“Dr. Seuss’s the Cat in the Hat” and “1001 Nights: A Love Story About Loving Stories” are highlights of the Center for Puppetry Arts’ just-announced 15-show 2013-14 season.
The puppetry center has sought to produce “Cat in the Hat” for 35 years, artistic director Jon Ludwig said, but rights were an issue until the smash run of the National Theatre of Great Britain’s adaption by playwright Katie Mitchell. “This was the book that got me reading,” he added, “and it should be a fun show for the kids and adults who have grown up reading it.”
“1001 Nights,” co-produced by the puppetry center and Flying Carpet Theatre Company of New York City, is an early work by Tony-winning composer-lyricist Robert Lopez of “Avenue Q” and “The Book of Mormon” fame. The story is about a princess who saves a kingdom, with cliffhangers and catchy tunes.
“Flying Carpet and the center have been mutual fans of each other’s work for some time,” Ludwig said. “So when we got to work together on an original production with Robert Lopez’s music, we were all ecstatic.”
The schedule:
- May 28-June 9: "The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by A. Wolf" by Paul Mesner Puppets of Kansas City, Mo.
- June 13-July 28: "Dr. Seuss's the Cat in the Hat"
- Aug. 1-Sept. 8: "Rumpelstiltskin"
- Sept 11-22: "Peter Rabbit" by Thistle Theatre of Seattle
- Sept. 25-Oct. 6: "Everybody Loves Pirates" by Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers of Bar Harbor, Maine
- Oct. 9-20: "The Wizard of Oz" by Frisch Marionettes of Cincinnati, with puppet and set design inspired by W.W. Denslow's original illustration for L. Frank Baum's 1900 book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz."
- Oct. 22-Nov. 3: "The Dragon King" by Tanglewood Marionettes of Ware, Mass.
- Nov. 7 – Dec 29: "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"
- Nov. 8-10: "Autumn Portraits" by Sandglass Theater's Eric Bass of Putney, Vt.
- Jan. 2-Feb. 2, 2014: "Stan the Lovesick Snowman"
- Feb. 6-March 23, 2014: "Weather Rocks!" written by Ludwig
- Feb. 25-March 2, 2014: "Great Expectations" by Simpich Marionettes of Colorado Springs, Colo.
- March 25-April 6, 2014: "1001 Nights: A Love Story About Loving Stories"
- April 10-May 25, 2014: "Charlotte's Web"
- May 15-18, 2014: Experimental Puppetry Theater (XPT)
Information: 404-873-3391, www.puppet.org (click Performances).
VISUAL ART
Benefit fuels a ‘passion project’
Later this month, Atlanta photography dealer Jennifer Schwartz will set off on a 10-city Crusade for Collecting tour aimed at creating new patrons for the art form. But first Schwartz needs to raise the last bit of gas money for her gallery-on-wheels, the 1977 VW bus she named Lady Blue, purchased through a Kickstarter campaign.
That’s the set-up for the “Walk Away With Art” benefit event, 7-10 p.m. March 27 at the W Atlanta — Midtown, where 50 guests will draw numbers to determine the order in which they get to choose one of 50 original works to take home.
Guests also can enjoy complimentary cocktails, music by a DJ and a silent auction of artwork and artful experiences. Tickets are $100 ($125 couple) via xorbia.com. “Supporter tickets,” $25, also will be available for those who want to enjoy the event.
In a promotional video on YouTube, Schwartz calls the crusade “a passion project about art and artists. It’s about getting people excited and interested and wanting to love and support and patronize and buy original art.”
Accompanied at different times by different photographers, Schwartz will give away photos to folks who engage in conversation with them about the art and the art of collecting.
Information: 404-885-1080, www.crusadeforart.com/tour/about.
City to dedicate Freedom Park art
“Tree of Life,” a sculpture by Mexico City artist Yvonne Domenge, will be dedicated into the City of Atlanta Public Art Collection at its new site in Freedom Park at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Located along North Avenue east of Oakdale Road, the bright red work features an abstracted 16-foot-tall “tree” and a pair of companion “seeds” (4-by-3-foot orange pods).
The grouping was part of a public art exhibition, “Interconnected,” in Chicago’s Millennium Park. The artist then decided to donate the six objects to cities across the U.S. Atlanta’s Office of Cultural Affairs submitted a proposal that brings Domenge’s related trio to Freedom Park.
The artist will speak at the free ceremony, as will Mayor Kasim Reed and other city officials. Domenge also will give a free lecture at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the High Museum of Art’s Hill Auditorium. 404-546-6788, www.ocaatlanta.com.
Kahlo-Rivera show designers to speak
The Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera exhibit on view at the High Museum of Art gives viewers a sense of artistic movements popular in Mexico in the early 20th century. But what about Mexican art now?
At least one answer takes the form of two reading rooms along the perimeter of the exhibit, one bright red, the other yellow.
At 7 p.m. Thursday at the High, Hector Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena, the designers of those two rooms and co-founders of the design firm THiNC, will give a free talk about what it means to be a Mexican artist today.
Esrawe is an industrial and product designer inspired by traditional folk art. Cadena’s work is largely influenced by everyday objects and environments. 1280 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-733-4444, www.high.org. ROSALIND BENTLEY
Parks film to help close photo show
It’s the finals days of the Gordon Parks’ “Segregation Series” exhibit at the Arnika Dawkins Photographic Fine Art Gallery in Atlanta’s Cascade neighborhood. The show centers on Parks’ documentation of the dire lives of Alabama sharecroppers in 1957.
At the closing reception, 6-9 p.m. March 29, the gallery will screen the Parks-directed “The Learning Tree.” 4600 Cascade Road S.W. 404-333-0312, www.adawkinsgallery.com. ROSALIND BENTLEY
