It’s finally over! The most surreal, absurd comedy in recent memory, the 2012 election, has brought the curtain down at last. Honestly, it feels like this thing ran longer than Cats. Now it’s time to look to the future, patch up all those broken relationships over political arguments on Facebook, buy our “Don’t Blame Me, I Voted for _†bumper stickers and check out some of the live-performance options coming our way in November.
Old South Redux: The University Theatre at UGA wraps up its run of The Darker Face of the Earth, the 1996 play by former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove, with performances Wednesday, Nov. 7, through Sunday, Nov. 11, at the Fine Arts Theater. The play is a retelling of the Oedipus story set in the American South during the bleakest days of slavery and combines elements of Sophocles’ original with African tradition and spirituals of the period. As of this writing I’m not sure how this will turn out, but if it’s handled as well as most UGA Theatre productions, it should be very powerful. Showtimes are 8 p.m., Thursday–Saturday and 2:30 p.m., Sunday. Tickets are $16, $12 for students, and available by calling 706-542-4400 or online at 2012.pac.uga.edu.
The Yoke’s on Me: Free Range Comedy returns to Farm 255 on Thursday, Nov. 8 with a new bill of stand-up comedians to ease the pain of your candidate losing (or winning). This month, Luke Douglas Fields, Nate Mitchell, Cherith Fuller and Walker Smith will bring the funny, with Andrea Boyd as MC. Besides being a gifted comic in her own right, Boyd has been making a name for herself as a producer of stand-up events in Athens and a righteous foe of the misconceived saw that “chicks aren’t funny.†Over the past few years, she has worked tirelessly against the boys’-club mentality that used to prevail in local stand-up and brought some quality acts to our stages in the process. The show starts at 10:30 p.m., and admission is free.
Workin’ It Old-School: The girls and boys, and sometimes both, of Burlesque Beta bring another installment of their monthly talent and variety show to Go Bar on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 10 p.m. The showcase features music, comedy, bellydancing and tomfoolery in the burlesque tradition. Once an offshoot of Effie’s Club Follies, the Beta folks inform me that Beta is its own independent project now, though many of the Effie’s troupers are still involved, with much of the talent coming out of the local theater community as well. This makes for an always entertaining and always well attended show (get there early). They are also continually looking for new acts and performers; check out their Facebook page for more information. Admission is $3 at the door.
Tasty Trio: I’ve been saying for years that while, yes, Athens is renowned as a “music town,†its art scene, its literary scene, its theater scene and its film scene are every bit as vibrant and vital as the boys and girls crunching chords and staring at their shoes, and what we should look for in the future is for these scenes to start converging into mixed-bill and multimedia events that will produce wonders. On Saturday, Nov. 17, we’ll see one hell of a Venn diagram merging at the 40 Watt when local guerilla horror-comedy-schlock crew Gonzoriffic Films, our town’s premier burlesque troupe Effie’s Club Follies and the sexed-up salsa-punk outfit Los Meesfits team up to blow some minds in a show called “Geek Girls Are Easy… to Talk To.†Gonzoriffic will showcase Pajama Nightmare, a short film they’ve done with the Effie’s girls and the band, then the girls bring their very entertaining “slap-strip†blend of pasties and comedy, and Los Meesfits will wrap up the evening with their raw, funky set of danceable Misfits covers. I’m a big fan of all three outfits and I’m really looking forward to this show. You should, too. The show starts at 10 p.m., and admission is a surprisingly low $8. Advance tickets are available at www.ticketfly.com.
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