Since setting up shop in Atlanta in 2010, Pinch ’n’ Ouch Theatre has impressed metro theater-goers and critics alike with its youthful verve and courageous artistic choices.
Co-founder Grant McGowen, a Norcross High School graduate, has surrounded himself with rising talent onstage, backstage and behind the scenes — many, like producing artistic director McGowen, who haven’t yet hit 30.
So it’s a bit of a surprise that Pinch ’n’ Ouch has just announced that it’s offering ticket discounts for “30-unders” for its next show, the McGowen-scripted comedy “Wall Street Wedding.” It’s one of the rare metro troupes that would seem to be in tune with that hard-to-attract demo.
Not necessarily so, the 27-year-old said in the release.
“Our plays are relevant, entertaining, and well suited for young people. Unfortunately, many young people are head over heels in debt from student loans and would rather stream an episode of ‘The Office’ from their laptops, than take a chance on seeing an unknown play with unknown actors recommended by their hip grandmother,” he wrote.
“It’s not that people my age don’t want to see theater. It’s that there is a huge risk attached to it, and paying the water bill might just take priority.”
McGowen told the AJC that Pinch ’n’ Ouch’s audience typically ranges 24 to 54, but acknowledged that engaging the younger end is “very difficult.”
Thus the discount for “Wall Street Wedding,” running Feb. 6 through March 1, which seeks laughs in marriage and friendships after the stock market crash of 2008.
Tickets, $25, will be reduced to $15 (the same price as for students) for qualifying buyers using the promo code "30under" when purchasing online at www.brownpapertickets.com.
Feeling the pinch that comes with a young company fighting to make it mainly on box-office receipts and adult acting classes, Pinch 'n' Ouch recently launched a "Feed the Artist" campaign in which donors receive various premiums (from post-show parties to acting lessons) for different gifts that help support the professional talent. Watch a video at www.pnotheatre.org/sponsor.
Pinch 'n' Ouch performs at Druid Hills Baptist Church, 1085 Ponce de Leon N.E., Atlanta. Information, tickets: 1-800-838-3006, www.pnotheatre.org.
VISUAL ART
Prints, African-American work at High
The High Museum of Art has mounted two new exhibits:
- "Paper & Ink: New Print Acquisitions from the High Museum of Art," on view in Wieland Pavilion's lower level, highlights different approaches to printmaking, from a 16th century Albrecht Durer engraving to Sarah Sze's 2005 silkscreen "Day."
The show includes a strong representation of 20th century printmakers, among them Salvador Dali, Keith Haring, Ellsworth Kelly, Willem de Kooning and Pablo Picasso.
- "A Decade of David C. Driskell" pairs works by the noted artist, educator, scholar and curator with winners of the Driskell Prize in African American Art, an annual honor that the High established in 2004.
Driskell is represented by his 1998 print portfolio “Doorway.” Driskell Prize winners in the show include Willie Cole, Xaviera Simmons and Renee Stout.
The High also is exhibiting works acquired through a fund started in Driskell’s honor, including works by Radcliffe Bailey, Rashid Johnson, Norman Lewis, Kerry James Marshall, Julie Mehretu and Martin Puryear. Some of the Driskell Fund pieces are included in “Decade” in the Wieland Pavilion’s lower level, while others are on display on the Skyway levels of the Wieland Pavilion and the Stent Wing. (Read AJC contributor Felicia Feaster’s review of “Decade” on MyAJC.com.)
Both shows through June 15. 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. 404-733-4444, www.high.org.
Moon’s Atlanta show transfers to N.C.
Atlanta artist Jiha Moon, who is represented in the High Museum’s “Paper & Ink” print show by the 2007 lithograph “Nahan’s Forty Winks,” has an exhibit newly on view at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
If the title of the Weatherspoon Art Museum exhibit, “Foreign Love,” sounds vaguely familiar it’s because it originated at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia last fall, the result of Moon winning a 2012-2013 Working Artist Project grant.
The South Korea-born artist mixes multiple cultural references that play upon the idea of shifting identities in the show, which includes works on paper, ceramic sculptures and a series of talisman-like pieces inspired by norigae — traditional Korean clothing accessories here turned into art objects.
Serving as a UNC-Greensboro visiting artist in conjunction with “Foreign Love” (on view through April 13), Moon is represented in Atlanta by Saltworks Gallery.
Info: weatherspoon.uncg.edu.
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