Tagged: Downtown

Entrance to the Main Stage

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Behind this door was the entrance to the main stage, where there is arena-type seating that holds more people. This is where the official Dad’s Garage troupe performs their shows. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to go down there, but I feel as if the painting of the door itself helps to capture the aesthetic of the space. It is easy to see the matte black walls around the door. The lettering is one of many different fonts that can be found around the room, giving the area a messy, but still put-together feel. To the right of this door, you can see the double doors that lead to the outside of the building.

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!

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.

Centennial Olympic Park: 1996 to Now

The 1996 Summer Olympic Games were hosted here in Atlanta, Georgia. For this event, Centennial Olympic Park was created downtown, near where Luckie Street meets Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard. The park itself has seen athletes and patrons from all over the world, competing against one another in so many different sporting events. The park has seen triumph and tragedy and has left a lasting impression on the city of Atlanta.

Upon visiting the park, I entered through the entrance nearest Skyview Atlanta. The giant Ferris wheel loomed over the park, almost as if it were its protector. Right inside the entrance to the park is where children usually play in the summer, splashing about in the fountains of water that spurt out from the ground. Near there, the park has small ponds, contained by concrete, where people sat. Some people were waiting to meet someone, while other people were sitting there with loved ones, presumably on dates. I visited the park early in the week, and it was filled with people walking around, coming in and out of the Coca-cola Museum and the Georgia Aquarium. The atmosphere was cheery, just like any other public park in the city.

However, beyond the splash pads and the ponds stood the statue that pays tribute to the 1996 Olympics. I had been to the park numerous times and walked past this statue just like everyone else, as I did again on my first visit this week. After some research, I learned of the tragedy that was the terrorist attack at the ’96 Games. Twenty years ago, during the summer, a bomb was detonated in the middle of the park. The explosion resulted in two deaths, numerous injuries, and immeasurable fear from citizens worldwide. The event was one that shook the world. Knowing this, I returned to the park Friday night and spent a considerable amount of time standing at the statue. I hadn’t realized the immense historical significance this park held, and having such knowledge altered my perspective. Coincidentally on that Friday night, Centennial was yet again at the forefront of a movement meant to unite people of all nationalities and races, for a large portion of Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard was blocked off for a protest by the NAACP.  The protest was part of the Black Lives Matter movement, following the recent killing of an African American. The serious feeling that surrounded the area is one that I could imagine was close to the same feelings in the days after the 1996 bombing at the park.

I found it so fascinating how much my perception of the site could change in the course of a few days. The combination of the park’s history, the nighttime air, and the protest happening outside the park gates helped to emphasize Centennial’s strong historic importance to the city of Atlanta. As I left the park that night, I could almost tangibly feel the park’s imperative role in defining the city we call home.

Splash Fountains

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This video is from the fountains near one of the park entrances. On any given day, you can find children playing in the fountains with their parents watching from the outside of the splash pads. The park is very family-oriented, given the fact that most families that live in the downtown area come here with their children when the weather is nice. When I visited the park, it was still extremely hot, and there were a lot of kids playing in the water to cool off.