THEATER
It’s a Coachella of comedy: Friday, for one night only, Atlanta’s favorite improv groups will unite for an unprecedented Festivus of humor that’s being billed as Monsters of Prov. Organized and hosted by Dad’s Garage, this event will bring together the Blacktop Circus, Whole World Theatre and Dad’s for an 8 p.m. show and Laughing Matters and Village Theatre for a 10 p.m. show. The night will be capped with an improv jam featuring all the cut-ups. Dad’s is pushing the idea that two shows are better than one and is offering a free ticket to one of its regular Thursday shows as an inducement to catch both Friday bills.
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You’re a parent of young ones and haven’t made it to the Fox Theatre yet to see Frozen? Well, let us nag you! Just kidding — you probably have enough nagging in your life. But we will help you by reminding that the nationally touring stage version of Disney’s sensational, record-busting hit, being presented here by Broadway in Atlanta, closes on Sunday. The show, which garnered a Tony nomination for best musical, brings every kid’s favorite pals — Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf — to enchantingly chilly, 3D life. Hey, it’s sweltering outside – let it snow!
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ART+DESIGN
Asa’s Alley Art Studio is presenting a retrospective of work by the late Eula Mab Rodgers Ginsburg. As described by ArtsATL critic Jerry Cullum, Ginsburg was best known for her quirky, deliberately comic juxtapositions of animal and human figures, in etchings and watercolors seen in many exhibitions over the years, but this show reveals a range of other approaches to figuration that will come as a revelation to most viewers. Through early August.
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Ruth Franklin: Old and New Dreams, a one-woman show of paintings and drawings by the British-born, Atlanta-based artist, continues through July 2 at WADDI Art Gallery. Featuring more than 60 paintings and drawings, the exhibit spans a decade-plus and is the artist’s most comprehensive solo exhibition to date. Franklin emigrated to the United States in 1994 and since then her work has been exhibited in galleries from New York to the Netherlands. 26 Waddell Street NE.
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Tiny Doors ATL artist Karen Anderson Singer will speak about the six new Art on the Atlanta BeltLine installations, followed by a short walk to reveal a new tiny door. Limited edition stickers of the new installations will be awarded to the first 50 attendees. Sunday 3 p.m. The Shed, Ponce City Market, alongside the Eastside Trail.
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MUSIC
Robert Spano officially retired as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s music director after 20 years at the end of the 2020-21 season. But because the pandemic complicated the search for his successor (Nathalie Stutzmann), he stayed on as “co-artistic advisor.” Although Spano will be a frequent guest conductor in the future, he officially closes his tenure at season end performances of Mahler’s Third Symphony on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at Symphony Hall. Spano will be joined by mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor, Georgia Boy Choir and the Women of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus. Tickets start at $34. The performances will also be live-streamed and a livestream watch party will be held Saturday at the Woodruff Arts Center’s Sifly Piazza.
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Garrison Starr comes to Eddie’s Attic June 14 at 7 p.m. on a tour that celebrates the 25th anniversary of her debut album, 18 Over Me. Starr is an acclaimed singer-songwriter who also worked with Margaret Cho on her album American Myth. Billboard magazine has praised Starr as “the author of affecting, emotion-bearing songs that are clothed in attractive, melodic garb.” Tickets are $20.
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DANCE
Now in its 30th year, the MAD Festival (that’s Modern Atlanta Dance for the uninitiated) presents its first post-pandemic, in-person performances this weekend. Seven of Georgia’s most interesting established and up-and-coming choreographers will present their work. Indya Childs’ Mustard Seed is influenced by avant-garde jazz musician Sun Ra and his contributions to Afrofuturism. Recent Atlanta transplant Monica Hogan and her company will perform Morrow. MAD founder Douglas Scott will showcase an excerpt from his disability activist work Alice, Peter & Dorothy. Other choreographers featured are Jenna Latham, Meaghan Novoa, Sarah Wildes Arnett and Patsy Collins, whose SWARM was featured in this year’s Dance Canvas and performed as well at MAD. Friday and Saturday 8 p.m. Emory University’s Performing Arts Studio,1804 North Decatur Road. Pay-what-you-can tickets start at $1. Pre-purchase required. Livestream $25.
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BOOKS
The Creek Indians called Georgia home for thousands of years, and once Europeans began to settle and take their land, many in the tribe tried to adapt to White ways. The tribe both owned slaves and accepted Blacks as full citizens. Journalist Caleb Gayle looks at that dynamic in We Refuse to Forget, and how the tribe decided in the 1970s to revoke the citizenship of Black Creeks. Gayle focuses on the story of “Cow Tom,” a Black Creek who came to prominence as an interpreter. Gayle, a professor at Northeastern University, will discuss We Refuse To Forget: A True Story of Black Creeks, American Identity, And Power at the Atlanta History Center on June 14 at 7 p.m. Tickets start at $5.
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FILM
Out on Film, Atlanta’s LGBTQIA+ film festival, is amid an ambitious slate of films for Stonewall Month, including three screenings in the coming week. Neptune Frost (above), directed by Anisia Uzeyman and Saul Williams, shows at 7 p.m. Friday at Plaza Theatre. It’s described as a “Afrofuturist vision” and “a sci-fi punk musical” set on the hilltops of Burundi. On June 13, The Sound of Identity, directed by Georgia native James Kicklighter, screens at 7 p.m. at Out Front Theatre Company. In the documentary, Lucia Lucas, the first transgender woman to perform as Don Giovanni in a professional opera, makes her historic debut in the red state of Oklahoma. And at 7 p.m. June 14, Madame, directed by Stéphane Riethauser, shows at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema. A family saga based on private archive footage, the film offers a dialog between an extravagant matriarch and her gay grandson, challenging the taboos of gender and sexuality.
