ART+DESIGN
The High Museum of Art’s newest exhibition Oliver Jeffers: 15 Years of Picturing Books features 80 original drawings, sketches and finished illustrations from 16 books by the award-winning artist and children’s book author, including his wildly popular bestseller The Day the Crayons Quit as well as The Incredible Book Eating Boy, A Child of Books and Once Upon an Alphabet. The galleries feature reading areas where families can sit together and dig deeper into the books. Through August 7. General admission $16.50. Free for members and children under 6. Masks are encouraged but not required.
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Technology can feel endless: links, information, texts, copying-and-pasting into oblivion. Since technology has become our primary method of communication, artist Kate Burke wonders about our devices and social networks in her solo exhibit Never let me go. Are these frameworks strong enough to hold the emotional weight we pile into them, she asks? MINT. Through May 21. Masks are required.
DANCE
The site-specific Atlanta group Bautanzt Here brings its Hollow Bones to two outdoor locations this weekend. The work draws on butoh and dance theater and features unique costumes and sculptures designed to engage the audience. Hollow Bones explores how personal loss and life-changing leaps of faith can lead to a better life. It will have playful moments too. Saturday 5 p.m. at Gordon White Park. Sunday 5 p.m. at Historic Fourth Ward Activity Field. Free.
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George Staib and Kristin O’Neal from the University of Emory’s dance department celebrate Earth Day with Move, Preserve, Sustain in collaboration with the university’s Rose Library. Performances will start on the Emory campus below the Mizell Bridge off Fishburne Drive. You’re invited to join them in an accessible and meditative procession to the Main Quad and end at the Sustainable Garden across from Cox Hall. Enjoy the sounds of nature along with Vega String Quartet musicians Guang Wang (cello) and Yinzo Kong (viola). Friday at noon and 4 p.m. Free.
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Founded by Sarah Hillmer in 2017, ImmerseATL is a unique training and mentorship program for contemporary dancers on their way to emerging as professional performers and leaders. The movement artists graduating this year will present a showcase on Friday at The Windmill Arts Center in East Point. 7:30 p.m. Tickets $18. Masks are encouraged.
MUSIC
The Amplify Decatur Music Festival returns Saturday with a line-up that includes three-time Grammy Award winner Ben Harper, two-time Grammy Award winners Old Crow Medicine Show and Son Volt. The annual concert in downtown Decatur will also include numerous satellite events on Friday and Saturday at various venues in downtown. For a schedule, look HERE. Covid vaccinations are encouraged and masks will be distributed free of charge. Tickets start at $75.
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Students from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Talent Development Program will perform spring recital programs on Saturday at 4 p.m. and then Friday, April 29, at 7 p.m. Both concerts will be in the Rich Theatre at the Woodruff Arts Center. Each year, the program provides music education and training to 25 young Black and Latino musicians. More than 100 of the students have gone on to attend top music schools and conservatories. Masks are encouraged, but not required. Free.
BOOKS
Cynthia Tucker and Frye Gaillard will discuss their new book, The Southernization of America; A Story of Democracy in the Balance, Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Atlanta History Center. The book focuses on the role of the South in shaping America’s current political and cultural landscape. Tucker is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist who was a fixture at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for many years. She is now journalist-in-residence at the University of South Alabama. Gaillard is a writer-in-residence at the University of South Alabama and the author of more than 20 books. Tickets start at $10 and the talk will also be live-streamed on the the Atlanta History Center’s YouTube channel. Masks are encouraged for the live event.
THEATER
Though there are lots of ribald things that go on in the world every day, ribald is a word one rarely hears any more. It’s a bit, shall we say, antiquated. Yet both of those words perfectly fit William Wycherley’s The Country Wife at Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse. Published in 1675, this bawdy comedy of manners focuses on the vices and hypocrisies of Restoration London. Specifically, it satirizes the sexual duplicity of the aristocracy during Charles II’s reign. The characters are lively, and the spicy double entendres come fast and furious. Return to ArtsATL on Friday to read Benjamin Carr’s review. Through May 1. Wearing of masks requested for unvaccinated individuals, optional for vaccinated patrons.
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Presented by Out of Hand Theater in partnership with the Georgia Justice Project, CALF premieres April 21 as part of the troupe’s Shows in Homes programming. The one-act play will run through May 22 in private homes around metro Atlanta, with one performance at 7 Stages on May 9. Written by native Atlantan Leviticus Jelks, CALF stars Marlon Burnley in seven roles that bring to life the story of Bull Willis, just released after a decade in prison and seeking a job, a place to live and connection with the son he never met. Each home performance includes a cocktail party and follow-up conversation with a representative from the Georgia Justice Project about obstacles facing people released from prison and the social justice nonprofit’s work on that issue. Proof of full Covid-19 vaccination required.
FILM+TV
Kicking off for 11 days on Thursday, the Atlanta Film Festival returns to in-person screenings at Plaza Theatre and Dad’s Garage, with outdoor screenings also at the Carter Center and Atlanta Botanical Garden. Due to pandemic precautions. it’s also possible to view films online. The opening night feature is the thriller 892 and closing night presentation is the Disney+ documentary Mija, both showing at the Plaza. Read Steve Murray’s reviews of 10 of the films — including the “haunting and hauntingly good” drama Hands That Bind and the “compelling” documentary Master of Light (about Atlanta painter George Anthony Morton, who seeks all kinds of resolution after a decade in prison on drug charges).
