What to See, Do and Hear: Puppetry Arts, Hell Hotel, Jazz Fest and more

THEATER

The Puppet & Its Double Theater of Taiwan creates innovative puppet arts events based on the idea that “everything can be a puppet.” In their latest outing with the Center for Puppetry Arts this Friday through Sunday, the group will present The Selfish Giant, Oscar Wilde’s tale of a giant who learns about the true meaning of friendship and generosity through the innocence of children. An opening reception on Friday features Taiwanese treats and a first look at a new Taiwanese pop-up exhibition at the Center. Tickets: $27 for members; $30 for non-members.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

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Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a master work in the depiction of the terrifying cruelties we can visit upon those closest to us. Theatrical Outfit lays these bare in its production running through June 9. Check out Senior Editor Denise K. James’ review of the play, where she says of the production that it “offers the audience a thousand-piece puzzle and doesn’t stop taking pieces away.” Tickets start at $15.

Ongoing.

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You can watch theater or you can become a part of it with One Night at the Hell Hotel: A Nerdy Burlesque and Sing-a-long for Hazbins. The speakeasy and burlesque show will transform The Pigalle at Underground Atlanta into a gorgeous, seedy, lounge environment, reminiscent of Belle Epoque-era Paris or Vienna. Patrons are encouraged to dress the part for this show described as “fan-driven irl fanfiction fever dream.” Tickets: $30-$110.

Saturday, June 1 only.

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BOOKS

As part of syndicated New York radio show The Breakfast Club, Charlamagne Tha God has dubbed himself “Prime Minister of Pissing People Off, the Architect of Aggravation and the Ruler of Rubbing People the Wrong Way.” The impresario of nerve-touching will be at Eagle Eye Book Shop next Thursday to discuss his new book, Get Honest or Die Lying: Why Small Talk Sucks. In conversation with Ms. Basketball, Christina Granville, Charlamagne expounds on why a lack of meaningful conversations leads to division, unhappiness and dissatisfaction. Tickets: $33.99.

Thursday, May 30 only.

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MUSIC

The Atlanta Jazz Festival is one of the signature jazz events, not only in the region but indeed in the world. Across three days –Saturday through Monday — 15 artists from the traditional to the cutting edge will perform at Piedmont Park. Cécile McLorin Salvant, Paquito D’Rivera, Butcher Brown and many others will grace the midtown stage, including a homecoming of sorts for André Benjamin, whose 2023 instrumental song, “I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time,” holds the record as the longest song to hit the Billboard Hot 100. Free.

Saturday, Sunday, Monday.

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If you’ve ever wondered what sorts of altered mental states are possible if you cross the Grateful Dead with Pink Floyd, find out at “Dark Side of the Dead” at Terminal West at King Plow Arts Center in West Midtown this Sunday. The show is the brainchild of Cosmic Charlie, an Athens-originated band known for putting its own high-energy spin on Grateful Dead tunes. “Dark Side of the Dead” will feature a complete performance of Dark Side of the Moon, bookended by Dead favorites. Tickets start at $29.

Sunday only.

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DANCE

Continuing its foray into the intersection of dance and film, Core Dance presents the enCore: Dance on Film 2024 Showcase. Streamed on the windows of the Core Dance studios in Decatur Square, these films will explore “screen dance,” dance made exclusively as performance for a camera, as an art form. This year’s showcase includes artists representing Canada, the UK, Austria, Iran and several other countries. Free.

Ongoing.

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FILM+TV

The 2004/2005 rom-com Saving Face was way ahead of its time in its depiction of a Chinese American lesbian destined for a happy ending. Witness the groundbreaking film, directed by Alice Wu, which finds not only the central character of Wil (played by Michelle Krusiec) keeping secrets from her traditional mother (Joan Chen) but the mother also harboring a secret of her own. The film, brought to audiences by Wussy Mag, will screen at the Tara Thursday night, May 23 only. Tickets: $16 with discounts available.

Thursday only.

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LDOD was formally organized in 2000 with a mission to perform screen-accurate productions of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in the Atlanta area for young adults age 17 to 29. The cast strives to embody values such as inclusiveness, artistry, self-love and fun as they invite anyone to join in the fun at the Plaza Theatre Fridays, starting this week and continuing throughout the summer. Tickets: $16 with discounts available.

Friday and ongoing.

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ART+DESIGN

Closing weekend! Atlanta art scene fixture Tom Zarrilli brings cats to Decatur. Depicting whimsical and hallucinatory felines, Return to Catlandia features more than 20 paintings, ceramics and collages that channel the purported inner lives of Zarrilli’s cats, Joey and Petey. Zarrilli has a storied career in Atlanta, including managing a gallery and art venue and becoming a foremost documenter of roadside memorials. The show runs through Sunday at the Decatur Arts Alliance Gallery. Free.

Through Sunday.

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Mashing up alienesque space forms and otherworldly deep-sea organisms, Emily Llamazales’ Mörk Materia at MINT Gallery boldly goes where no terrestrial sculpture has gone before. The artist has been the recipient of the Emerging Artist Award from the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, as well as an Idea Capital grant. Her current gallery exhibition running through June 1 takes its name from an epic poem by Swedish writer Aase Berg, which is described as “a post-cataclysmic parable in which the narrator witnesses the slow drip of mutation and evolution toward a new order of biology, post radiation and climate disaster.” Free.

Through June 1.

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