Weekend Event Planner

These are the 11 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

You can tell that the world is inching its way back toward a semblance of normalcy with this week's slate of events in and around Dallas, which includes two events — a PGA golf tournament and an arts festival — where crowds are almost guaranteed. Other in-person choices include a symphony concert, local theater, two dance productions, the return of improv comedy, an Instagram-able exhibit, and more.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend.

Thursday, May 13

2021 AT&T Byron Nelson
Fans will be allowed back on the course for the 2021 AT&T Byron Nelson, and they'll get not only a top-notch field of players, but also a new venue to explore. The tournament, going on through Sunday, will take place at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney for the first time. Among the expected participants will be defending champion Sung Kang, Bryson Dechambeau, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, Dallas' own Jordan Spieth, and more.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Mendelssohn & Ravel"
This concert, conducted by Gemma New and featuring violinist Angela Fuller Heyde, will include Mendelssohn's Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave) Overture, the world premiere of Kareem Roustom's Violin Concerto No. 2, and Ravel's Mother Goose Suite. The concert will have three performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Rover Dramawerks presents Butterflies Are Free
Plano's Rover Dramawerks makes their return to the stage with Butterflies Are Free. Don Baker has recently moved to Manhattan and made his overprotective mother agree not to visit for two months. Don has been blind since birth, and although he’s a little lonely, he is enjoying his newfound freedom as he pursues his songwriting ambitions. Then he meets his kooky new neighbor Jill, a beautiful actress. The two quickly become close, and Mrs. Baker’s unexpected arrival a month earlier than agreed upon results in her controlling instincts going into overdrive, as she fears Jill will break her son’s heart. The production will have eight performances through May 22 at The Core Theatre in Richardson.

mixtamotus presents #DigitalConnection
#DigitalConnection is presented by mixtamotus, a human-digital interface art exploration. It is a diverse collaborative work that blends dance, music, and video mapping to create a weekend-long immersive installation in the 6th Floor Studio Theatre in the Wyly Theatre. The performance concludes with a post-show, behind-the-scenes experience educational component including a facilitated Q&A with the collaborators, photo/video opportunities, and technology playtime. The production, part of AT&T Performing Arts Center's Elevator Project, will run through Sunday.

Friday, May 14

Four Day Weekend Dallas
After more than a year without performing at their home base, Four Day Weekend Dallas will return to the stage for weekly performances on Fridays and Saturdays. The comedy troupe started their improv comedy show in Fort Worth and expanded the show to Dallas on Lowest Greenville in 2018. The troupe performs a 105-minute show created from audience suggestions and participation, so it's guaranteed to be something different every time.

Texas Ballet Theater presents "Ballet al Fresco"
Texas Ballet Theater will presents "Ballet al Fresco," a collection of classic and contemporary pieces showcasing the range of the company. The production, which will have four performances through Sunday at Annette Strauss Square, will feature selections from Three Preludes, Afternoon of a Faun, Sylvia, The Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake.

Saturday, May 15

Galleria Dallas presents "Pop! by Snowday"
"Pop! by Snowday" is an experiential exhibit that is twice the size of the previous "Snowday" installation at Galleria Dallas. Around every corner, secret entrances lead to unique visuals and experiences. Visitors could find themselves inside a laundry machine, a unique curved photography studio, or in a one-of-a-kind tunnel of music and light. Photo opportunities allow for sharable photos or videos featuring a secret garden, a vintage automobile, or even a trip through the clouds. The exhibit, located on Level One in Galleria Dallas adjacent to Grand Lux Café, will be open daily through Labor Day, September 6.

Historic Grapevine's 37th Annual Main Street Fest "Reimagined"
Historic Grapevine's 37th Annual Main Street Fest, "Reimagined," will feature European-style theatrical street performances with gravity-defying stunts, live music performances on three stages, and the Craft Brew Experience, featuring more than 50 craft brews from 11 states. During the event, taking place on Saturday and Sunday, bistros, cafes, and boutiques will extend their storefronts onto Main Street to provide alfresco dining and shopping experiences.

Dallas Pizza Fest
Pizza lovers — which is pretty much everybody — will be in heaven at Dallas Pizza Fest, a pizza trucks block party featuring a pizza eating contest, a kids bounce land, live shows and performances, a beer & wine garden, and more. Taking place at Bottled Blonde, which is already known for its pizza, the event will feature trucks like Bellatrino Pizza, Serious Pizza, Olivella's Pizza, i Fratelli Pizza, and more.

Sunday, May 16

Dallas Museum of Art presents "Dalí’s Divine Comedy" closing day
Sunday will be the final day to view the exhibition "Dalí’s Divine Comedy" at the Dallas Museum of Art. This exhibition showcases artist Salvador Dalí's most ambitious illustrated series: his colored wood engravings of the Divine Comedy, an epic poem by the medieval Florentine writer Dante Alighieri. Selected prints from this series highlight the artist’s distinctive Surrealist interpretation of each realm and how his images interact with Dante’s text.

Dallas Summer Musicals presents "Hershey Felder: Live from Florence"
Dallas Summer Musicals will present the third and final production in the series "Hershey Felder: Live from Florence," in which Felder brings famous composers to life through storytelling and their works. The final production is called Anna & Sergei, the story of a very strange meeting between Rachmaninoff and Anna Anderson, the woman who claimed to be the sole surviving member of the Romanov Dynasty, the Princess Anastasia. The production features Rachmaninoff’s most beloved melodies and music.

Jordan Spieth and other top PGA golfers will be playing in the AT&T Byron Nelson, taking place May 13-16 at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney.

Jordan Spieth/Facebook

Jordan Spieth and other top PGA golfers will be playing in the AT&T Byron Nelson, taking place May 13-16 at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney.

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Movie Review

Zendaya and Robert Pattinson face pre-marriage jitters in The Drama

Photo courtesy of A24

Robert Pattinson and Zendaya in The Drama.

Robert Pattinson and Zendaya will be seen together a lot at the movies in 2026, with mega-films like The Odyssey and Dune: Part Three coming out later in the year. But fans can get a much more intimate look at the two stars in a film that offers a unique take on relationship struggles, The Drama.

Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Pattinson) are a New York couple who are engaged to be married. After a quick-but-effective montage of their courtship, the story joins them as they are just days away from their wedding. As they get all the details like music, flowers, and food finalized, a visit to the caterer with married friends Rachel (Alana Haim) and Mike (Mamoudou Athie) proves fateful.

A few too many drinks leads to each member of the group deciding to divulge the worst thing they’ve ever done. While each story is slightly shocking, Emma’s takes the cake, so much so that Charlie starts to question their relationship. As they get closer to the wedding date, Charlie finds it increasingly difficult to get beyond Emma’s revelation, with each real or imagined conversation threatening to derail their previously tight bond.

Written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli, the film is provocative, funny, and cringey as it tries to get to the center of human dynamics. Charlie, Rachel, and Mike have starkly different reactions to Emma’s story, and the way those play out over the course of the film provides, well, the drama. The harder Charlie tries to justify Emma’s past, the more his underlying feelings start to eat at him, causing friction not just between him and Emma, but in other parts of his life, as well.

Strangely, especially for a character played by Zendaya, Emma recedes more than expected. Her explanations for her previous actions are timid at best, and she mostly seems to be waiting for Charlie to forgive her instead of questioning why she needs forgiveness. Borgli favors the male side of the equation, and in so doing he doesn’t dig as deep into the root of the issue as he could have.

Still, the downward spiral at the center of the story has a propulsive nature to it, and each successive step proves to be both hard to watch and impossible to turn away from. It also helps that Borgli manages the tone well, keeping interactions between characters relatively light so that the film doesn’t turn into one like Marriage Story.

Pattinson, who gets to use his own British accent for once, put on an interesting performance that is much better than his last two roles in Mickey 17 and Die My Love. He has good chemistry with Zendaya, who manages to shine despite being laden with a role that doesn’t play entirely to her strengths. Haim and Athie do good work in small roles, while Hailey Grace and Hannah Gross make an impact in brief appearances.

The situation in which Emma and Charlie find themselves in The Drama is not one to be wished on anyone, but it’s presented well by Borgli, keeping tensions high for the bulk of the film. Despite the two main characters not given completely equal footing, the story finds a way to get to a satisfactory ending.

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The Drama opens in theaters on April 3.

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