Imaginary Worlds: Alice's Wonderland

Time and again the Atlanta Botanical Garden has outdone itself with a new, exciting, must-see special exhibition and this year's summer exhibition is no exception, other than it's absolutely exceptional! Imaginary Worlds: Alice's Wonderland is wondrous. It delights the imagination. It inspires awe. It is indeed a must-see!

Atlanta Botanical Garden | Imaginary Worlds: Alice's Wonderland
(Photo: Travis Swann Taylor)

This exhibition is a rabbit hole you're happy to fall into and don't plan on coming out quickly. You get to immerse yourself in 16 installations of 38 individual sculptures, many themed after Alice in Wonderland. 

The "White Cat" sculpture is 27-feet tall!!! "Planted" in the Aquatic Pond, be sure to walk the perimeter so you can take in the full experience! At first I din't know what the black pole was holding up the Mad Hatter's hat, but once you're upon it you see that it's an umbrella handle. If you don't walk around the sculpture, you might miss the giant pocket watch and many of the other spectacular details. 

Atlanta Botanical Garden | Imaginary Worlds: Alice's Wonderland
(Photo: Travis Swann Taylor)

As you explore Alice's Wonderland, you too will be smiling, not a Cheshire Cat's mischievous smile, but a smile of delight. 

Atlanta Botanical Garden | Imaginary Worlds: Alice's Wonderland
(Photo: Travis Swann Taylor)

The giant chess board was a gigantic surprise! I've played chess since I was nine years old and it's my favorite game. That this one incorporates my favorite animal—horses—made this a double treat for me and for so many other Garden guests. It's the largest concentration of sculptures, one that you do not want to miss.

Atlanta Botanical Garden | Imaginary Worlds: Alice's Wonderland
(Photo: Travis Swann Taylor)

A nod to the Red Queen, there are heart playing card centurions on the giant chess board! 

Atlanta Botanical Garden | Imaginary Worlds: Alice's Wonderland
(Photo: Travis Swann Taylor)

If you've seen Imaginary Worlds before and wondered "How do they tend to the 'living' sculptures?", many of them are hand-watered. It's fun, and endearing, to see!

Speaking of "hydration", a favorite way to experience the Atlanta Botanical Garden is its spring and summer series on Thursday evenings, Cocktails in the Garden. #datenight

Enjoy a glass of wine, a cocktail, a beer, or the Garden's new beer, a collaboration with local Wild Heaven Beer, called "Garden Beer". It's fantastic and already super-popular with Garden guests! 

Atlanta Botanical Garden | Imaginary Worlds: Alice's Wonderland
(Photo: Travis Swann Taylor)

Some of last year’s Imaginary Worlds: Once Upon a Time crowd-favorites are back, some donning coats of different plant palettes than before...and they're BEAUTIFUL! Be sure to get a garden map on your way in so that you do not miss any of them.

Atlanta Botanical Garden | Imaginary Worlds: Alice's Wonderland
(Photo: Travis Swann Taylor)

Some of the returning sculptures from last years are in different locales, within the Garden, and at least one—Rumpelstiltskin—is now nodding at Atlanta Botanical Garden, Gainesville, a delightful and highly recommended experience!

Atlanta Botanical Garden | Imaginary Worlds: Alice's Wonderland
(Photo: Travis Swann Taylor)

TIP: Remember to charge your phone before or on the way to the Garden. You WILL want to make photos...many, many photos of these enchanting sculptures! 

And while you're snapping photos to share on social media and to revisit later, be sure you're also in-the-moment. This is truly an exceptional experience, one I think you'll want to absorb in its entirety. 

Atlanta Botanical Garden | Imaginary Worlds: Alice's Wonderland
(Photo: Travis Swann Taylor)

Keep an eye out for Alice herself! Like Rumpelstiltskin, she too is nodding. You'll find her in a bed of brightly colored mushrooms being watched over by the Cheshire Cat. Makes one wonder what that Cheshire Cat has been up to...

Atlanta Botanical Garden | Imaginary Worlds: Alice's Wonderland
(Photo: Travis Swann Taylor)

Don't find yourself getting "curiouser and curiouser"...get yourself to the Atlanta Botanical Garden to see Imaginary Worlds: Alice's Wonderland now through Sunday, October 27.

One Giant Leap...

What better way to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of NASA's Moon Landing than by experiencing space treasures first-hand!!! Here are a few, of the many, places in Metro Atlanta where you can do just that!

Apollo 1 Command Module | Tellus Science Museum | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

Tellus Science Museum (Apollo 1)

Take off to the Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville, Georgia, where you can see a collection of model rockets, a Mercury capsule, and a replica of the Apollo 1 Command Module built for the HBO mini-series "From Earth to the Moon", narrated by Tom Hanks, who starred in the movie Apollo 13. This replica (there's a cutout on the other side) was used to tell the tragic story of the Apollo 1 tragedy, of the sacrifice of three American heroes who helped us get to the moon. 

Fernbank Science Center (Apollo 6)

In the Exhibit Hall at Fernbank Science Center (not to be confused with the Natural History Museum), you can see up close and personal a real Apollo 6 Command Module! This artifact, on loan from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (where I was a volunteer for a year!), was part of a test flight for the Saturn V launch vehicle. It was the last unmanned flight of Project Apollo.

Fernbank Museum of Natural History (Apollo 11)

On Saturday, July 20, the actual 50th Anniversary of NASA's Apollo 11 Moon Landing, Fernbank Museum of Natural History is celebrating with a day of activities, 10am-1pm, their "Moon Landing Celebration"!

Through September 12, 2019, Fernbank Museum is showing Apollo 11: First Steps Edition daily at 1pm, however on July 20th, there will be an additional showing at 3pm.

With a newly-discovered trove of never-before-seen 70mm footage and audio recordings, Apollo 11: First Steps Edition 2D joins Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, the Mission Control team and millions of spectators around the world, during those momentous days and hours in 1969 when humankind took a giant leap into the future. 

There undoubtedly will be Moon Landing celebrations throughout the United States, including a few right here in Atlanta's backyard! Enjoy wanderlusting!

Commune in Peace and Love at HAIR

Serenbe Playhouse has brilliantly bought to life its Season X: America series, particularly with Hair, a musical before—and of—its time, now on stage through August 18. This onstage singing hippie counter-culture and the sexual revolution of the '60s will have you applauding, laughing, and even gasping...all for good reason! 

Casey Shuler, cast of Hair | Serenbe Playhouse | Photo: BreeAnne Clowdus

Founder of Serenbe Playhouse and Director of Hair, Brian Clowdus said, "For our Tenth Anniversary Season, we will revive the Tony-winning rock musical in a brand new, larger than life production. During Season Four, Hair was a game-changing show for
Serenbe Playhouse, and there is no better time to revive it than in 2019 with the 50th Anniversary of Woodstock!"

Pictured above is Casey Shuler (Sheila) who has—in my humble opinion—the most magnificent voice. I've been a fan of Casey's since she came to Serenbe Playhouse as an apprentice. She has appeared in a wide array of shows and roles, but she shines brighter than ever in Hair. 

Cast of Hair | Serenbe Playhouse | Photo: BreeAnne Clowdus

Even if you've never seen Hair, you've probably enjoyed the music at some point, but you don't have to know anything about it to fall in love with this show. 

There is the fact that it's an exploration of a divided country in the 1960s, so it may heighten your sense of divisiveness in our country right now, or it may just be the escape from that that you've been looking for. In the end, our cast of characters put forth the importance of taking care of each other, of putting those you love, those in you "tribe", first. 

Peace and love is the ultimate dream for this tribe, but not all dreams come true, but you've never had so much fun questioning authority or the society you live in. These characters truly let their hair down...

Adante Carter, cast of Hair | Serenbe Playhouse | BreeAnne Clowdus

Adante Carter (Berger) is brilliant! The leader of his hippie "tribe", he navigates his incredibly complex role with high energy and perfectly executed humor...he's mesmerizing and wholly unforgettable! Barry and I got to meet him and his dad after the show and they were both generous with their time and Adante is as funny and charming off stage as he is on. I'd say to follow his career, but it's already and going to be so magnificent, you won't be able to miss it!

This is indeed a musical, just one where drug use, sexual liberation, and political activism permeate the entirety of the performance. If you didn't know already, this is not a show for the kiddies. Not only is there everything I just mentioned, there's full nudity, too. That'll of course encourage some of you to attend, but it's noted here for those whose sensitives aren't quite ready for that. 

Casey Shuler, cast of Hair | Serenbe Playhouse | Photo: BreeAnne Clowdus

I would venture to guess that nearly everyone, at some point in their lives, has heard any number of the "classics" in Hair, written by Galt MacDermot (1928-2018), and that our feet get to tapping every time we hear one.

You never know who you're going to meet at Serenbe Playhouse. I've run into countless friends and made a number of new ones! At this performance of Hair, we ended up sitting next to Christopher Hampton (Dramaturg for this production of Hair) and his girlfriend. We had a blast chatting with them about all-things-theatre after the show!

Zane Phillips | Hair at Serenbe Playhouse | Photo: BreeAnne Clowdus

Hair opens with "Aquarius", vocals by Stephanie Zandra (Ronny), Alexandria Joy (Dionne), and cast—I'm an Aquarius, so I've always loved this song, but I'd never, ever seen it performed so magnificently as it was on stage at Serenbe Playhouse this evening! 

The show closes with "Eyes, Look Your Last", vocals by the phenomenal Zane Phillips (Claude), the incredibly talented Casey Shuler (Sheila), Alexandria Joy (Dionne) and full cast. 

"Let the sun shine in..." to illuminate and celebrate this fantastic cast, as well as shine on the fantastic work that Serenbe Playhouse has done over the last 10 years. As Brian says, "The best is yet to come..."