What to see, do and hear: Black music and poetry, Jewish film, Chanel on stage, more

ART+DESIGN

Sonya Clark: We Are Each Other at the High Museum of Art closes on Sunday. ArtsATL writer Angela Oliver describes the multidisciplinary show as an homage to Black women, a fight against hate and a reminder about the strength of community. Clark’s materials include hair, flags and found objects. “It’s an introspection-inducing journey through the reality of unceasing oppression, the collective responsibility of society to dismantle it and the equally unceasing spirit of a people who were never expected to survive,” Oliver writes.

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There will be a closing reception and artist talk this weekend for Collective Telling: Southern Rooted Perspectives on Place, History + Emergence and Interconnect both at Echo Contemporary Art. ArtsATL art critic Jerry Cullum says Collective Telling features “an extraordinary collection of 19 Southern-born or Southern-rooted artists. By curatorial design, most of them are based in or have roots in New Orleans and Atlanta.” He also writes about Interconnect, which the gallery says is positioned to “articulate nuanced dialogues about our relationships with nature, society and the spaces we inhabit.” Saturday 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

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The Art of The New South V, KAI LIN ART’s annual juried works on paper exhibit, features 57 creators from across the Southeast. The gallery is holding a meet-the-artists event on Saturday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The exhibit closes March 1.

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THEATER 

Georgia Tech’s DramaTech Theatre announces its spring production of Animals Out of Paper, a one-act play by Pulitzer Prize winner Rajiv Joseph. Designed and run entirely by Georgia Tech students, the show is headed by stage manager and freshman Ellie Ku and masterfully filled with origami by junior props designer Dhruv Kulkarni. DramaTech Theatre is open to the public. Tickets, $15. 

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The 2024 winning play for the Alliance Theatre Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition is Furlough’s Paradise, running through March 4 on the Hertz Stage. Written by a.k. payne, the play focuses on former best friends and cousins Sade (Kai Heath) and Mina (Asha Basha Duniani), who grow apart after middle school and reunite at Sade’s mother’s funeral. ArtsATL writer Alexis Hauk describes “watching the play’s two actors, Kai Heath and Asha Basha Duniani, ride through waves of humor, joy, sadness and regret in concert with one another for 80 minutes straight . . .  like witnessing the world’s most beautiful and riveting chess match. It’s a feat.”
Tickets average $45 and depend on seating.

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REMEMBER THIS: The Lesson of Jan Karski concludes this week at Theatrical Outfit. A one-man show performed by Andrew Benator, REMEMBER THIS is based on the story of how Karski, a Polish diplomat who attempted to spread the news of the Holocaust during World War II. In his recent review, ArtsATL writer Benjamin Carr praises Benator’s work as a storyteller as well as his “impressive range and emotional depth as Karski.” Carr adds that “the script by Clark Young and Derek Goldman is layered and verbose.” Tickets start at $50 with discounts available. 

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FILM+TV

The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival continues through March 7, offering opportunities to view films both in person at area theaters — now including the Tara — as well as streaming from home. In his festival preview of 10 films, ArtsATL writer Steve Murray says that “the majority are rooted in historic record . . . these films remind us that the human world we live in is one of constant struggle. At its best, the festival helps us understand that world through the filmmakers’ art and the sense of community that draws movie lovers together every winter for this Atlanta tradition.” Prices and times vary. 

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MUSIC 

The Trey Clegg Singers, Atlanta’s premier multicultural chorus, is inviting  area music lovers to join them for the 8th annual concert celebrating Black History Month on Sunday at Atlanta’s historic First Congregational Church. The concert is entitled “Balm in Gilead,” both a religious and cultural reference  to African Americans’ reliance on faith in confronting racial injustice over hundreds of  years. In keeping with the group’s reputation for diverse musical programs, the concert will present classical choral works by African American composers, a cappella spirituals and “freedom songs,” as well as musical theater, jazz and gospel. 3 p.m. Free.

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Next Wednesday, February 21, a livestream concert from the Indigo Girls on the duo’s website will benefit the Emory University School of Nursing’s Lillian Carter Center.  Donations will support the Center’s global health initiatives, specifically by providing essential health care services in urban and rural clinics in the Dominican Republic. 8 p.m. until 10 p.m.

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DANCE

Beacon Dance is celebrating Black History month with a community screening and discussion about the documentary Uprooted: The Journey of Jazz Dance, a film that emphasizes the impact on and importance of jazz to American culture. The B Complex, Beacon Dance Studio. Sunday 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Free.

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Atlanta Ballet’s much-marketed and much-anticipated Coco Chanel: The Life of a Fashion Icon had its North American premiere last weekend at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center. ArtsATL dance critic Cynthia Bond Perry had mixed feelings about the production. She found it entertaining and “intoxicatingly beautiful, but the choreography often lacks emotional depth, so it’s less like literature and more like the glossy, perfumed pages of Vogue magazine.” The dancers looked technically strong, she wrote, and Jérôme Kaplan’s sets and costumes are “inspired.” The final two performances are on Friday and Saturday at  8 p.m. Tickets start at $26.

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BOOKS

Major Jackson, an award-winning poet and host of the podcast The Slowdown, will give a public reading on Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts on Emory University’s Atlanta campus. Jackson’s books will be for sale at the reading, with a signing immediately following the event. Shannon Marie Tovey interviewed Jackson for ArtsATL and describes him as “an intellectual among intellectuals” who also believes that poetry is for everyone. Seating is limited and attendees are urged to register.