Athens gets in the groove with its monthly art tour

From Westside to Marietta Square, the metro area boasts several popular monthly gallery tours. Now Athens has launched one of its own that should be of interest to Atlanta art followers, too.

The monthly “Third Thursday” event links a half-dozen art venues dotting the Classic City: the Georgia Museum of Art and the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia; the Lyndon House Arts Center, GlassCube & Gallery at Hotel Indigo and Ciné in downtown Athens; and the Athens Institute for Contemporary Art (ATHICA) near the Boulevard neighborhood.

The six spaces are open 6 to 9 p.m. every third Thursday. The final free and informal tours of the year will be held Nov. 15 and Dec. 20.

Launched in September, “Third Thursday” is the brainchild of Michael Lachowski, a former member of the Athens band Pylon who is a photographer-artist and Georgia Museum of Art public relations manager.

“The event is mainly to inspire people to go out and see art in Athens, to get the names of these six quality art venues in front of people,” Lachowski said.

He added that while “Third Thursday” has generated positive initial buzz, it’s also produced a bit of confusion. First, unlike in Atlanta neighborhood gallery tours, Athens’ six galleries are too spread out to be reasonably conquered in one evening. And some visitors have expected parties or other special programming and lively crowds, while organizers intended all along to put the emphasis on the art.

“We don’t have enough art lovers to have every venue feel super-alive with activity during the same time slot, nor do we want our partners to schedule anything that is too not-to-be-missed on these nights,” Lachowski said. “We don’t want them to be competing directly for needed audiences.”

Exhibits on view for this month’s tour include the just-opened “John Haley: Berkeley School Abstract Expressionist” and “Beyond the Bulldog: Jack Davis” (a UGA graduate who went on to become a founding artist at Mad magazine) at the Georgia Museum of Art to a nine-artist group show at ATHICA.

Details: 3Thurs.org. Scott Rudin on Broadway in 2014.

“We’re all trying to figure out which play to do,” said Washington, a Tonywinner in 2010 for the revival of “Fences” directed by Leon.

After pressing Leon for details, he responded somewhat obliquely in an email, “I can confirm the Denzel project beginning rehearsal in January 2014.”

He added that “Holler If Ya Hear Me,” a musical featuring lyrics and music by Tupac Shakur that he has helped nurture and aim toward the Great White Way, “will happen in 2013.”

Meanwhile, Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company opens yet another Broadway play, “The Mountaintop,” on Nov. 13 at Southwest Arts Center (through Dec. 16). 1-877-725-8849, www. ticketalternative.com.

Dickens as you like it

Chris Kayser returns for the 16th time to the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in the Alliance Theatre’s grand production of “A Christmas Carol,” (and the 20th time playing the part in his career), from Nov. 23Dec. 23. 404-733-5000, www.alliancetheatre.org/ carol.

Anthony Rodriguez returns for the sixth year with his one-man “A Christmas Carol” at Aurora Theatre from Nov. 29 -Dec. 16. 678-226-6222, www.auroratheatre.com.