Weekend Event Planner

These are the 10 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

While many events in and around Dallas have either been postponed or canceled during the coronavirus pandemic, organizations have pivoted to virtual or socially distanced events to continue offering the masses some entertainment while we need it the most.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. While not every event is out of the house, they all promise to provide a nice distraction from the everyday life.

Thursday, April 8

Ochre House Theater presents Ghosts in the Kitchen: Supernova Leftovers
As part of Ghosts in the Kitchen, a series of storytelling through virtual theater as written and told by core company members, Ochre House Theater presents Supernova Leftovers, which takes viewers down the rabbit hole of wonder, denial, and self discovery. What can we expect at the end of a long journey? Supernova Leftovers is a nuclear harvest that reaps the profound workings of the Self. There’s always something leftover in the kitchen. The production will be available to stream at any time, through April 18.

Theatre Three presents Love & Kindness in a Time of Quarantine
Theatre Three will present Love & Kindness in a Time of Quarantine, a compilation of songs and monologues about life during the coronavirus pandemic curated and directed by Regina Taylor. The collaborative production, featuring new pieces by local artists, offers perspective in a time of uncertainty. Through a blend songs and monologues, this heartfelt and compassionate new work will feature nationally renowned writers and local Dallas artists. There will be daily performances through April 18, with each performance available for 24 hours, starting at 6 pm.

Undermain Theatre presents Whither Goest Thou America: A Festival of New American Plays
The Whither Goest Thou America festival of new work will be a virtual event, headlined by David Rabe’s new solo piece adapted from his short story, Suffocation Theory, which will be available to view at any time through April 25. The festival will also include virtual readings of three new plays: Second Hand Conversations with Irene by Teresa Marrero (viewable April 14-18), Bright Boys by Blake Hackler (April 21-25), and Feeding on Light by Lenora Champagne (April 28-May 2).

Friday, April 9

Maverick Theatre Company presents Spring Awakening
Based off the 1891 German play, Spring Awakening is a rock musical that critiques the hypocrisy of institutional doctrine as a means to control young adults and promote abstinence. Though dealing with difficult themes like suicide and sexual abuse, the message of the musical is to rage against the status quo in order to protect individual expression and thought. The production will be available to stream through April 12.

The Dallas Opera presents Welcome Back Song Series: John Holiday
As part of its “Welcome Back” Song Series, the Dallas Opera will present countertenor John Holiday with pianists Kevin J. Miller and Neeki Bey. They will perform an array of hits by composers from a multitude of genres, including Stevie Wonder's “You are the Sunshine of My Life,” George Gershwin's “Summertime,” Thelonious Monk's “Fly Me to the Moon," and more. The event takes place at Winspear Opera House.

Ballet Ensemble of Texas presents "A Celebration of Dance"
Ballet Ensemble of Texas will present its annual "A Celebration of Dance." The mixed repertoire program includes George Skibine’s Firebird; Swan Lake, Act 2, featuring American Ballet Theatre guest artists; Gerald Arpino’s Confetti; and two premieres by resident choreographers Jenny Johnston and Tammie Reinsch. There will be two performances, one Friday and one Saturday, at Irving Arts Center.

Mesquite Arts Theatre presents The Belle of Amherst
The Belle of Amherst is a whimsical one-woman show based on the life of Emily Dickinson. Drawing largely from Emily's poetry and letters, the play is a living, breathing autobiography of a true nonconformist. Using a stream of conscious flow of poetry and musings, Emily Dickinson is brought to life before the very eyes of her audience. There will be performances every Friday-Sunday through April 25 at Mesquite Arts Center.

Saturday, April 10

The Dallas Opera presents "Garden Serenades"
The Dallas Opera and members of the Dallas Opera Orchestra will present "Garden Serenades," a series of free weekend chamber concerts in a variety of outdoor settings, celebrating spring and the return of live performances. The series will kick off on Saturday and Sunday at the Dallas Museum of Art, featuring members of The Dallas Opera Orchestra. The program will include Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Vivaldi’s “Spring” from The Four Seasons, and additional arrangements of opera selections. There will be performances in other locations every weekend through May 2.

Jackopierce in concert
Jackopierce — a folk rock duo made up of Jack O'Neill and Cary Pierce — is a Dallas original, releasing their first album in 1990. Since then, they've gone through the usual ups-and-downs of a rock band, including breaking up for around five years to explore solo options. But they've always gravitated back to each other, with their latest album being 2018's Feel This Good. They'll play at Trees in Deep Ellum.

Sunday, April 11

Dallas Arboretum presents Dallas Blooms: “America the Beautiful” closing day
Although plenty of flowers will remain in bloom for months to come, Dallas Arboretum's annual Dallas Blooms festival will come to a close on Sunday. Among the activities on the final day will be a country western dance performance by the Richardson High School Desperados, live music by guitarist Dave Lincoln, and a concert by The Quibble Brothers.

It's the final weekend of Dallas Blooms at the Dallas Arboretum.

Photo courtesy of Dallas Arboretum & Botanical Garden

It's the final weekend of Dallas Blooms at the Dallas Arboretum.

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Movie Review

Korean monster movie Hope delivers thrills despite its lengthy runtime

Photo courtesy of Neon

Hwang Jung-Min and Hoyeon in Hope.

Monster movies can take on all sorts of different flavors, from all-out mayhem to quieter ones where the monster can sometimes be the protagonist. The new South Korean film Hope splits the difference to a degree, delivering action-packed sequences while also attempting to understand the non-humans in a way.

The story starts in medias res, with an unseen creature having already done great damage to a huge bull and laying waste to much of a small Korean town. The local sheriff, Beom Seok (Hwang Jung-Min), tries to take control of the situation in the town, while a group of hunters led by Sung Ki (Zo In-Sung) travel into the nearby woods to see what they can find there.

Thus starts a nearly nonstop, 160-minute epic of each side trying (and mostly failing) to defend themselves against gigantic creatures who seem hellbent on destroying everything in their path. It’s not until 40 minutes into the film that the audience is shown one of the monsters in detail, and the less said the better about what it actually looks like, as the mystery behind it keeps the intrigue going.

That initial section of the film is the best, as Beom Seok — eventually joined by deputy Sung Ae (Hoyeon) — goes on a frantic hunt around the town, always just far enough behind the monster to keep from seeing it. The utter destruction he witnesses and his interactions with various locals are intense and oddly funny, with the hectic conversations he has laced with fear and incredulity over how different people choose to act.

Writer-director Na Hong-jin bounces back and forth between the people in the town and the group in the forest, doing his best to maintain the momentum of the first section. This approach works for a while as each group makes their own discoveries about the creatures and has run-ins with them that more often than not are ill-fated. Using a mixture of relatively good CGI, great production design, and an abundance of gore, the filmmaker shows he knows how to make an effective blockbuster-style film.

The trouble is, he doesn’t know when to stop. Somewhere around the two-hour mark of the movie, the story starts to become repetitive and Hong-jin introduces elements that don’t mesh well with what has come before. For some reason, he decides that some of the creatures should speak, a move that is baffling on several fronts. The biggest one is that they are voiced by English-speaking actors like Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, and Taylor Russell, but each speaks a non-human language, rendering their performances moot.

Jung-min puts in a fantastic lead performance, one that requires him to vacillate between abject terror and in-control leadership. In-Sung is almost as good, although his character requires him to play one note over and over again. Hoyeon, who some may recognize from Squid Game, delivers an extra shot of energy when she enters the film, something she keeps going despite her character being forced to say some bad lines.

If Hong-jin had kept the focus Hope a little tighter, the sci-fi thriller might have ended up toward the top of this year’s films. But by choosing to extend the story into territories that don’t add much to the plot or make much sense, the filmmaker puts a damper on what was a fun and brutal monster movie.

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Hope is now playing in theaters.

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