a great performance in one of Shakespeare’s most problematic parts, it’s probably the best performance of Shylock I’ve ever seen, counting a production at the Shakespeare Tavern, a recent film adaptation and a lecture/performance by a certain starship captain to be.
