THEATER
Puppet slam combines performance arts
The National Puppet Slam 2012 will be held at the Center for Puppetry Arts on Friday and Saturday.

Which can only lead to one question for the unknowing: What the heck’s a puppet slam?

In short, it’s a curated collection of short-form pieces of adult puppet theater, the product of a growing underground movement across the country.

“Puppet slams exist at the nexus of vaudeville, burlesque and performance art through the intersection of experimental theater, art, music and dance,” according to the Puppet Slam Network site (www.puppetslam.com).

The lineup both nights features works by puppet artists from places as far-flung as Ossining, N.Y. , and Portland, Ore., and with titles such as “The Great Clawdini” and “The Last Bamboo.”

Shows are at 8 p.m. $12. 1404 Spring St. N.W., Atlanta. 404-873-3391, www.puppet.org.

One-day sale on “Sheddin’” tickets
Horizon Theatre is offering one-day sale (Tuesday only) on “Sheddin’” …

Continue reading Culture notes: Puppet slam hits town this weekend; Emory seeking Community Impact award nominees »

Reposting for those who may have missed this announcement late last week … 

Sugarland’s Kristian Bush and Jennifer Nettles, shown in Atlanta in 2011, will receive the “Performer” award. Photo credit: Robb Cohen/www.robbsphotos.com 

 

2:50 pm July 27, 2012, by Melissa Ruggieri

Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Music Director Robert Spano and Southern rockers .38 Special are among the upcoming inductees to the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.

The 34th annual awards show will take place at 5 p.m. Oct.14 at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre and broadcast live on Georgia Public Broadcasting.

In addition to the aforementioned newbies, who will receive, respectively, the “Performer,” “Chairman Award” and  “Group” distinction, the other inductees are:

• Alex Hodges (“Non-Performer), CEO of Nederlander concerts.

• Gary Rossington (“Songwriter”), founding member/guitarist of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

• Riley Biederer (“Horizon …

Continue reading Sugarland, Robert Spano among Georgia Music Hall of Fame inductees »

By Howard Pousner
hpousner@ajc.com

Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company, which begins the final week of its “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” run Tuesday at the Rialto Center for the Arts, will bring “The Mountaintop” to Atlanta as its next show.

Leon directed Katori Hall’s drama about the imagined last night of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life on Broadway with Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett last fall. The Atlanta staging, Nov. 13-Dec. 16 at Southwest Arts Center, will be directed by frequent Leon collaborator Jasmine Guy. No cast announcements yet.

True Colors’ 2012-13 season, revealed exclusively in the AJC, also will include: August Wilson’s “Two Trains Running,” Feb. 12-March 10, 2013, at Southwest Arts Center; and “Shakin’ the Rafters,” written and directed by David Bell, July 9-Aug. 4, 2013, at 14th Street Playhouse. Tickets should go on sale in August.

While the announcement firms up True Colors’ plans, which had been delayed by a …

Continue reading True Colors bringing ‘Mountaintop’ to Atlanta; what else is up for Kenny Leon »

THEATER
Folktale hits the stage
In a world that increasingly communicates 140 characters at a time, can an African-American folktale such as the story of High John the Conqueror, an African prince and trickster sold as a slave, have currency? Atlanta actor-comedian Rob Cleveland thinks so, and has adapted the story for a stage production (also starring Eric Little) that opens at Theatrical Outfit on Wednesday. “The Adventures of High John the Conqueror” runs through Aug. 12. Balzer Theater at Herren’s, 84 Luckie St., Atlanta. 1-877-725-8849, www.theatricaloutfit.org. HOWARD POUSNER

ATTRACTION
Carry an Olympic torch at World of Coca-Cola
The Olympic torch has made it to London, and you can act like you had a role in its journey at the World of Coca-Cola. Visitors to the downtown attraction can pose for photos with a rare-on-these-shores 2012 Games torch — with a photo mural of Big Ben serving as the background. Take your own shots or have in-house photographers SharpShooter …

Continue reading Culture notes: Folktale reborn as play at Theatrical Outfit; carry an Olympic torch at World of Coca-Cola »

By Howard Pousner
hpousner@ajc.com

More servings of ‘Waffle Palace?’
Except that it was already committed to staging the world premiere of the hip-hop/family dysfunction comedy “Sheddin’,” Horizon Theatre might still be serving up sold-out performances of “The Waffle Palace: Smothered, Covered & Scattered 24/7/365.″ The Larry Larson-Eddie Levi Lee world premiere comedy, based on a series of head-scratching, headline-making incidents at scattered diners in the Atlanta-based Waffle House chain, sold out all 44 shows of its run at the Little 5 Points theater, with nearly 6,800 people attending. Though there is no official word yet, expect “Horizon” to bring back “Waffle Palace” for an encore, probably early next year. Meanwhile, “Sheddin’” continues through Aug. 19. 404-584-7450, www.horizontheatre.com.

‘Ghost Brothers’ still alive?
The Alliance Theatre neither confirms nor denies Web reports that “Ghost Brothers of Darkland County,” which was …

Continue reading Culture notes: What’s next for ‘Waffle Palace,’ ‘Ghost Brothers’; Atlanta-born producer receives Brit honor »

VISUAL ART
Avisca’s closing auction
Avisca Fine Art, a gallery that has specialized in African-American and Caribbean art, is closing after six years near the Marietta Square. Owners cited the weak economy and the closing of an art fair where the gallery had done a lot of business among the reasons. It is holding a silent auction of art, art books and related material, noon-6 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. 507 Roswell St. N.E., Marietta. 770-977-2732, www.aviscafineart.com. HOWARD POUSNER

THEATER
Gas South season at Cobb Energy
Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre’s just-announced 2012-13 Gas South Broadway Series exudes a strong retro vibe. The schedule, reduced by one from last season’s four shows: “Chicago,” Oct. 4-7; “West Side Story,” Dec. 13-16; “Sandy Hackett’s Rat Pack,” a musical about the onstage and offstage high jinks of Frank Sinatra and his posse, March 14-17. Subscriptions, $62-$161 (or $193-$211 for Producer’s Club VIP package), plus ticketing fees: 770-916-2852,

Continue reading Culture notes: Avisca gallery closing with auction; Gas South season at Cobb Energy announced »

DANCE
Project 7’s artistic turn
Project 7 Contemporary Dance Company, an Atlanta troupe whose dancers mainly have worked the commercial and competitive circuits, takes an artistic turn with the weekend program “EquiLIFTrium” at the Balzer Theater at Herren’s. Choreographed by Cherrise Wakeham to music by contemporary artists from Bjork to James Blake, the two-hour performances at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday are pitched as high on physical demand. $15-$17. 84 Luckie St., Atlanta. 1-877-725-8849, www.ticketalternative.com. HOWARD POUSNER

ARTS
New honors for Georgia cultural contributors
Nominations are being sought for the first in what is planned to be annual honors, the 2012 Governor’s Awards for the Arts and Humanities. Any Georgia resident may nominate an individual who has made significant and substantial long-lasting contributions to the state’s cultural heritage as well as organizations that have demonstrated long-time support for the arts or humanities. …

Continue reading Culture notes: Project 7’s artistic turn; seeking nominations for new arts/humanities awards »

PERFORMING ARTS
When movement becomes operatic
Four Atlanta Opera vocalists with one accompanist and 17 gloATL dancers will join forces Friday
and Saturday nights for a “Liquid Culture” performance.

Atlantans and Atlanta architecture are integral ingredients in these performance art happenings,
and these two will have a dramatic setting: Sol LeWitt’s “54 Columns” sculptural installation, at
Highland Avenue and Glen Iris Drive in the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood.

The free 8:30 p.m. performances, concluding Liquid Culture’s second year, will tap Atlanta Opera
vocalists Elizabeth Claxton, Megan Mashburn, Tim Miller and Heather Witt along with accompanist Catherine Giel. It’s a first-time collaboration between the opera and gloATL, set to some of opera’s masterpieces, including La Boheme and the Barcarolle duet from “Tales of Hoffman.”

Earlier installments of Liquid Culture this year took place at Colony Square, MARTA’s Lindberg
Station and …

Continue reading Culture notes: gloATL, Atlanta Opera in first-time collaboration this weekend; grassroots group funds ‘risky’ art »

Continue reading 2 Atlanta artists included in prestigious Smithsonian craft show »

FILM
‘Deliverance’ discussed
The Fox Theatre has added a couple of speakers before its 40th anniversary showing of “Deliverance” on Friday. Ed Spiva, Georgia’s first film commissioner, will discuss the film’s role in raising the state’s profile for location shooting at 7:30 p.m. Freelance writer Charles Bethea, who wrote an Atlanta magazine story on the filming, also will speak. Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q will sell sandwiches in the lobby before the showing. 1-855-285-8499, www.foxatltix.com. HOWARD POUSNER

VISUAL ARTS
Banished murals to go on view
The four murals that were removed from the Georgia Department of Agriculture in downtown Atlanta last year because of their controversial depictions of slaves and native Americans will go on display at the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens on Aug. 1. “I think we can depict a better picture of agriculture,” agriculture commissioner Gary Black explained then of his decision to remove the late George Beattie’s 1956 …

Continue reading Culture notes: Talking ‘Deliverance’ at the Fox; banished ag murals to go on view in Athens »