Category: Major Projects

Lasting Effects on Downtown

Since around 2009, the Georgia State campus has extended its borders to include a larger part of the city. Instead of dominating the area, however, the university and the downtown area have a largely symbiotic relationship. The university has very clearly reshaped downtown , both physically and culturally. The extension of the campus into other parts of the city have brought exposure to working life, different cultures, and the historic nature of the city. Georgia State has also brought students further in the city, providing more small businesses and restaurants with a larger clientele. The physical effect on the city is obvious, shown in the form of the increasing presence of the Georgia State symbol emblazoned on streets, signs, and buildings. As a result, downtown has been rejuvenated, pushing back against the encroaching abandoned and decaying city. The presence of Georgia State’s renovations bring fresh, new buildings to downtown. Through the expansion of Georgia State, the rhetoric of the built environment of the downtown sector has changed from one of decay and demolition to one of prosperity and progressiveness.

Wall of People

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This area of the venue is to the direct left of the stage. This is where the pianist sat and played during the show. The wall behind has paintings of many different people on it, adding artwork to the room. The style of portrait is similar to that of graphic novels, adding a kind of aesthetic to the room.  I wasn’t able to find out if the people on the walls had any significance to Dad’s Garage, but I assume they are comedians of some sort.

First Game of the Night

The first game of the night was a game called “Categories”, where the audience provided a category, and the actors had to name things from that category without repeating or hesitating. This first one was alcoholic beverages, and it’s obvious that Max’s knowledge is limited in this field. At the end, the audience shouts “Die!” at Max to signal that he said something that wasn’t actually a part of that category. This game was great to start with to warm up the audience for the kind of participation necessary for the shows held at Dad’s Garage.

The Stage

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This was the view of the small stage from the bar where I sat for the show. You can see a portion of the table to the left and the seats up front where the cast sat when they weren’t performing. To the left of the stage was where a man sat, playing the keyboard. He was responsible for providing music during downtime between scenes and for the impromptu musical scenes as well. You can see from this photo that the stage is very small, and can only hold a few people at one time.

Dad’s Garage Theatre Company’s New Home

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Dad’s Garage has been in existence since 1995. Originally residing in the neighborhood of Inman Park, the actors stayed there for 18 years. Since its eviction in 2013, Dad’s Garage was temporarily located at the 7 Stages venue until the middle of summer 2015 when they were lucky enough to find this old church building that was formerly Atlanta Metropolitan Christian Church. Located on Ezzard Street, Dad’s Garage is now found its permanent home not too far from our very own Georgia State campus. It’s just a few turns off of Edgewood, and it takes no longer than five minutes to get there from campus if you have a good navigator (which I did not). The presence of such a theatre so close to campus brings comedic entertainment to the downtown area, where comedy theatres aren’t very prevalent.

Dad’s Garage

Hidden on small one-way streets and out of the way of major roads sits an old church building. From the outside, the building looks like nothing more than just a regular church, likely Baptist or Methodist, save for the large yellow and blue logo on the front. A group of friends and I parked across the street in a gravel parking lot, and all nine of us spilled out of my SUV, excited to get inside. For a little less than a year, this church has been the home of an improv theather called Dad’s Garage. This theatre company has given Atlanta great times and great laughs since its founding in 1995. On this particular Wednesday night, we headed to the theatre for an improv show, featuring our very own Max Kantor.

The entrance to the venue is located at the front of the building, facing the street. The doors had signs on them, one of which read “Use the other door!” and the other stating “This is the other door!”. We walked through the doors and were greeted with chic, matte black walls adorned with various paintings. Straight ahead along the back wall, there was a ticket booth, where a medium height man with an orange hipster beard stood, telling us which line to join. The giant marquee above him read “TICKETS” in bright, yellow lights. To the right of the ticket booth was the concession stand, equipped with snacks and drinks, both with and without alcohol. Turn around, and you’d see the small, intimate seating area surrounding the small stage. There was a long, high standing bar with seats on the right-hand side of the stage, separating the seating area from the line of people waiting to get tickets. That’s where some of the cluster kids and I sat. Directly in front of us were a few tables set up with two chairs at each. Behind the tables were about four or five rows of chairs, separated by a small center aisle. On the left side of the stage, near the rows of chairs, stood an old-school video game, joystick and everything. Also along that wall were two paintings. One was on a white background, using black paint, and it had a giant collage of different people’s faces with different speech bubbles popping up here and there. The other painting was a parody of The Last Supper. Both paintings were comedic in nature, providing the small area with a bit of artistic appeal.

Overall, the venue was very intimate. It was nice to be so close to the stage. This particular stage only held capacity for about 40-45 people, 27 of which were there to support Max. The other actors joked that Max brought his own audience with him. The whole staff and even the audience itself was filled with kind people, seeking good, clean entertainment. The people, the set-back location, and the interesting decorations all contributed to a very comforting feeling. During the improv, the actors required a lot of audience participation, making you feel like you were apart of the Dad’s Garage family. The performance was great, as was the company, making this experience very enjoyable. There are very few theaters like this in the city of Atlanta, let alone one that provides this kind of humorous entertainment. Dad’s Garage provides the area that we all call home with its own, unique source of entertainment and as a result, contributes greatly to the culture of downtown life.

Skeleton Mom

This video is a part of one of the scenes performed that night. The object of the game was that when the director, Terry, rang the bell and said “that sounds like a song”, the actor then had to improvise a song on the spot. Max entered the scene and said “I’m skeleton mom” and was then forced to make a song about it. He made up a rap on the spot, which illicited a lot of howling laughter from those of us in the audience!

Androgyne Planet

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This sculpture is one of those that I’ve walked past numerous times and never thought to pay it any attention. According to Pokemon Go, the sculpture is called the Angel Rod, but upon my attempt to research it, I found it was actually named the Androgyne Planet. It was originally created in 1992 for the Barcelona Summer Olympics and was then brought to Atlanta as a symbolize for passing on of the Olympic Games. The sculpture site is almost directly in the middle of the park, but there was hardly anyone near it, which makes for better pictures!

Maintaining a Legacy

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This monument was found in front of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce in the park. The structure has Ivan Allen Sr., Ivan Allen Jr., and Ivan Allen III on three sides, all of which were presidents of Atlanta’s Chamber of Commerce. On this side of the park, there was hardly any foot traffic. The monument had its own square of concrete fenced off by short hedges. This spot would be ideal for anyone trying to escape the rushed feeling of city life.

Playground

One of the other entrances to the park is off of Baker Street. Right inside the entrance is a playground. On any given day, the park is filled with children with their parents watching nearby. The day I recorded this sound clip was a hot, sunny September day. The playground was shaded by trees, providing a barrier between the intense sun and the kids running about. The addition of this playground makes the park even more family-friendly, and this area in particular is one of the more serene areas of Centennial.