Weekend Arts Agenda: The Last Seen Comedy Festival
Plus: The Song of the Earth, Atlantafication, and The 13th
The Last Scene Comedy Festival is basically a crash course in Atlanta improv. The weekend features an insane lineup of out-of-town and local funny people teaching and performing improv alongside Atlanta comics. Troupes participating include Atlanta-staple Automatic Improv, sloshed sci-fi fanatics The Tipsy Zone, unlikely movie heroes Dark Side of the Room, and beat boxing geniuses Hip Hop Herold. Performances 8-10 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 17-19 at Get Scene Onstage. Workshops 11 p.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19 at Get Scene Onstage.
ON THURSDAY
›› Atlanta Symphony Orchestra welcomes guest conductor Donald Runnicles for his season debut, Mahler’s The Song of the Earth. Vocalists Russell Thomas and Kelley O’Connor join the orchestra for the Chinese poetry-inspired symphony. The program starts with Takemitsu’s 1977 composition A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden and concludes with the titler piece, once heralded by composer Leonard Bernstein as Mahler’s “greatest symphony.” 8 p.m. in Atlanta Symphony Hall.
ON FRIDAY
›› In Atlantafication, Cold Tony curates artists’ responses to the city’s constant changes. He explores Atlanta’s past with the hope of creating a positive energy for the future. World Wide Art Federation creator Fabian Williams and photographer Michelle Norris are among those with work on display. The Atlanta Way director King Williams opens the show with a discussion on Southern gentrification. 7 p.m. at the Highland Inn Ballroom.
ON SATURDAY
›› Middle school is hard enough without the added stress of changing countries. Atlanta Photography Group and the Clarkston Community Center teamed up to offer photography workshops to recently settled immigrant children. Students explore their idea of self and home through photos and text. In Juxtapositions, pieces produced in the workshops are displayed alongside an interactive photo booth that encourages attendees to grapple with their own ideas of home. 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Atlanta Photography Group Gallery.
ON SUNDAY
›› Selma director Ava DuVernay documents how the amendment outlawing slavery isn’t as air-tight as people might believe. In The 13th, she explores the way mass incarceration after the Civil War led to a mythology of black criminality. A World Without Police hosts a post-screening movie discussion. 7 p.m. at 368 PONCE.
ALSO THIS WEEK:
Proof at Southwest Arts Center (8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., Nov. 17-19; 2:30 p.m. Sat.-Sun., Nov. 19-20)
Appropriate at Actor’s Express (8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., Nov. 17-19; 2 p.m. Sun., Nov. 20)
Pokémon: Symphonic Evolution at the Cobb Energy Centre (7:30 p.m. Sat., Nov. 19)
Botox or Bangs at the Village Theatre (9 p.m. Sat., Nov. 19)