It's another impressive weekend for events in and around Dallas, including the first major festival of the year and pro wrestling's biggest event of the year vying for supremacy. There will also be three new local, theater productions, three great comedy events, two concerts from well-known bands, and opera in both concert and theatrical form.
Below are the best ways to spend your precious free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.
Thursday, March 31
Imprint Theatreworks presents First Impressions: Festival for New Works
Imprint Theatreworks will celebrate five years of First Impressions with another year of brand-new works by local playwrights. This annual event provides platforms for new, emerging, and established local playwrights to workshop and discover their voices. The festival, taking place at Addison Conference and Theatre Centre through Sunday, will celebrate 10 new plays written by local playwrights, in addition to a sneak peek at a world premiere musical.
Mike Birbiglia in concert
Mike Birbiglia is an award-winning comedian, storyteller, director, and actor whose most recent shows — The New One, Thank God for Jokes, and My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend — are streaming on Netflix. He is currently the host of the podcast Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out, has written two bestselling books, Sleepwalk With Me and The New One, and wrote, directed, and starred in the films Sleepwalk With Me and Don’t Think Twice. He'll perform at Majestic Theatre for one night only.
WaterTower Theatre presents The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple is a Tony Award-winning classic comedy that centers around two unlikely roommates, uptight neat Felix Ungar and easygoing disheveled Oscar Madison. The classic comedy opens as a group of the guys assemble for cards in the apartment of the divorced Oscar. Late to arrive is Felix, who has just been separated from his wife. Fastidious, depressed, and none too tense, Felix seems suicidal, but as the action unfolds, Oscar becomes the one with murder on his mind when the clean freak and the slob ultimately decide to room together. The production will run at WaterTower Theatre in Addison through April 10.
Janelle Gray presents Rage
Rage is a one-act play that explores the stories of Black US-ian women throughout the history of the United States. Ten women take their place on stage to share their stories of strength, resilience, perseverance and struggle across the history of the nation. From the 1842 Cherokee Revolt, to the Streetcar Boycotts of 1900-1906 and the continuing injustices of our traumatic present, Rage honors the spirit and tenacity of our foremothers and is a dedication to no longer ignore the voices of Black women. The production, part of AT&T Performing Arts Center's Elevator Project, will take place in the Studio Theatre at the Wyly Theatre through April 9.
Friday, April 1
Deep Ellum Arts Festival
The annual Deep Ellum Arts Festival will feature 100 continuous "original only" bands, singer/songwriters, and performance artists representing a variety of genres on five different outdoor stages and performance areas located throughout the festival site. The Reverend Horton Heat, The Mammoths, and Austin Michael will be headlining. Festival attendees can also stroll through 200 displays of decorative arts and enjoy a wide array of local cuisines, beer, wine, and cocktails. The festival, taking place through Sunday, stretches from 3100 Main Street through 3600 Main Street, including Trunk Avenue between Elm Street and Commerce Street.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin
Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin is a Russian lyric opera filled with celebratory tunes, an infectious waltz, passion-soaked arias, plush orchestration, and even a dramatic pistol duel. Based on the poetry of Pushkin, the story is about two friends who fall into a jealous argument at a dance over the young and beautiful Tatyana, ultimately challenging each other to a duel. The concert, featuring conductor Fabio Luisi and the Dallas Symphony Chorus, will have three performances through April 5 at Meyerson Symphony Center.
10,000 Maniacs in concert
Founded in 1981, 10,000 Maniacs is one of the most enduring bands from the early "alternative rock" movement, having released nine albums in their career, including 2015's Twice Told Tales. Their most recent release was the 2016 EP Playing Favorites. They'll play twice at The Kessler on Friday.
April Fool's Comedy Jam
April 1 is the day when many people love to play pranks on others, but the audience at the April Fool's Comedy Jam will be in on the jokes told by great slate of comedians. Performers will include Earthquake, Bill Bellamy, Chaunte Wayans, Ryan Davis, and Bruce Bruce. The event takes place at Texas Trust CU Theatre at Grand Prairie.
Saturday, April 2
WWE presents WrestleMania
WWE's annual WrestleMania is a massive two-day event that will feature the "Biggest WrestleMania Match of All-Time" when Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns will put each of their titles on the line in a Winner Take All Championship Unification. Other matches will include Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs. Kevin Owens, and more. The action goes down at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
Whitney Cummings: Touch Me Tour
Comedian Whitney Cummings is best known for creating and starring in the NBC series Whitney, and she also co-created and co-wrote the CBS comedy series 2 Broke Girls. In 2019, Cummings launched her own podcast, Good For You, and debuted her fourth stand-up special, Can I Touch It?, on Netflix. She'll perform at Majestic Theatre.
Dallas Opera presents The Pearl Fishers
In The Pearl Fishers, set in exotic Ceylon, two men fall in love with a virgin priestess, but swear to give her up for the sake of their lifelong friendship. But one man makes her forget her vows and the other loses his life in this story of forbidden love and treachery. The opera, featuring romantic music from the composer of Carmen, will be sung in French with English supertitles. It will have four performances through April 10 at Winspear Opera House.
Sunday, April 3
Bon Iver in concert
Bon Iver, the indie folk band fronted by Justin Vernon, has been a critical and somewhat of a commercial favorite since their debut album in 2008. Since then, they've gone on to release three more albums, including 2019's I, I, garnering a couple of Grammy Awards and the placement of songs on shows like Grey's Anatomy along the way. They'll play at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving.
Comedian Mike Birbiglia will perform at Majestic Theatre on March 31.
Figure skater Mariah Bell. Getty Images