Poets, Artists & Madmen

The Alliance Hertz Stage’s TOPDOG/UNDERDOG broke out from the pack to emerge as the year’s undisputed can’t-miss theatrical event. Our best “guest actors,” Joe Wilson Jr. and Kes Khemnu, alternated the roles in Suzan Lori-Parks’ Pulitzer-winning drama of three-card monte, the Lincoln assassination and the American dream. Topdog/Underdog even won laurels out of town: The Hertz Stage’s co-production with Providence’s Trinity Repertory Company earned Kent Gash the “Outstanding Director, Large Company” award from the Theatre Critics of New England. less...

Word. As part of the College Night at the High series, ART, BEATS & LYRICS brought together some of the city’s most promising young street artists (MICHI, UrbanMedium, Dubelyoo, Dosa and Fuze Green), breakdancers and DJs (Klever, Jamad and Spider). The event proved that if you cater to a hip, young, multiethnic crowd, they will come. The High had to turn people away when local event organizer Jabari Graham’s one-night-only spectacular exceeded all expectations. But don’t worry if you missed out on the fun. Graham hosts another Art, Beats & Lyrics event called Cold Busted Art Exhibition on Nov. 18 at the Defoor Centre.
www.artbeatslyrics.com.

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PHILIP CARPENTER has been a fixture on the Atlanta scene for more than 20 years now, offering painting instruction at the Chastain Arts Center and the Atlanta College of Art. Although he’s been exhibiting his work since the ‘80s, two strong exhibitions this year at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and Marcia Wood Gallery show how remarkably Carpenter’s work has grown. His physically awe-inspiring and conceptually provocative colored pencil drawings of utilitarian tools like hammers and wrenches, begun some 20 years ago, were elegant enough. But his new, vividly colored drawings centered on gendered kiddie toys from guns to baby dolls prove this Atlanta artist is still growing and exploring promising new subjects and techniques. less...