Metro Arts August 4

The program is brought to you by the Georgia Radio Reading Service and provides information on various arts events happening in different locations. The first article mentions several art exhibitions and events taking place in Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, and South Carolina. It also highlights the opening reception for Lloyd Benjamin's exhibition in Atlanta. The next part of the transcription discusses an art exhibition called Antiphase at the End Project Space in Atlanta, featuring works by CC Calloway and Bradley Marshall. The exhibition explores the idea of silence and uses different mediums to convey their messages. The article concludes with information about the Essential Theater Play Festival in Atlanta and other arts events happening in August. This program is intended for a print-impaired audience and is brought to you by the Georgia Radio Reading Service, GARS. Welcome to Metro Arts for Friday, August 4th. I am Kristen Moody for the Georgia Radio Reading Service. Metro Arts is brought to you by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. For our first article, we go to the Burnaway publication for To-Do List. Published Tuesday, July 25th by the Burnaway staff. Thursday, August 3rd, Florida, Keepers of Heritage, Hidden Tales, Castellonios de la Gerencia, Cuentos Ocultos, Creative Pinellas at 10 a.m. Eastern Time in Largo, Florida. Louisiana, free reception and concert for African American masterworks from the Paul R. Jones Collection at the LSU Museum of Art, 6 to 8 p.m. Central Time, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Everywhere, Material Influence, a group exhibition, Mon Contemporary at 6 p.m. in Georgia. Friday, August 4th, Georgia, opening reception, Lloyd Benjamin, Objects and Silhouettes at the Wolfgang Gallery, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern, Atlanta, Georgia. Opening reception for Lloyd Benjamin, Objects and Silhouettes, Wolfgang Gallery, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern, Atlanta, Georgia. Naveen Norling, Dirty Legacy, Johnson Lowe Gallery, 6 p.m., Atlanta, Georgia. South Carolina, opening reception, Outerscape, Tiger Strikes Asteroid Greenville, 6 p.m., Greenville, South Carolina. Saturday, August 5th, Florida, Keepers of Heritage, hidden-tailed opening reception, Castorios de la Gerencia, Cuentos Ocultos, Recepcion de Inauguracion, the Gallery at Creative Pinellas, 6 p.m. Eastern Time, Largo, Florida. Louisiana, White Linen Night Art Walk at the Arts District of New Orleans, 5 p.m. Central to 10 p.m. Central, New Orleans, Louisiana. Everywhere, Windows and Mirrors, Conduit Gallery, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern, Florida. Georgia, Linear Configurations, Ink, Paint, and Clay, Sandler Hudson Gallery, 2 p.m., Atlanta, Georgia. Friday, August 11th, Texas, Jammie Holmes, Make the Revolution Irresistible at the Modern, 7 p.m. Central, Fort Worth, Texas. Saturday, August 12th, Alabama, Yard Party for Art at the Wiregrass Museum of Art, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Central, Dawson, Alabama. Saturday, August 19th, Georgia, A Balm to Soothe the Flesh Leap Year at the Mint Gallery, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern, Atlanta, Georgia. Friday, August 25th, Everywhere, Native America in Translation Exhibition Walkthrough and Opening Reception, USF Contemporary Art Museum, 6.30 p.m. Florida. Native America in Translation, USF Contemporary Art Museum, Florida. Tuesday, August 29th, Louisiana, Decorative Arts Lecture Series, Reclaiming African American Traditions and the Decorative Arts with Dr. Lauren Cross, LSU Museum of Art, 6 p.m. Central, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. That was To-Do List, updated July 25th by the Burnaway staff. Next, Ever Loving, Dedicated Visual Art Studios Plans for Communicating. Next, Antiphase at the End Project Space, Atlanta, by Blair LeBlanc. We communicate experiences and thoughts through language, but even then, words can fall flat. Taking inspiration from a sonic oddity, C.C. Calloway and Bradley Marshall's two-person show Antiphase at the End Project Space explores a phenomenon that occurs when two exact opposite sound waves collide, absolute silence. A familiar face saying something we can't hear, a 3D network punctuated with almonds. Together it all feels like a mysterious dream. The exhibited works are rooted in their own devices, as each respects their own principles of language, symbolism, scale, process, and material. In Calloway's work Forever, 2023, the interiors of the image are translated from a celebrity video to risograph to inkjet print. There's a static message trying to break through into clarity. Meanwhile, Marshall pulls from a personally charged library of conventional symbology that he draws together into steel sculpture. His intimate, schematic-like structures function almost like scientific maps, directing a disentanglement puzzle game. The space embodies equalization throughout its installation. Located in an alternative space and curated in collaboration with the gallery's director, Craig Drennan, the exhibition offers two works from each artist. A total of two prints and one sculpture hang on the wall. The fourth piece is a sculpture poised on the gallery floor. In addition to exhibiting an equal amount of pieces, the artists push their commitment to achieving a visual antiphase one step further. They chose to divide the space evenly in half, split around the midpoint, top to bottom. Altogether, the space emanates a visceral aura, punk, almost no color, all black except for patches of painted miniatures. The artists have spent time in many cities along the East Coast and throughout the South, including New York City, be Richard Hell in the Void Void's blank generation. Like the no-wave art movement from which the proto-punk track originated, the work refuses to commit to any single proclamation. Alternatively, it insists on being absolutely free to be whatever it wants. Either way, its oscillation is its battle cry. It pulls us together. Both Calloway and Marshall have multidisciplinary practices. Calloway uses video, print, and poetry to explore identity and authorship. These aspects exist in a state of fluidity. Waves wash away the subtext of a woman's lips, a dialogue lost in translation. The images here are photographed from a screen, then printed as risographs, and finally scaled and exhibited as inkjet prints. The subtitle reads, Been Stuck With Her Ever Since. In their artist talk, Calloway revealed that the distantly familiar face in one work is that of Paris Hilton from a documentary where she discusses her life and the persona she has come to feel trapped in. Pop culture is the means through which Calloway is piecing together recognizable milestones for us to follow. Scale creates a portal. In the small print, we are looking at her. And then in poster scale, she is looking out at us. On the other hand, Marshall's visual language relies on a quotidian symbology, a bed, a campfire, a small brown bird perched on an almond. His work uses these motifs to shoot the breeze. Marvel at the outdoors, tell a joke, eat a snack. For Marshall, as observed in Scouting, 2023, scale creates a wry humor and steel rods organize his thoughts. Beaming, angsty, yearning, I don't know if an exhibition is ever for everyone. Personally, I grew up just north of Atlanta and was introduced to art through local events like the Inman Park Festival, then by choice while studying photography at Georgia State. In school, I developed my idea of the way things should be, reading humanistic texts like the collected interviews of Henry Cartier Bresson. As structured languages fail to fully verbalize or express who we are or what we want to say, we can repurpose symbols and poems to communicate our experiences. What drew me into these artists' work was their thesis that silence might be nothingness. And yet, while standing in this space, instead of finding a peaceful stillness, I found myself buzzing with more questions than answers. Despite imperfect means to express our thoughts, we connect regardless. Luckily, we try, try again, try better. Antiphase, an exhibition by C.C. Calloway and Bradley Marshall at The End Project Space in Atlanta is on view through August 18th, 2023. That was Antiphase at The End Project Space Atlanta by Blair Labanc from the Burnaway publication. Next, we move to creative loafing online. Out Town, essential in more ways than one, innovative happenings from all kinds of creative stalwarts are on the August calendar by Kevin C. Madigan. Using the tagline showcasing Georgia's best playwrights, the Essential Theater in Atlanta has announced the lineup for its 2023 play festival, taking place this summer at Seven Stages and Little Five Points. Running August 11th through September 3rd, the series will feature the world premieres of the 2023 Essential Theater Playwriting Award winner, The Manuscript by Matt Hoffman and 2020 co-winner, The Wishing Place, written by Beverly Austin. Hush Harbor Labs Workshop will present a reading of Yanni Stone and the Honey Pot Trap by Anterior Leverett, as well as Carolyn Crook's new play, Walk With Me, Loving Steps on the Dementia Journey. The Bear Essentials play reading series is also on the schedule. The Manuscript is described as a psychological drama about what we owe to those we've lost, while The Wishing Place is said to be a poetic drama about two families in 1960s rural Georgia, one black and one white, trying to find their path and keep their dreams alive. Dates and more details are available at EssentialTheater.com. The Essential Theater has also announced it's the recipient of a bridge grant from the Georgia Council for the Arts for fiscal year 2024. This grant and others received by the Essential from entities such as the National Endowment for the Arts, Fulton County Arts and Culture, the City of Atlanta's Mayor Office of Cultural Affairs, and the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta are instrumental in bringing the best new plays by Georgia playwrights to audiences throughout metro Atlanta and providing free or low-cost community programs that foster creativity, confidence, and connection across the state, the announcement said. The rest of August features a booze-laden tribute to Edgar Allan Poe, the Atlanta Shakespeare Company running a muck, the Emmett Till story at the History Center, solo gallery exhibitions aplenty, John Oliver showing up at the Fox, and the Swell season performing at the Symphony Hall, and some admirable new plays get launched, see for yourself. Through Saturday, August 19th, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Actors Express. This cult musical is soaked in the androgynous glam rock style of the 1970s, with nods to David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Lou Reed, and a bit of John Lennon thrown in for good measure. Music and lyrics are by Stephen Trask, and the book is by John Cameron Mitchell, who wrote the story inspired partly by a nanny he had as a child who moonlighted as a prostitute. He turned her into a rocker from East Germany who's left with an angry inch after a botched sex change operation. The character is a survivor who picks up the pieces and makes something beautiful out of them, Mitchell told Vanity Fair. Actors Express artistic director Freddie Ashley added, Hedwig has become something of a mythic character who embodies the inner worth and dignity of anyone who has ever felt like an outsider. The production is directed by Quinn Xavier Hernandez, with music supervision by longtime Atlanta musician Bucky Motter. Tickets are 25 plus at the King Plow Arts Center, Suite J107, that's 887 West Marietta Street, Atlanta, 30318. Call 404-607-7469 or visit actors-express.com for more information. Through Friday, September 8th, Marianne MoMA Iconoclast Solo Exhibition, Aviation Community Cultural Center. Collage artist Marianne MoMA gets a show of her own through the auspices of Graphite House, a local firm dedicated to promoting the work of contemporary black artists. Subtitled Transcending the Norms, her exhibition is described in press materials as a pastiche of creativity, challenging the status quo and stimulating conversations around identity, race, and gender. Exhibit director Rodney Love-Jones says, working in tandem with Marianne MoMA, we are challenging the icon narrative, dually presenting artworks that not only appeal aesthetically, but also incite poignant discussions around contemporary issues and huge bitties of era. We are confident that collectors and visitors will depart Marianne's exhibition with a renewed understanding and relevance of analog collage. This event is free at the Aviation Community Cultural Center, 3900 Aviation Circle, Atlanta, 30336. Visit graphitehouse.co for more information. Thursday, August 3rd through Friday, August 4th, Pullman Pops Broadway Spectacular, Pullman Yards. The Pullman Pops Symphony Orchestra is back for the 2023 season with three shows featuring, as usual, the estimable conductor Larry Blank leading his 45-piece ensemble. The theme for the first concerts in August is Broadway, with showbiz veterans David Burnham, Elsie Powell, and Jason Gray belting out tunes from a bunch of musicals and movies. The other announced shows are Sinatra and Standards on Thursday, October 26th, and a special holiday event on Saturday, December 2nd, though specific details on each are scarce. All will be revealed in due course by the promoters. The Lively Concert Series is an ideal way to spend a summer evening with a drink in hand, said PR executive Bianca Kukowski. Doors open at 5 p.m. and organizers are urging punters to arrive early and make use of the various bars and restaurants within the complex. Our whole intent with the developing Pullman Yards was to introduce and activate a mixed-use community driven by the arts, co-founder Adam Rosenfeld said in a statement. This partnership with Larry, one of the most prolific and renowned conductors in the business, aligns exactly with our mission to bring these unique and exciting experiences here. Seating room $37, seated admission $68.50, meet and greet add-on $25. There are table and VIP sections available as well as bottle service and picnic baskets. Doors open at 5, show starts at 7, Art Center Amphitheater, 225 Rogers Street, Atlanta 30317. Visit feverup.com for more information. Thursday, August 3rd through Saturday, August 5th, Edgar Allan Poe Speakeasy, Blue Mark Studios. This pop-up celebrates the work of Edgar Allan Poe, the controversial writer from Boston known for his poetry and tales of mystery, horror, and the macabre. Born in 1809, he was an early exponent of the detective fiction and science fiction genres, particularly in short story form. Poe married his 13-year-old cousin, a la Jerry Lee Lewis, and strangely died at the age of 40. The evening is described by organizers as a chilling experience in Atlanta that brings four of his stories off the page and onto the stage as told through the Poe historians while pairing them with four classic cocktails. The venue, Blue Mark Studios, is a restored church built more than a century ago that now functions as an artist's cooperative and a host for special events. Tickets are $55. Blue Mark Studios is at 892 Jefferson Street Northwest, Atlanta 30318. Visit feverup.com for more information. Thursday, August 3rd through Thursday, September 7th, Cayetano Still Life, Swan Coach House Gallery. The work of Brooklyn visual artist Jarell Cayetano, who currently lives and works in Atlanta, uses an expressive color palette to bring liveliness to moments that may have otherwise gone unnoticed, according to the gallery. His tools are gauche paint and oil, resulting in narrative depictions full of expression and realism. The exhibition is curated by Lauren Jackson Harris. Cayetano himself will be on hand for an artist's talk on Saturday, August 19th at 3 p.m. This event is free. Swan Coach House Gallery is at 3130 Slayton Drive, Atlanta 30305. Call 404-266-2636 or visit swangallery.org for more information. Friday, August 4th through Saturday, September 2nd, Lloyd Benjamin Objects and Silhouettes, Wolfgang Gallery. World traveler, musician, former owner of an art gallery and a frame shop, Lloyd Benjamin is first and foremost a visual artist who works in a range of mediums, such as painting, sculpture, printmaking, and photography. Benjamin's vibrant outlines by spray enamel, drips, stains, and calligraphic lines infuse his compositions with energy and fluidity, a statement from the gallery reads. Through his chosen techniques and materials, Benjamin achieves a harmonious balance between structure and spontaneity. This event is free. Wolfgang Gallery is at 1240 Old Chattahoochee Avenue, Atlanta 30318. For more information, call 404-549-2397 or visit wolfganggallery.com. Saturday, August 5th through Sunday, September 3rd, Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged, Shakespeare Tavern. The entirety of William Shakespeare's output, 37 plays and 154 sonnets, is condensed into a mere two hours by actors Ebony Jerry, O'Neill Delafina, and Trevor Perry, under the direction of Charlie T. Thomas. How they pull it off remains to be seen, but it's an intriguing prospect. Producers call it an irreverent, hilarious high-speed romp and are careful to use the word abridged in their promotional materials. None of it should be taken too seriously. Titus Adronicus becomes a cooking show, all the histories are performed as a football game, and we go nuts with Hamlet, they warn. A post-show Q&A will take place on Sunday, August 13th. Tickets are $24 to $46, discounts are available. That's Shakespeare Tavern, 499 Peachtree Street, Atlanta 30308. Call 404-874-5299 or visit shakespeartavern.com for more information. Saturday, August 5th through Sunday, September 17th, Emmett Till and Mamie Till Mobley, Let the World See, Atlanta History Center. This touring exhibition tells the story of Emmett Till and his mother Mamie Till Mobley and challenges visitors to make a ripple for justice in their own communities, the AHC says. Let the World See, What They Did to My Boy are reportedly the words uttered by Emmett's mother as she attended her son's funeral following his 1955 lynching in Mississippi. Two white men were tried and acquitted for the slaying, but confessed to the crime after the statute of limitations expired. That year, a reporter for Time wrote, for almost a century, African Americans were lynched with regularity and impunity. Now thanks to a mother's determination to expose the barbarousness of the crime, the public could no longer pretend to ignore what they couldn't see. Mamie Till Mobley's persistence led eventually to passage of the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act in March 2022. But why did it take so long? Tickets are $24 plus discounts are available. Atlanta History Center is at 130 West Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta, 30305. Call 404-814-4000 or visit atlantahistorycenter.com for more information. Sunday August 6th, John Oliver Live, Fox Theater. The host of HBO's Last Week Tonight is taking to the road and will make a stop at the Fox in August. Oliver's comedic roots are in stand-up, having made his debut at the 2001 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He hosted four seasons of his own stand-up series for Comedy Central and starred in the special John Oliver, Terrifying Times, 2008. Until 2015, he co-hosted the popular weekly satirical podcast The Bugle with Andy Zaltzman and has appeared as an actor in the NBC sitcom Community and in several movies. Oliver also voiced the Zazu character in Disney's The Lion King, 2019. His show at the Fox is bound to include his usual caustic wit, well-researched observations, and biting commentary. Highly recommended. Tickets are $69 plus. That's 7.30 p.m. at the Fox Theater, 660 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, 30308. Call 855-285-8499 or visit foxtheater.org for more information. Wednesday, August 9, 2023, the swell season, Symphony Hall. Irish musician Glenn Hansard, formerly of the Frames and Czech singer and pianist Marketa Erglova, first emerged through the 2007 hit indie film Once, playing struggling musicians in Dublin and snagging an Oscar in the process. Capitalizing on that success, the couple formed a folk rock band called The Swell Season, released a couple of well-received albums, and went out on the road. A documentary about Erglova and Hansard premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2011 with positive reviews. A Broadway musical based on the movie became a hit as well. They even got parodied on The Simpsons. More recently, the two were referenced on Ted Lasso. The pair, inactive for the past decade or so except for solo work, is teaming up again for an international tour with over a dozen U.S. dates, some of which are already sold out. Tickets are $61 to $299 at 8 p.m. at Symphony Hall, 1280 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, 30309. Call 404-733-4900 or visit aso.org for more information. Thursday, August 24, we love Beaufort Highway fundraiser, Spring Hall. Pull up a chair, exhale, and come to Feast for a Cause, organizers from the We Love Beaufort Highway nonprofit propose. Under the moniker Feast, the group is hosting an ethnic foodie gathering to raise money for its many initiatives. Your support means breaking rice, tortillas, naan, and more for the multicultural identity of a gem we all embrace, the marketing verbiage states, adding that the goal is to preserve this area's dynamic and internationally recognized footprint. Programs include feeding families, helping immigrants who run small businesses, a youth orchestra, after school programs, an oral history project, art murals, assistance with zoning permits and license issues, and a bunch of others. It's about more than just food, said executive director Lily Pabian, about the stretch of road famous for its vastly varied cuisine. It's real help. An immigrant from Taiwan, she moved to Beaufort Highway as a child with her family. We want to help each other, she insists. Encompassing the municipalities of Brookhaven, Chamblee, and Doraville, the agency kicked into high gear with the onset of the pandemic and ended up providing 100,000 meals, Pabian estimated, while helping with vaccine administration for thousands as well to make sure our communities didn't get left out. That's at the Spring Hall event venue at 7130 Beaufort Highway, Suite 100, Atlanta, 30340. Visit welovebeuhi.org. Thursday, August 24th through Saturday, December 23rd. Atlanta Contemporary presents Sam Gilliam and Hassani Salahi, Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center. To honor its 50th anniversary, the center has announced two significant solo exhibitions that will run well into December. Sam Gilliam is known for his groundbreaking contributions to the color field movement and his innovative approaches to abstraction, a press release states. Spanning various periods of his career will be on display, including works on paper, sculptural assemblages, and painted tapestry. The showcase of emerging artist Hassani Salahi is titled, You Really Gotta See It Live. Based in Atlanta, but born in the Virgin Islands, Salahi's work is rooted in abstraction, embracing a broad array of cultural practices, including color field painting, neo-expressionism, ancient and indigenous architecture, and writing. This event is free at the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center, 535 Means Street, Atlanta, 30318. Call 404-688-1970 or visit atlanticontemporary.org. Ongoing. If you haven't visited the ALCO Hall at Pullman Yards, there are plenty of different events scheduled for a broad range of interests. You can peruse some of them below and check the Pullman Yards website as many new events are being added. Every Monday is Manic Mondays, ALCO Hall at Pullman Yards. Industry Nights with Criminal Records welcomes professionals who work in hospitality, beauty, film, and entertainment in general. There will be sets by DJ Swivel and DJ Tony Shackle, as well as a record swap and sale, a vintage pop-up market, and drink specials. That's free entry 7 to 10 p.m. every Monday at ALCO Hall, a beverage experience, PullmanYards.com. Every fourth Friday is Asian Night Market, ALCO Hall at Pullman Yards. Asian American and Pacific Islanders are in the spotlight in this chef's market event happening every fourth Friday in ALCO Hall with artists, crafters, food vendors, and community organizations gathering for a fun evening of arts, culture, and food. Each Asian Night Market coincides with a mini skate night on the Pickleball Courts. Skate rentals will be available and a DJ will spin Korean pop. Free entry 5 to 10 p.m. every fourth Friday in ALCO Hall, a beverage experience, visit PullmanYards.com. Every first Saturday, Steers and Beers, ALCO Hall at Pullman Yards. A mechanical bowl, line dancing, pit master pop-ups, art, and vintage shopping. You get the idea. No doubt there will be country music blasting, too. Barbecue and beer tastings, courtesy of Wicked Weed Brewing, require a ticket. The event is part of the chef's market series, which provides a place for Atlanta chef, food truck operators, and other food and restaurant proprietors to supplement their incomes and grow their businesses. That's 1 to 6 p.m. every first Saturday at ALCO Hall, a beverage experience, visit PullmanYards.com. Wednesday, August 9th, Cocktails and Crafts, Atlanta-based leather studio, Glad and Young, is hosting this one-and-a-half-hour workshop to help you craft your own leather wallet. The hosts will demonstrate and teach you the ins and outs of introductory leathery working, along with tips for creating eye-catching patterns and customization. No experience necessary. Various libations will be on tap, $68. That's 7 to 8.30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 9th at ALCO Hall. Visit PullmanYards.com. Thursday, August 10th, Two-Step Night, choreographer D. Wade will be teaching some popular line dances as well as his own creations, among them the Tamiya Hustle and the D. Wade Shuffle. We're going to drink and vibe out, Wade insists. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult while inside ALCO Hall. Free entry from 7 to 11 p.m. on Thursday, August 10th. Visit PullmanYards.com. Saturday, August 12th is Drunk Drag Broadway. The troupe is presenting a drag musical spoof titled Wicked-ish. Under 18s must be with an adult. That's $15 to $210. 8 p.m. on Saturday, August 12th at ALCO Hall. Visit PullmanYards.com. And Saturday, August 26th is the Artisans Collective. Despite its fancy name, this is essentially a flea market and a good one. Previous events here have been well attended and they seem to get bigger each time. Plenty of local handmade goods and more for sale, organizers say. That's free entry from 1 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, August 26th. This is all at ALCO Hall. Visit PullmanYards.com for more information. That was all about towns. Essential in more ways than one, innovative happenings from all kinds of creative stalwarts are on the August calendar by Kevin C. Madigan from the Creative Loafing Online publication. Next up, we move to Arts ATL for Theater Lines, Atlanta Roots at Actors Express, Sesame Street Puppets, More by Arts ATL staff. Vernell and Sear Theater's world premiere of The Glass Essay takes the stage at Windmill Arts Center this September. Inspired by the lyric essay of the same name by Ann Carson, the highly personal production is written and directed by Sawyer Estes. Ten years ago, my sister went through a devastating divorce, her first in a long line of divorces in our family, Estes told Arts ATL. When I heard the news, I sent her a scanned copy of this poem by Ann Carson, The Glass Essay, thinking it might do her some good. I was right. It offered for her a kind of refuge, a resting place. Over the past six months, our company has been reimagining this text for the theater without changing a word, hoping it might again offer restoration and guidance to ourselves and our audience. Actors Express's 36th season will run from winter 2024 until fall 2024 and include the world premiere of the play A Third Way by Atlanta playwright Lee Osorio and a production of Pearl Clege's Blues for an Alabama Sky, directed by Associate Artistic Director Amanda Washington. Blues for an Alabama Sky holds a special place in my heart, Washington told Arts ATL. It was one of the first plays directed in graduate school. In a way, it feels like I'm coming home. The words of the play ring true to this day and are a constant reminder to myself and anyone who witnesses this story that life holds an abundance of possibilities. One of my favorite things this season is how three of the playwrights have deep Atlanta roots and connections, Artistic Director Freddie Ashley told Arts ATL. Steve Yockey grew up here and cut his teeth artistically at Actors Express and around the Atlanta theater community. Pearl Clege has been one of the great artistic voices of our community for some time now. Lee Osorio has made his mark as one of Atlanta's greatest actors and now brings a fresh point of view to our playwriting community. Midtown's Center for Puppetry Arts will stage Anika's Elephants, an original work produced by a cohort of Sesame Street writers, designers, and performers August 17th through September 3rd. Creatives behind the new production include Emmy Award winning writer Annie Evans, director Pam Arciero, production designer Martin P. Marty Robinson, who portrayed Mr. Snuffleupagus, Telly Monster, and various other characters, and Emmy Award winning composer Paul Rudolph. We are beyond thrilled to partner with this extraordinary group of artists to bring Anika's Elephants to the center, said Executive Director Beth Shavio in a press release. Beyond the benefits of presenting new voices and interpretations of puppetry to Atlanta, there is the added excitement of welcoming back some of the center's most treasured alumni who have found success as part of the beloved Sesame Street. That was Theater Lines, Atlanta Roots at Actors Express, Sesame Street Puppets, and more by Arts ATL staff. Next up, what to see, do, and hear, Quilt Festival, The Bench, Tinsley Ellis, and much more by Arts ATL staff. Art and Design. The 2023 Atlanta Quilt Festival opens this weekend at the Southwest Arts Center. The featured exhibit is the second installment of a tribute to US Rep. John Lewis, thank you, John Lewis, I am your wildest dream. In addition, more than 100 quilts celebrating African American heritage will be displayed. Activities through the month of August will include classes, workshops, trunk shows, lectures, and vendors. The festival, now in its 15th year, is the largest African American quilt festival in the country, and is presented this year in partnership with the City of South Fulton, South Fulton Institute, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Opening reception is Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Material Influence opens Thursday at Maughan Contemporary Gallery. This is a thought-provoking group show that challenges today's notions of achievement. The curators, Kate Chestnut and Grace Chambliss, hope the works will ignite conversations about the commodification of success, power, influence, and salvation. The exhibit features work by nine artists, among them Brock DeBoer, John Fields, Justina Kisselwitz, Dayani Munoz, Kenny Scharf, and Nick Vesey. Opening reception, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Two exhibits are opening this weekend at Johnson Lowe Gallery. Dirty Legacy features paintings, sculptural objects, and installations by Navin Norling, who has a decades-long practice of mining detritus, such as cast-off wood and old window panes. Notorious public figures, artifacts of advertising, and fragments of cultural idioms are pivotal points of departure for his work. It's his first solo exhibit in Atlanta. Mozambican artist Elidio Kanja Kanja presents O Silencio Negro en Forma de Chocolate, Black Silence in the Form of Chocolate, a series of large-scale paintings that reflect the repression of indigenous cultures in colonial Africa. Opening reception Friday, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. RSVP is requested. The Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance in Chamblee is showing the work of Nigerian textile artist Gasali Adeyemo in African blues. He dyes almost exclusively with indigo, a natural blue dye that has a long history in Yoruba culture. Adeyemo says, indigo is the color of love because in Yoruba culture, it is worn for celebrations like weddings, naming ceremonials, and berries. His textiles appear in the movie The Woman King. Actor Viola Davis and her warriors wore his batik skirt and wraps. Music. George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic performs Tuesday at 7.30 p.m. at Symphony Hall for what may or may not be the legendary group's final tour. Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019 for their groundbreaking funk sound that has had major impact on modern music. The group, which has had six number one hits on the American R&B charts, also received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. Tickets start at $55. Atlanta blues icon Tinsley Ellis performs a rare solo acoustic show at Eddie's Attic Saturday at 7 p.m. Ellis, known for his fiery electric guitar work, has spent the year touring the country with a show he calls Acoustic Songs and Stories and brings it home to Atlanta as he works on an acoustic album. Expect blues favorites along with a bunch of his own songs, sprinkled with a rock chestnut here and there. Be sure to check out our interview with Ellis, where he delves into why he decided to do an acoustic tour. Tickets are $36. To mark the 21st anniversary of the death of widespread panic guitarist Michael Hauser, the Sam Holt Band will perform at Smith's Old Bar next Thursday. Holt, who was a long-time guitar tech for Hauser and even played shows with the band following Hauser's death, recorded three albums with his band Out Formation before going solo in 2010. Holt promises an evening of widespread panic songs combined with original material inspired by the band. Tickets start at $20. Robert Galinsky will perform his one-man show, The Bench, a homeless love story, this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the Conyers Rockdale Council for the Arts Black Box Theater. The Bench depicts the lives of six homeless kids who are forced to live in a small, isolated, and isolated community in the middle of the United States. The Bench depicts the lives of six homeless characters, all with very different circumstances, during the peak of the AIDS crisis. Read Arts ATL editor-at-large Jim Farmer's recent story for more information about Galinsky's inspiration behind The Bench and the parallels between the play's era and today. Tickets are $26.75. The pros and cons of Killing Your Cult Leader, a show by the Weird Sisters Theater Project, begins its second run at the Shakespeare Tavern on Sunday. In a story by Arts ATL writer Benjamin Carr, director Liliana Quinones describes the play as having a deep stuckness and sadness underneath the funny at all times, and a cast that is doing amazing work, particularly with physical comedy. A discussion will follow the Sunday performance. Tickets are $20. Film and TV. The 20th Annual Atlanta Underground Film Festival is this Thursday through Sunday at the Limelight Theater. All four days offer a block of shorts with themes such as Age of Anxiety, Son of a Bitch, Can You Hear Me Now, and The Limelight. The festival will additionally screen four full-length features, Sweetheart Deal, Pound Cake, Abruptio, and Cash Cow. Passes for all four days are $60, day passes are $25, and individual screenings are $12. That was What to See, Do, and Hear. Quilt Festival, The Bench, Tinsley Ellis, and much more by Arts ATL staff. Next, Synchronicity's 26th season offers diverse artists a seat at the table by Arts ATL staff. Synchronicity Theater has announced its 26th season running from fall 2023 to summer 2024. The season includes a co-production with Impact Theater Atlanta of The Wash, a play written by Arts ATL editor-at-large, Kalundra Smith, as well as other anticipated productions. Building a season is always a delicious conundrum, mixing stories and voices that uplift and enlighten, artistic director Rachel May told Arts ATL. I was inspired by the theatricality and magic in all of our family series shows, which are fantastical, but rooted in authenticity and story. And partnering with Impact Theater on the world premiere of Kalundra Smith's The Wash puts lively, fierce, and powerful women center stage just how we like it. I can't wait for Atlanta and the world to experience the comedy, joy, and heart that winds all through The Wash, Smith told Arts ATL. This is a homegrown story rooted in our history. Atlantans will recognize neighborhoods, people, and places in it, including Summer Hill, Wheat Street, and Spelman College. The season also includes the North American premiere of Home, I'm Darling, written by Laura Wade, and a remount of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, written by Taiwanese-American author and illustrator Grace Lin, and last staged at Synchronicity in 2013. This year, the theater is partnering with the community organization East by Southeast to enrich the production's Asian roots. East by Southeast is thrilled to be a community partner with Synchronicity for their production of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, said founders Amy Vyas and Michelle Pokapok in a statement. We share a vision to foster community connections, especially when opportunities like this feature our Asian cultures and local Asian-American and Pacific Islander artists. Inclusion begins with having a seat at the table, which we hope to have more of in Atlanta. That was Synchronicity's 26th season offers diverse artists a seat at the table by Arts ATL staff. Next up, bluesman Tinsley Ellis cranks down the volume, plays first Eddie's Attic Show by Scott Freeman. Like many budding artists, Tinsley Ellis learned to play on an acoustic before he made the switch to the electric. A half century later, he has come full circle. Ellis, who has a full throttle career as an acclaimed electric blues rock artist, has spent this year touring as a solo act, performing in theaters and listening rooms accompanied only by his 1969 Martin D35 and 1937 National Steel Guitars. He brings his acoustic songs and stories tour home to Atlanta Saturday night with his first ever show at the vaunted Eddie's Attic. In the early 1980s, Ellis became known across the Southeast as the Atlanta version of Stevie Ray Vaughan, playing sweaty blues songs in music clubs across the city. He burst onto the national blues rock scene in 1986 with his band, The Heart Fixers, and the album Cool On It. Ellis has since released 20 albums, most of them through Alligator Records, the preeminent blues label. He has also become known as one of the best guitarists of his generation. But his Fender Stratcoaster and Gibson Electrics have remained mostly idle this year. Quipped Ellis, the other day I was looking at all my electric guitars and amplifiers and thinking, damn, these things are getting lonely. Ellis spoke to Arts ATL about his debut at Eddie's Attic, his upcoming acoustic album, and the challenge of playing acoustic music without a band behind him. Arts ATL, what led you to spend the year performing acoustic shows? Tinsley Ellis. I played acoustically before I ever played electrically. After I saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan in 1964, I begged my parents for a guitar and they rented me an acoustic guitar with the stipulation I take lessons. I took four or five lessons, then I released myself on my own personal recognizance. I've been totally self-taught since then. So acoustic music has always been a part of my life. And during shows, I'd always play the National Steel in the middle of the show. I really got into my acoustics during the pandemic. The Luthier at In Town Guitars reworked my Martin and pretty much had to completely take it apart. He put a pickup system in it and the thing just sings. I'm kind of rediscovering another side of the guitar that I'd ignored for a long time. It all started when I put headphones on and put a mic in front of it and thought, man, these guitars are just beautiful sounding instruments. Have you ever performed at Eddie's Attic? The only time I've ever performed there was when Joe Bonamassa was just starting out and he called me up and asked me to come sit in. He had more guitars on stage than he had people in the audience. He blew the walls off the place and I helped him do that. That's the only time I've ever played there. So I'm really excited about it. It's a beautiful setting for acoustic music. Arts ATL. What can people expect when they come to the show? Ellis. It's not going to be the typical listening room type show. There'll be some quieter numbers, but I try to maintain the same edge acoustically that I have electrically. It'll be more of a party, really. I throw in all kinds of weird, quirky songs mixed in with the songs off my album. And I talk about how I wrote them, but I kind of do whatever I feel like doing. If I want to throw in a Buddy Holly song or a Bob Dylan song or a Rolling Stones song, I can do that. It puts a smile on people's faces when you do a familiar cover. Arts ATL. Your acoustic shows are billed as acoustic songs and stories. What inspired that format? Ellis. I performed at the 30A Songwriters Festival in Florida, and I saw people like Steve Earle and Ricky Lee Jones play. When you play an electric show, you just barrel through. I saw where they talked about their songs before they played them. People seem to enjoy the storytelling aspect of it, where I set the songs up with the stories behind them. I do a lot of name dropping, and most of the stuff I say up there is true. If people will put up with the talking, I do it. But if they want to boogie on through, then I'll just blast on through. Every night, I try to figure out which it's going to be. Arts ATL. How different is it playing acoustic shows versus electric? Ellis. It's terrifying to be up there by yourself. You kind of have to walk through the fear. I've done some larger shows, and going out in front of a large crowd with no backup band, just me and the acoustic guitars, sitting in the back when the person from the festival comes to get you, it's almost like they're the executioner. They're leading me out there. But once I get one or two songs under my belt, it's like I'm on cruise control with it. All the shows I've done this year have been acoustic. I've done the entire country, from South Florida to Seattle, to San Diego to Maine. Over 60 shows. Me in a car with two guitars and a suitcase full of CDs and vinyl to sell. I got a hybrid vehicle that gets over 50 miles to the gallon. Arts ATL. Are you going to do an acoustic album? Ellis. I'm in the middle of recording one. Eddie Ninevolt has produced a session. He's a younger guy and gave it to some young ears. He gave a real nice twist to it. I'm still developing songs for it. I've got so many songs and it's a matter of which ones to do. I've got something different without deviating from the style people are used to with electric guitar. It's performing with a couple of beautiful sounding instruments as opposed to allowing the amp to do the work. I'm hoping it will be well received. It's a mainly blues and folk direction. Mostly originals, but right now I have a Muddy Water song, a Son House song, and a Leo Kotke song in the mix. The Kotke song is Sailor's Grave on the Prairie, which I recorded with the Heart Fixers. That song is from when I was first getting into open tuning and slide guitar. When I did it with the Heart Fixers, I did it on electric guitar. But when I do it now, I do it on my National Steel. Arts ATL. I happened to see you do an acoustic show 25 years ago and you encored with Pinball Wizard. Any surprises like that on tap for the Eddie's Attic show? Ellis. Some of the songs I do raise an eyebrow. Basically, I do whatever the hell I want, like the marionette who clipped its strings. I've done some Greg Allman songs from the laid back era these days. I think I'll break that one out at Eddie's Attic. That was one of my big college seduction songs. I should do an entire set of college seduction dormitory songs. That song was a big one. And if you needed to bring out the big guns, you'd bust out something like James Taylor's Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight. I hope you'll print that. That's some good tabloid stuff right there. I need to be more outrageous. That's how you get famous these days in America. Not by playing good music, but by being outrageous. About the only rebellious thing I do is tuning with a capo on. Laughs. That's about as outrageous as I get. That was Bluesman Tinsley Ellis, Cranks Down the Volume, Plays First Eddie's Attic Show by Scott Freeman. Next up, Robert Galinsky's The Bench, Ponders Homelessness, Heartfelt Connection by Jim Farmer. When he was in his early 20s, actor and writer Robert Galinsky remembers constantly walking past a group of homeless guys who used to hang out on the steps of the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut, frequently screaming and yelling at each other. At first, he didn't pay much attention, but once he did, their poetic vulgarity drew him in. When he started hanging out with them, he learned they were much more than zombies. They were human beings with depth and emotion and relationships with desires and needs and interesting histories, Galinsky said. Those subjects shaped his play, The Bench, a homeless love story running at the Conyers Rockdale Council for the Arts Black Box Theater, August 4th through 6th. It's a one man show written and performed by Galinsky based on true stories of five homeless characters and the chaos that ensued when the AIDS crisis hit in the 80s, affecting one of them. That's all the time we had for that article entitled Robert Galinsky's The Bench, Ponder's Homelessness and Heartfelt Connection by Jim Farmer. That concludes today's MetroArts program, which is brought to you by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. This has been Kristen Moody for GARS, the Georgia Radio Reading Service. Thank you for listening to GARS.