Cutlure

Culture


Article

Wednesday May 25, 2005 12:04 AM EDT

The symbolism falls like a torrential downpour in The Diviners, Theatre in the Square’s Depression-era religious allegory. Director Alan Kilpatrick slogs through the script’s heavy-handed, manipulative moments to find some genuinely affecting grace notes, but playwright Jim Leonard proves a little too in love with the work of John Steinbeck, especially Of Mice and Men.

The Diviners tracks an...

| more...

Article

Wednesday May 25, 2005 12:04 AM EDT

I’ve been trained to expect an ironic hoax or a clever spoof behind anything from the McSweeney’s collective. The typical McSweeney’s release has its tongue poked so ruthlessly into its cheek that it busts a hole, leaving the reader laughing but perhaps wondering what exactly is the point of all that Staggering Genius.

But Salvador Plascencia’s The People of Paper won me over.

And yes, it has...

| more...

Article

Wednesday May 18, 2005 12:04 AM EDT
Tim Davis offers a fresh view of classic paintings | more...

Article

Wednesday May 18, 2005 12:04 AM EDT
Lost Highway doesn’t flinch from singer’s demons | more...

Article

Wednesday May 18, 2005 12:04 AM EDT

With character names like “Lydia Languish” and “Fag,” Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The Rivals doesn’t exactly demand subtle, quiet acting. For better and worse, the Shakespeare Tavern’s production of the 18th-century comedy plays it big, presenting some hilarious, broadly comic performances.

The story of multiple mistaken identities centers on dashing Jack Absolute (David Weber), who pretends...

| more...

Article

Thursday May 12, 2005 12:04 AM EDT

Dance choreographer Christine Suarez is a bit of a rebel. But she often feels guilty about it. “Authority or rules make me angry, but then I’m also afraid,” says Suarez, who studied dance at Emory University before moving to New York 11 years ago. “I want to, of course, fulfill my vision, but on the other hand I want to belong and I want approval.”

Atlanta’s Nerve Series was created to answer...

| more...

Article

Thursday May 12, 2005 12:04 AM EDT
A story of love and literature liberating the locked-up mind premieres this weekend as a contemporary dance called The Little Seamstress by Amy Gately, artistic director of Atlanta’s Room to Move Dance. The dance is set to eight string pieces by composers such as Haydn, Dvorak, Mozart, plus an original composition by Alice Ho. The marvelous Penderecki String Quartet will perform the... | more...

Article

Thursday May 12, 2005 12:04 AM EDT
Wizzer Pizzer a tone-switcher | more...

Article

Thursday May 12, 2005 12:04 AM EDT
Jewish Theatre’s Fiddler proves unbound by tradition | more...

Article

Thursday May 12, 2005 12:04 AM EDT
Savage Tree spars with Requiem’s clichs | more...

Article

Thursday May 12, 2005 12:04 AM EDT
Not that I’m asking for any sympathy, but being a book critic comes with certain pressures.After penning a less-than-favorable review, I always wonder if an angry author or overly ambitious publicist will sequester a dose of anthrax in the next galley copy they send me. Or if they’ll splash a glass of cheap bourbon in my face at the next local literary event.Hasn’t happened yet, but you never... | more...

Article

Wednesday May 4, 2005 12:04 AM EDT
Video artist Shin-il Kim finds wisdom in contemplation | more...

Article

Wednesday May 4, 2005 12:04 AM EDT

Plan to skip dessert before attending Zoetic Dance Ensemble’s current show. The show is called CAKE, and yes, dancers serve cake from an EZ-Bake Oven and dance with it in short transition pieces between the evening’s major works.

If that’s not enough of a glucose spike, they’ll also be selling gobs of frosting on a spoon. “Anything to get people happy before they watch modern dance,” says...

| more...

Article

Wednesday May 4, 2005 12:04 AM EDT
Interactive whodunit is sheer agony | more...

Article

Wednesday May 4, 2005 12:04 AM EDT

When I arrive, MC Scott Summers is hopped up on cherry Coke, with a half-dozen maraschinos floating in his glass. He’s bouncing, laughing, dancing in place. Summers passes out little slips of paper, each with a letter printed on it. (I get the letter M.) Later, Summers asks each of us to write a poetic phrase to match that letter.??
This is Poetic Martini Wednesday, an open-mic poetry event...

| more...

Article

Wednesday May 4, 2005 12:04 AM EDT

I must confess. When I first read the press materials for Joshilyn Jackson’s gods in Alabama, I thought it was going to be yet another derivative of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, featuring a cast of naughty-but-not-too-naughty Southern belles who solve each other’s problems with spunky Southern pluck.

I was wrong. This novel has deep shadows and sharp edges. And if you’re not...

| more...

Article

Wednesday May 4, 2005 12:04 AM EDT
Atlanta’s got the art-blog fascination | more...

Article

Wednesday April 27, 2005 12:04 AM EDT
Public artworks spend the summer at Freedom Park | more...

Article

Wednesday April 27, 2005 12:04 AM EDT
Minimalism goes domestic at the Museum of Design | more...

Article

Wednesday April 27, 2005 12:04 AM EDT
Last May, Georgia Shakespeare launched its free Shake at the Lake event during a trial by water. Spring showers threatened to wash out the first performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream on the dock of Piedmont Park’s Lake Clara Meer. With rain falling throughout Act One and no shelter for the audience, artistic director Richard Garner explains how the theater improvised with a pair of... | more...

Article

Wednesday April 27, 2005 12:04 AM EDT
Who’s afraid of August Strindberg? The 19th-century playwright has a reputation as one of those serious, scary Scandinavians, but his most famous play, 1888’s Miss Julie, generates enough class resentment and sexual tension to fit right in on cable television. Out of Hand Theater’s visceral production teases S&M themes out of the script and even lists a “sadomasochistic advisor” in the program.... | more...

Article

Wednesday April 27, 2005 12:04 AM EDT
Atlanta theater turns out for Beckett’s 100th | more...

Article

Wednesday April 27, 2005 12:04 AM EDT

With the spring weather all sweet and syrupy, I thought I’d find an easy read to while away the days when the pollen count keeps us indoors with a big box of tissue conveniently close to hand.

Atlanta author Patti Callahan Henry’s Where the River Runs is the story of a middle-aged Buckhead woman who suddenly realizes that she’s faking her way through life and rushes off to find her true...

| more...

Article

Wednesday April 20, 2005 12:04 AM EDT

Maybe it’s the cold medicine I’m on, but Carolyn McLaughlin isn’t sounding to me like your typical high-minded, movement theory-spinning dance director. “Dance good,” she says. “Dance is good for you.” Then she laughs.

OK, so she’s just joking around with me. The associate director of Good Moves Consort knows her Ninjinsky from her Balanchine as well as anyone. But she also has a knack for...

| more...

Article

Wednesday April 20, 2005 12:04 AM EDT
Puppets get religion in Gilgamesh, Principia Discordia | more...