Thursday, July 26, 2007
A+E

07/29/07 A&E: Festivals and Happenings

Festivals and HappeningsBack to School with the Braves Celebrate the upcoming end of summer—for the kids, anyway—with an evening of baseball. The Braves will host Back to School Night on Thurs., Au...

Matt Myers, Matt Horgan, Megan Leahy, and Amber Nash star in “Drove” at Dad’s Garage. CREDIT: Sloane Warren

Festivals and Happenings

Back to School with the Braves
Celebrate the upcoming end of summer—for the kids, anyway—with an evening of baseball. The Braves will host Back to School Night on Thurs., Aug. 2, as they take on the Houston Astros at Turner Field. Tickets for outfield seats and upper box seats only $3 for kids 14 and under. Kids can participate in a pre-game parade around the ballfield and visit the Braves museum for free. Children that attend will get a Braves tomahawk. The game starts at 7:35 p.m. 404-522-7630. www.Braves.com/Summer.

Concerts in the Garden: Joan Osbourne
The summer concert series draws to a close with a performance from Joan Osborne on the lawn at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. 8 p.m. Fri., Aug 3. Gates open at 7 p.m. Only a few tickets, which are $35, are left for the show. 404-249-6400. www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org.

Paradise Jam
Celebrate Woodstock’s anniversary with us at Paradise Jam, one of the premier music events in the Southeast. Acts including Keller Williams, Galactic, and Junior Marvin & The Allstar Reggae Band will be performing at the Emerald Music Park. August 17, 18, and 19 in Holt, Florida. For tickets and more info, visitwww.paradisemusicjam.com

Theater, Dance and Opera

365 Days, 365 Plays
Ambitious yearlong festival featuring a year's worth of brief plays by Suzan-Lori Parks, performed at a different venue each week. For information visit www.myspace.com/atlanta365.

The Bluest Eye
This play was adapted from the Toni Morrison novel about a young black girl in 1940s Ohio. Through Sept. 2 at the Horizon Theatre. $20 to $30. 404-584-7450. www.horizontheatre.com.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)
See all 37 of Shakespeare’s’ plays and 154 sonnets in this 97-minute show. Through Aug. 5 at the New American Shakespeare Tavern. $12 to $32. 404-874-5299.
www.shakespearetavern.com.

Drove
What’s really happening in the car next to you as you’re stuck in traffic on the Downtown Connector? Find out some possibilities in this sketch comedy show focuses on people and their cars at Dad’s Garage. 8 p.m. Mon., July 30 and Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. through Aug. 18. Tickets are $15. 404-523-3141. www.dadsgarage.com.

Godspell
The Button Theatre of Gwinnett County makes its debut with this staging of the hit musical. Through Aug. 5 at the Hudgens Center for the Arts in Duluth. 770-831-0951. www.buttontheatre.com.

Loot
This British comedy focuses on an inept bank robber, his recently deceased mother and an empty coffin. A preview performance of this Georgia Shakespeare production will be held at 8 p.m. Thurs., Aug. 2. The show will open officially at 8 p.m. Fri. Aug. 3 and continue through Aug. 19. 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and at 2 and 8 p.m. Sunday. Regular ticket prices range from $15 to $40. 404-264-0020.www.georgiashakespeare.org.

Pinocchio
This classic puppet show will continue through Aug. 5 at the Center for Puppetry Arts.
After the puppet show, be sure to take advantage of the puppetmaking workshop included in the ticket price.. Seeing the center’s puppet museum is also free with paid admission to a show. Through Aug. 5. $14.82. 404-873-3391. www.puppet.org.

Respect, A Musical Journey of Women
Musical celebrating women through Top 40 songs sung by women from 1900 to the present. Sun., July 29 at 14th Street Playhouse. 404-733-4738. www.14thstplayhouse.org.

Family

Animal Planet Summer Adventure
This season, Stone Mountain Park has become the setting for a variety of animal encounters. They include a 30-minute performance by trained stallions and a demonstration by parrots who talk and sing. A bird show features hawks and owls, while an 850-pound pig performs with five smaller ones. A petting zoo offers encounters with sheep, goats and pigs. The animal event is included with a one-day all-attractions pass, which is $24 for adults and $19 for ages 3 to 11. Each vehicle that enters Stone Mountain Park must pay $ 8 for a parking permit. Animal Plant continues through Aug. 5. 770-498-5690. www.stonemountainpark.com.

Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street?
Interactive and educational exhibit celebrating the long-running children's show. Visit Oscar's Newsstand, count along with the Count or sing the alphabet with Elmo and create your own puppet show. Through Sept. 9 at Imagine It! The Children's Museum of Atlanta. 404-659-5437. www.imagineit-cma.org.

Salem the Talking Cat: Seven Years of “Sabrina” Magic
Props, costumes and assorted memorabilia surrounding the animatronic cat Salem Saberhagen from the show “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.” Through June 29, 2008 at the Center for Puppetry Arts. 404-873-3391. www.puppet.org.

Exhibitions and Gallery Shows

Big Bugs and Killer Plants
David Rogers’ larger-than-life insects—some of them 25 feet tall—tower over visitors. Through Oct. 31 at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. 404-876-5859. www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org.

Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's traveling exhibition presenting a history of the Holocaust's biological roots in then-contemporary scientific and pseudo-scientific thought. Sponsored by The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum. Through Aug. 10 at the Global Health Odyssey at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 404-639-0830.

Frida y Diego: Photographs of Their Lives
Images of the artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera by such photographers as Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Guillermo Kahlo and more. Through Aug. 28 at the Oglethorpe University Museum of Art. 404-364-8555. www.oglethorpe.edu.

Louis Monza: From Politics to Paradise
Exhibition of approximately 60 works by the late painter, sculptor and printmaker. Through Aug. 19 at the High Museum of Art. 404-733-4400. www.high.org.

Louvre Atlanta
“Decorative Arts of the Kings” and “Kings as Collectors,” two of three exhibits comprising the first year of this historic look at treasures from the Louvre. Through Sept. 2 at the High Museum. 404-733-4400. www.high.org.

Parallel Journeys: World War II and Holocaust Through the Eyes of Teens
Includes “V for Victory: Georgia Remembers World War II” and “The Butterfly Project.” Ongoing at the KSU Center, Kennesaw University. www.kennesaw.edu/paralleljourneys/about.html.

The Painters
This exhibit features work from Brett Osborn, Richard Currier and Rose Freymuth-Fraizer. Through Aug. 10 at the Bill Lowe Gallery. Free. 404-352-8114. www.lowegallery.com.

Reflections of Culture
Permanent exhibition examining how culture defines who we are and how the peoples of the world express their culture through the objects they create. Ongoing at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. 404-929-6330. www.fernbankmuseum.org.

Rock Show
You can almost hear the music in this exhibit of band photographs by Frank Mullen, Bobb Lovett and Alex Adan. Look for photos of everyone from Henry Rollins and the White Stripes to locals like Cat Power and Man or Astroman. Through Aug. 19 at The Composition Gallery. Free. 678-982-9764. www.compositiongallery.com.

Talent Show
Exhibit showcasing works from resident studio artists as well as some of Atlanta’s finest contemporary artists. Through Aug. 12 at the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center. 404-688-1970. www.thecontemporary.org.

The Way There
Paintings by Jeffrey Al-Mashat, who recently completed a graduate degree in art from Georgia State University. Through Aug. 1 at the Ferst Center for the Arts at Georgia Tech. The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday and by appointment. 404-894-9600. www.ferstcenter.gatech.edu.

Ongoing

Java Monkey Speaks
Weekly open mic poetry event hosted by Kodac Harrison. 8 p.m. Sundays at Java Monkey. 404-378-5002. www.javamonkeydecatur.com.

Martinis & IMAX
Cash bar, food and live jazz. Fridays, January through November, at the Fernbank Museum. 404-929-6400. www.fernbank.edu/museum/martinis.

Urban Grind
Thursday night open mic poetry. 404-724-0605. www.urbangrindatl.com.

Books and Talks

Andrew Moore
This author will address the role of religion in the South and talk about his book, “The South’s Tolerable Alien: Roman Catholics in Alabama and Georgia, 1945-1970.” 7:15 p.m. Wed., Aug. 1, at the Decatur Library. Free. 404-370-8450, ext. 2225. www.georgiacenterforthebook.org.

Thomas Ricks
The author discusses and signs “Fiasco.” 7 p.m. Wed., Aug. 1, with a 6 p.m. reception, at the Margaret Mitchell House Visitors Center. $10. 770-578-3502.www.gwtw.org.

Ronald Spector
This military historian will talk about “In the Ruins of Empire,” his new book.7:15 p.m. Mon., July 30, at the Decatur Library. Free. 404-370-8450, ext. 2225. www.georgiacenterforthebook.org.

Stephanie Bond and Todd Sentell
Bond will introduce “Body Movers: 2 for the Price of 1” at this event, while Todd Sentell will talk about his golf novel, “Toonamint of Champions.” 7:30 p.m. Tue. July 31. 404-378-7166. www.wordsmiths.com .