Things to do in and around Atlanta from Jan. 11-13

Scene from “Manual Cinema”. Credit: Maren Celest

Scene from “Manual Cinema”. Credit: Maren Celest

It’s a couple of weeks into the new year and if you want to get in shape, there are plenty of opportunities to see get out and enjoy metro Atlanta’s parks and hiking trails.

Don’t forget Piedmont Park, which has several fitness classes for those who want to get a jump start on looking good for the summer.

There’s also plenty of indoor entertainment options as well.

Here are some suggestion for your weekend.

Mat Fried

Mat Fried will perform Jan. 11 at Serenity Cellars in Cleveland, Ga.

Bring your pizza for the brick oven, and enjoy a relaxing night of fun while listening to Fried play.

6 p.m. Jan. 11. Serenity Cellars, 265 Laurel Ridge Rd., Cleveland. 706-348-1277. serenitycellars.com

Erik Griffin at The Punchline

Comic Erik Griffin brings the laughs to The Punchline Comedy Club for a three night run.

Griffin started his career in comedy after making the decision in 2003 to quit his job and pursue comedy full-time. He first gained national exposure in Comedy Central’s “Live at Gotham,” and NBC’s”Last Comic Driving.”

He also starred at Montez Walker on the Comedy Central series “Workaholics.”

Six shows. Jan. 11-13. $25. The Punchline Comedy Club, 3652 Roswell Rd. Atlanta. 404-252-5233. www.punchline.com

Hard core abs at Piedmont Park

Will 2019 be your year to get the much-desired six pack?

If so, you may want to take part in an exercise class in Piedmont Park.

Participants can tighten their abs, improve posture and get fit in a beautiful setting.

This Piedmont Park abs class will focus on everything core and more.

Bring your mats and water. All fitness levels are welcomed.

9 a.m. - 10 a.m. Saturdays through March 9. $18-$150. Piedmont Park in the Community Center. 404-875-7275. https://apm.activecommunities.com/piedmontpark/Activity_Search

” Manual Cinema: The End of TV”

Told through original 70’s R&B-inspired pop songs and set in a post-industrial Rust Belt city in the 1990s, “The End of TV” explores the quest to find meaning amidst a constant barrage of commercial images.

Two sides of the American Dream—its technicolor promise as delivered through TV ads, and its failure, witnessed in the dark reality of industrial decline—are staged in cinematic shadow puppetry and lo-fi live video feeds with flat paper renderings of commercial products. The show is driven by a sweeping chamber art pop song cycle performed live by a five-piece band.

True to its name, Manual Cinema brings handspun cinema to life in real time using intimate, unassuming technologies. With vintage overhead projectors, shadow puppetry, actors, live-feed cameras, multi-channel sound design, and an onstage music ensemble, Manual Cinema creates cinematic wonderment imbued with immediacy, ingenuity and theatricality.

It tells the stories of Flo and Louise, both residents of a fictional Midwestern city. Flo is an elderly white woman who was once a supervisor at the thriving local auto plant. Now succumbing to dementia, the memories of her life are tangled with television commercials and the “call now” demands of QVC. Louise, a young black woman laid off from her job when the same local auto plant closed, meets Flo when she takes a job as a Meals-on-Wheels driver. An unlikely relationship grows as Flo approaches the end of her life and Louise prepares for the invention of a new one.

8 p.m. Jan. 12. $20-$36. Ferst Center for the Arts at Georgia Tech, , 349 Ferst Drive N.W., Atlanta. 404-894-9600. www.arts.gatech.edu

Second Sunday Samba

Samba, anyone?

FogoBrasil presents Second Sunday Samba with 2019 Rio Carnaval Muse Dani Styles.

Come dance the afternoon away on Jan. 13.

3 p.m. Jan. 13. $15. Dance Foundry, 2977 E Ponce de Leon Ave., Decatur. Students may use PayPal to register or pay at the door. fogobrasilarts@gmail.com.