Review: Out of Hand Theater presents "The Show"

The idea is wonderful: a late-night interactive freak-show that runs for a little over 2 months with a $5 cover and new content every week. Out-of-Hand Theater is using the Friday late-night slot at Horizon Theatre to experiment with an interesting production model, hoping the cheap tickets and ever-evolving content will inspire repeat audience, and it looks like it has—on the night I came there were at least 8 people in the crowd who had seen The Show before, and I heard somebody in the lobby after the performance talking about how he liked having insight from an earlier performance into certain character histories. That's cool. Unfortunately, the performances I saw did nothing to make me want to come back, and I was disappointed to see such great performers spread so thin.

Atlanta Streets Alive!?!

I feel terrible about neglecting this blog after such great response from its inception. I just haven't been in Atlanta for a few weeks, making my seasonal pilgrimage through capitalist purgatory...in clearer terms I took a trip to upstate NY to build roofs with my brother-in-law and the work is taking a lot longer than I expected. This is very unfortunate because I'm missing some exciting public art.

What I'm most bummed about missing is the first-ever Atlanta Streets Alive Festival organized by the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition. This Sunday, May 23rd from 1-6pm, the streets of the Old Fourth Ward will close to automobiles giving safe passage to a number of public events ranging from Kung-fu demonstrations to camping lessons. This has the potential to be a very fun and uplifting cultural event, and the emphasis is on bringing the diverse cultures of Atlanta together to share the joys of mutual public space, exercise, and art. I am curious about how it will turn out.

GREGORY WHITEHEAD (Non-local) Artist worth checking out

I discovered Gregory Whitehead a little over a year ago when I was making my first exploration into radio drama, adapting and directing local playwright Joey Boren's play "Retarded." By far the coolest artist I found in the radio medium, and one of my favorite artists of all time. I wish he was better known so I could use his work as a casual point-of-reference. Here are a few choice MP3s from Ubu.com

If a Voice Like, Then What? (2 and a half minutes long)
For many people, to talk is to struggle. Gregory Whitehead asks if you would like to have a voice like...his. Yes. I can see the advantage of that.

Scratch Peace (about 4 minutes long)
Experimental DJs and Noise-artists take note. Composition of found voice.

The Respirator (about 6 minutes long)
Oh this one is terrifying. Samuel Beckett meet Alfred Hitchcock?

How To Pronounce "Prosthesis" (5 minutes long)
This is a great piece... schizophrenic aphasia bodies antibodies infiltration resistance repeat after Mr. Whitehead: "I am the prosthesis"

Totenklage/Lacrymosa (3 and a half minutes long)
This piece cracks me up. It gets stuck in my head at least once a week, and gives me demon eyes and a raccoon smile when I listen to it.

Display Wounds (about 15 minutes long)
This makes me think of the review I posted about The Day of Murders in the History of Hamlet. Mr. Whitehead has the incredible ability to create insanely warped realities without distorting the listener's logic. Maybe a clever way to describe this piece is if the 'P' in NPR stood for psilocybin.

What Words Want (4 minutes long)
Similar to If a Voice Like/ Then What but includes a wonderful transition into a Latin cutup.


Okay, so this is really a small sample of this guy's work, and I didn't include some of his longer pieces.
One last link, this is an interview with Gregory Whitehead which includes a few samples of his work. One of my favorite conversations about making art. RadioRadio is a wonderful program, and anybody interested in radio, sound art, or intelligent conversation about form and content should check out the other RadioRadio programs.

CHICAGOLAND: a new musical developed by The Inconvenience, Chicago.

Oh snap, first day doing the Atlanta blog thing, and already I have to throw a shoutout to my Chicago homies...I'll frame it this way: if any Atlantans head to Chicago and want to see the best of the best in the Chicago independent circuit, The Inconvenience is the place to go. It's much more than any loft-scene attempts or pretends to be and with each season comes a bigger and more ambitious project out of the collective.

Anyway, the kind folks at the Inconvenience are opening a play at the Chopin Theater this weekend. It only runs for 3 days, but if you find yourself anywhere near Chicago this weekend, you owe it to yourself to check it out. (it's running after the House Theater's show which is also a good bet for a night of fine theater).

Check out the blog and if you're ever in Chicago check out the Inconvenience and holler at my homies.

A little bit about the GCA

I think the recent drăma surrounding GA state legislature's attempt to completely cut the budget of the Georgia Council for the Arts last week became a great barometer for the cultural crisis our city is facing...I'm not going to "cover" that story here. For great coverage of the issue and links to other great articles from AJC and Creative Loafing, check out Lara Moore's post on the Burnaway blog.

What's interesting to me is the depth and lack of depth to the conversations surrounding art funding that I participated in or avoided over this last week. Fortunately my favorite conversation happened on Facebook, so I can share it on this blog, and maybe keep this one going. The big issue is where is the quality work that functions as a worthy community service and justifies public funding.

After the jump I tell it like it is. 

The Day of Murders in the History of Hamlet- 7Stages theater

Don't feel bad if you don't know who Bernard Marie Koltes is. But you really should. Think of a cross between David Lynch and Quentin Tarrantino except grounded more in non-fictional political realities. Yeah. Seriously—get on it.

“The Day of Murder in the History of Hamlet” is play number 3 in 7Stages' ten-year commitment to translating and producing 6 of Bernard Marie Koltes's plays, and judging by the number of butts in seats the night I saw the play, I fear that this may be another internationally significant piece of theater developed in Atlanta that has to leave the city to get a decent audience turnout.

Welcome to Ars Terminus.

Clever name, huh? It took me a while to settle on one. Atlantaland was one idea, as well as KrogerKultureKonnection (totally inappropriate but kindof gets the point across while at the same time obscuring it totally) Hot Atlanta, and simply Atlanta Culture Blog. I think Ars Terminus is the pefect balance of a nerdly obsession with 21st century historical perspectives, the point of art, and the future trajectory of Atlanta, GA.

The point of this blog is to create a space on the net for dialogue that pushes forward the cultural maturity of Atlanta. My main focus will be writing reviews of plays and discussing issues related to the performing arts and the role of artists in 21st century Atlanta. A value which I will try my hardest to maintain is to not be a hater. This is a hard thing to do when writing about the culture scene in Atlanta. The fact is, this is an incredibly dynamic city with many wonderful and talented artists who really care about the development of this city, but there are aspects—some political, some cultural, others geographical that keep this city behind places like NYC, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Boston, Minneapolis, Baltimore as far as gainful opportunities for artists.

Atlanta, has much working in its favor being the “gateway to the south” and home of a large international airport. We are blessed with a rich history both of triumphs of the Americandream (Coca-Cola, Young Jeezy...) and horrors of the human condition (The Trail of Tears, Slavery, Coca-Cola, Young Jeezy...) and, for me, there is no more important place in America to be a working artist right now than Atlanta. Here will be a place to give recognition where I feel it's due, wag my self-important-bloggospheric finger at trends and policies I think are damaging to the city, and probably blurt out non-sequeters about southern history that I find interesting. Maybe I'll post funny videos and recordings from local artists I like.

This is a first-step for this blog, and I hope it grows into something that can help the city in some way. If you want me to cover a story, or would like to contribute to this blog, link to it, steal from it, just let me know. Email me at efillon@gmail.com cool thanks enjoy.