Smyrna Arts & Cultural Council Presents Improv-O-Rama

The Smyrna Arts & Cultural Council will present Improv-O-Rama, at 200 Village Green Circle Smyrna, GA 30080 on Friday August 25, 2017 at 7:30pm. Headlining the trio of cast members are local actors and improvisers Spencer Stephens and Sarah Ackerman.

Smyrna Arts & Cultural Council proudly presents Improv-O-Rama at The Smyrna Community Center for a one night only performance and fundraiser. Improv-O-Rama is a hilarious night of unscripted comedy theatre filled with audience participation, jokes and surprises!  

All the fun of “Whose Line is It Anyway” for the first time in Smyrna. Improv-O-Rama’s improvisational comedy theatre is both uproariously funny and totally off the cuff! Our trio of award-winning improvisers take the stage and make up the entire show on the spot in front of a live audience.

There are no scripts, no safety nets, and no do-overs! Using suggestions from the audience, props, jokes, and zany humor these professional actors create and act out hilarious scenes and situations before your very eyes.

Tickets are $15.00 general admission and are available online at the Art Council’s website at: SmyrnaACC.org. A limited number of tickets will available at the door. Seating is limited. Proceeds from ticket sales will help the Art Council’s Theatre Committee fund their very first stage production to be produced in 2018. “We’re expecting great things from our very first theatrical endeavor” says Jeff Jones, president of the Arts Council. “This is the start of great theatre in Smyrna”.

The Smyrna Arts & Cultural Council is a non-profit 501c3 dedicated to elevating opportunities for experiencing arts and culture in Smyrna, Georgia and its surrounding communities.

Ricky and Bambi & Aida Arias Featured at FRESH MARKET MUSIC & ART!

Ricky and Bambi and Aida Arias were featured at FRESH MARKET MUSIC & ART! on June 17, 2017.  Click the links to enjoy the PHOTOS, MUSIC VIDEOS and an ARTIST STATEMENT VIDEO.

Ricky and Bambi are an acoustic duo based out of Atlanta, GA.  In the years that they have been working together, they have performed over 1,000 shows from California to Europe including festivals, conventions, local music venues as well as the CBS Morning Show and several other television appearances.  

The duo plays a wide range of music from classic rock to 80s pop to country to bluegrass to children's music and they have released numerous CDs over the years in a variety of styles.  But perhaps more importantly than their long list of achievements is the fact that even after years of touring, they still love what they do.  As a result, they always bring along something to every show that can't be bought at a store: FUN!
​
​Click here to enjoy their music!

Artist Statement:

Hi! I am a Puerto Rican artist living in Atlanta, Georgia. Acrylic painting & mixed media are my passions.   I love to capture the character and essence of my subjects by using decisive and bold brushstrokes. 
I also enjoy making mixed media steampunk shadowboxes. These are made with found objects such as vintage watch movements, skeleton keys, and metal tidbits. 

​Click here to enjoy her art!

David Patterson, Ballad Brian and Amanda Foss Featured at FRESH MARKET MUSIC & ART!

David Patterson (center), Ballad Brian (left) and Amanda Foss were featured at FRESH MARKET MUSIC & ART! on June 10, 2017.  Click the links to enjoy the PHOTOS, MUSIC VIDEOS and an ARTIST STATEMENT VIDEO.

FRESH MARKET MUSIC and ART! is presented by Smyrna Arts & Cultural Council with financial support provided by Keep Smyrna Beautiful. It is held at the Smyrna Fresh Produce Market every Saturday morning from 8:00 am to noon from May 6 to September 30, 2017. 

Musician Statements:

David “D.B.” Patterson is a songwriter who originally hails from the Midwest. He first started playing the guitar when he was about twenty, while serving in the USAF. After his four years of service were up, he attended U.W. Madison where he pursued a dual major in Art and Communication Arts. It was there he learned to play blues harmonica, and he and some friends formed a band called the Dharma Bums, which was the name of a Jack Kerouac novel. They played mostly covers, but the set list also included a few songs David wrote. When the band broke up and he and his friends went their separate ways, David remained interested in music, but it took a back seat to practical matters. David moved to Georgia in 1990. In 2010, David joined a local songwriters group which inspired him to once again focus on music. Since then he has completed three albums. His latest album is entitled “No Place Cool”.  David’s musical influences include a combination of classic rock, folk and blues with a dash of country.

​Click here to enjoy his music.

Peace, Love, & Folk Music… Ballad Brian is a folk singer/songwriter who believes that the messages of the Hippies written years ago are still valid and need to be built upon today. Brian is inspired by the legends: Woodie Guthrie, Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Paul Simon, and many more. Brian has performed at the Mableton Food Truck event as well as performed for many of the South Cobb Arts Alliance events at the Mable House.
​
Click here to follow Brian and enjoy his music on Facebook.

Artist Statement:

Painting is a very personal experience for me because it's my way of expressing and sharing the stories that I tend to keep hidden in the deepest parts of my mind. As a child I would lose myself for hours in this or that Fantasy novel, pouring over tales like "Watership Down", "The Jungle Book" or "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe". When I wasn't reading, I was making up stories of my own... writing them down, or drawing them out on paper... dreaming up what the places and characters looked like and how they made me feel. Some haunt me still, and beg to be released even as new images form in my mind.

 
Some of my paintings come from dreams (sometimes even nightmares), but many begin by unlocking that dusty vault in my mind and unwrapping a story, once imagined by a child. I think of my paintings as pages from a storybook. If you open the book to the middle and begin reading, without knowing the beginning or end, this would be where you are... a snapshot in time. I want my work to evoke a curious sense of wonder and strange familiarity in the viewer... the notion that there is a wondrous story behind it all, and the anticipation of more yet to come.”

​Click here to enjoy her art!

Jennifer Warrilow and Teri Levine Featured at FRESH MARKET MUSIC & ART!

Jennifer Warrilow (right) and Teri Levine (left) were featured at FRESH MARKET MUSIC & ART! on June 3, 2017.  Click the links to enjoy the PHOTOS, MUSIC VIDEOS and an ARTIST STATEMENT VIDEO.

FRESH MARKET MUSIC and ART! is presented by Smyrna Arts & Cultural Council with financial support provided by Keep Smyrna Beautiful. It is held at the Smyrna Fresh Produce Market every Saturday morning from 8:00 am to noon from May 6 to September 30, 2017. 

Musician Statement

Jennifer Warrilow, violinist, is a native to Atlanta, Georgia and began to play the violin when she was 9. While in high school, she participated in several orchestral programs and was a member of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra and Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra. Jennifer is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree in violin performance at Georgia State University. She has attended and played at the Brevard Music Center Summer Institute, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, and the Summit Music Festival. She has also had masterclasses and private studies with distinguished violinists, such as Rachel Barton Pine, Sergiu Schwartz, David Coucheron, and Victor Danchenko. Jennifer’s commitment to providing excellent music can be heard all the way from local churches to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where she was featured in the Atlanta Journal Constitution for soothing stressed travelers and was awarded a 21st Annual ONEATL Guest Relations Employee Recognition Celebration Appreciation Award. In her experiences, she has played for weddings, Christmas parties, graduations and many other functions. If you are in need of a violinist or a string ensemble for your event, look no further!

Website

Artist Statement

Gauguin once wrote about color as the language of the listening eye, that which helps our imagination soar with inner power and mystery. From the beginning of my explorations, color has always been my driving interest, and the primary power in my work.

By using oil and acrylic paints as my surface, I create paintings emphasizing color juxtapositions and interactions. The flow of color and line, shape and form become intricately interwoven as translucent and opaque layers of glaze are laid down. Each layer creates new forms that I respond to in making the painting.

I strive to combine expressionism with cubism and yet make the paintings understandable to the art critic and casual viewer. My work speaks to the universal human tendency to appreciate beauty and to find meaning in abstraction. The appreciation of the beautiful is an essential aspect of humanity, and there is a positive, almost spiritual energy involved in the experience of the beautiful.

Website