This (press release) just in from Georgia Shakespeare…

ATLANTA, GA  — August 26, 2010 — Georgia Shakespeare announces open auditions for the lead role of “Ralphie” in the live stage production of A Christmas Story to run Dec 7-26, 2010, at Georgia Shakespeare on the campus of Oglethorpe University. Four open auditions will be held at various locations around Atlanta in the coming weeks. For the role of Ralphie, Georgia Shakespeare is looking for boys who look between the ages of 10 and 12, but are not over the age of 13.

Open auditions will be held over consecutive weekends in September at the following outlets: The Decatur Book Festival, Decatur; Imagine It! The Children’s Museum of Atlanta, Downtown; Chocolate Perks, Duluth; and Bloomingdale’s at Lenox Square, Buckhead. Audition location details are on the attached document and available online at www.gashakespeare.org. Semi-finals and finals will be held in October. The panel of judges will be made up …

Continue reading Georgia Shakespeare searches for a Ralphie for ‘Christmas Story’ »

By Howard Pousner
hpousner@ajc.com

Emory University’s Michael C. Carlos Museum will open two exhibits showcasing the artistry of Islamic calligraphy on Saturday,  Aug. 28:

• “Traces of the Calligrapher: Islamic Calligraphy in Practice, c. 1600-1900” details the practice of the calligrapher via examples of the writing as well as through tools used to create it.

• “Writing the Word of God: Calligraphy and the Qur’an” tracks key developments of the Islamic scripts from Spain and North Africa to greater Iran from the 7th to the 15th centuries.

The Carlos has planned extensive educational programs, including a family day on Oct. 3, in conjunction with the shows, organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Harvard Art Museum. Information: 404-727-4282, www.carlos.emory.edu.

Continue reading Exhibits exploring Islamic art form open at Carlos on Saturday »

By Howard Pousner
hpousner@ajc.com

Glenn Dair, who has directed the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center pottery program since 1980 and is a mentor to many former students and assistants, is celebrating his 30th anniversary at the DeKalb County institution, with two exhibits:

• A show of his architecture-inspired pieces continues at the Signature Shop & Gallery through Saturday,[Aug 28] 404-237-4426, www.thesignatureshop.com.
• And Dair is one of 50 of the state’s top potters participating in Perspectives 2010: Georgia Pottery Invitational (more than 4,500 pieces for sale) opening Friday night[Aug 27] through Sept. 15 at the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation in Watkinsville (outside Athens), 706-769-4565, www.ocaf.com.

Continue reading See the work of Callanwode’s 30-year pottery leader in two shows »

By Howard Pousner
hpousner@ajc.com

Theatrical Outfit has extended Tom Key’s adaptation of “A Confederacy of Dunces” a week, through Sept. 12.

For theater-goers, there’s a price for the show’s popularity: Tickets for the final Friday and Saturday performances will rise to $35, while admission will be $30 for shows Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday of the final week (678-528-1500, www.theatricaloutfit.org).

But Key, director Richard Garner and his cast also will give a free presentation about the play at the Decatur Book Festival, 1:45 p.m. Sept. 4 at the Decatur High School auditorium.  Cast members will perform scenes from the play. www.ajcdecaturbookfestival.com.

In other theater news …

‘Cooke Story’ onstage

Windsong Music Group is presenting “A Change Gon’ Come: The Sam Cooke Story,” Friday through Sunday, Aug. 27-29, at 14th Street Playhouse in Midtown. The musical drama, being presented six times over three days, is described as a chronicle of …

Continue reading Theatrical Outfit extends ‘Confederacy of Dunces’ a week »

By Howard Pousner
hpousner@ajc.com

Some of Atlanta’s most enjoyable events happen in fall, when summer’s unrelenting sizzle finally fades and people get back their get-up-and-go. Here are some highlights.

● We who live in this leafy, humid clime usually are ready for a break from insects right about now, especially those persistent cockroaches big enough to have starred in a ’50s horror flick. But that won’t stop metro Atlantans from queuing up for Cirque du Soleil’s “Ovo,” a colorful acrobatic show set in the world of creatures we usually swat or stomp with a shoe. It opens Nov. 4 under a blue-and-yellow big top at Atlantic Station.

The New York Times gave it a mixed review in April, praising the “wow factor” of the best routines as well as the splashy sets and zany props and costumes but dismissing other aspects as “something you’ve seen before.” But “Ovo’s” recent Boston stay was extended by 18 shows, and 24 performances already have been …

Continue reading Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Ovo,’ dolphins among events, attractions to get things moving for fall »

By Howard Pousner
hpousner@ajc.com

David Newell, who played Speedy Delivery man Mr. McFeely on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” will perform a tribute to Fred Rogers on Sept. 10 at the Center for Puppetry Arts.

In conjunction with the performance, the puppetry center and a few of its neighbors will be sponsoring a Mr. Rogers Sweater Drive.

In the meantime, “Rumpelstiltskin” continues at the Midtown playhouse through Sept. 12. 404-873-3391, www.puppet.org.

Continue reading Mister Rogers tribute coming to Center for Puppetry Arts »

By Howard Pousner
hpousner@ajc.com

ART Station will stage two regional premieres, including a completely new version of Ferrol Sams’ “Christmas Gift!” during its just-announced 2010-11 theater season.

The Stone Mountain Village theater, one of only a handful of metro Atlanta professional troupes located outside I-285, will also give a Southeastern premiere to “Bonnie and Clyde, the Two Person, Six-Gun Musical,”cq, the way I find it most often punctuated about the notorious American outlaws.

A third play, “Married Alive!” a musical about one couple’s “journey from Niagara to Viagra,” also might be considered a regional premiere of sorts, having had only limited stagings in Virginia and South Florida.

Though ART Station premiered “Christmas Gift!” in 1998, its season-opening production in December will be dramatically different, said David Thomas, who wrote the adaption of Sams’ memoir of his Depression childhood.

“The original version had eight characters in it and what I …

Continue reading ART Station’s 2010-’11 season to open with Ferrol Sams play »

By Howard Pousner
hpousner@ajc.com

Jimmy Carter is featured in two independent documentaries being screened as part of the Atlanta International Documentary Film Festival at the Carter Center on Saturday:  “Foul Water / Fiery Serpent” (2 p.m.) and “A Road Not Taken” (3:30 p.m.).

“Foul” follows Carter Center health workers and others as they work to eradicate Guinea worm disease in remote parts of the globe. “Road” tracks the solar panels Carter had installed at the White House after they were removed during the Reagan administration.

Another film showing Saturday at the Carter Center sounds like it would be right up the former president’s alley: “Crossing Borders” follows four Moroccan and four American university students as they travel through Morocco and begin to parse the so-called “clash of civilizations” between Islam and the West.  It screens at 6 p.m. Saturday.

The wide-ranging film fest continues Thursday through Sunday at the Carter Center, Young …

Continue reading Jimmy Carter gets his close-up in 2 docus screening Saturday »

By Howard Pousner
hpousner@ajc.com

For those who’d like to do some art-viewing but have trouble carving out the time, the Atlanta Gallery Association has the event for you.

During the Citywide Art Walk on Saturday, 35 Atlanta and Decatur galleries, museums and non-profit spaces will remain open for 12 hours (10 a.m.-10 p.m.).

The viewing is free, and many galleries will offer small bites and libations, of course along with paintings, photography, sculpture, etc. List of particpating galleries below. For a map: www.atlart.com.

Alan Avery Art Company
Anne Irwin Fine Art
Astolfi Art
Atlanta Artists Center
Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center
Besharat Gallery
Catherine Kelleghan Gallery
Copeland Collection
David Gallery/Painting Exchange
DE Fine Art
Emily Amy Gallery
Get This! Gallery
Hagedorn Foundation Gallery
Huff Harrington Fine Art
Kiang Gallery
Laqerquist Gallery
Marcia Wood Gallery
Mason Murer
MudFire Clayworks & Gallery
Reinike Gallery
Rose Squared Gallery and …

Continue reading 35 galleries, 12 hours: Get art fix at Citywide Art Walk on Saturday »

By Howard Pousner
hpousner@ajc.com

Andrei Palmer loves cars as much as any all-American guy. Except the 23-year-old Stone Mountain resident, who was adopted from Romania at age 6, brings a bit of an outsider’s perspective to the infatuation.

Enlarge photo

Chris Dunn cdunn@ajc.com

Andrei Palmer, 23, holds up his model-car version of the modified DeLorean in the “Back to the Future” movie trilogy in the PureFUN! warehouse where he works in Lawrenceville. Palmer, who was adopted from a Romanian orphanage by his American parents, will debut his cars at Folk Fest in Norcross this weekend.

He’s an automaker of a sort – of a folk art sort, that is. Palmer builds scratch-model cars, handmade creations so elaborate that he and his proud parents, Tim and Cathy Palmer, have been encouraged to give them their first public exhibit this weekend. The setting will be Folk Fest, the annual show and sale of self-taught art at North Atlanta Trade Center in Norcross.

First, the …

Continue reading Romanian adoptee puts pedal to metal with folk art cars »