Weekend Event Planner

These are the 9 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Although it's full speed ahead for many organizations when it comes to in-person events, theater companies are still taking the slow and steady approach, as the productions premiering this weekend are all either virtual or socially-distanced. Other choices will include comedy from a couple of big names, concerts both classical and country, and a huge soccer match.

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

Thursday, May 27

Undermain Theatre presents Hedda Gabler
Hedda Gabler is Henrik Ibsen’s masterpiece of realism that permanently changed the face of world drama. It is the story of an extraordinary woman trapped in a conventional life of secrets and lies that fuel her own personal explosion. Blake Hackler adapts this classic, presented by Undermain Theatre virtually through June 13.

Bishop Arts Theatre Center presents What If...?
In What If...? by Cynthia G. Robinson, a young woman’s need to fight for justice unleashes her mother’s fears for her child’s life. This show commemorates the death of George Floyd, and the company hopes that viewers watching this piece will have a change of heart and bring awareness. The production will be available to stream at any time through May 31.

Over The Bridge Arts presents First Draft
Over the Bridge Arts will present First Draft, a platform for creative works-in-progress. The event opens with artists from Echo Theatre reading opening scenes from selected entries to their “Big Shout Out 3 — International New Play Contest for Women+ Playwrights.” The second half of the program will feature The Pollinators, an original satirical musical that deals with authoritarian hot head characters who would flaunt science, undermine progress, and commit unlawful acts. The in-person performance will be at The Wild Detectives in Oak Cliff.

Very Good Dance Company presents Tenants/Tenets
Very Good Dance Company presents Tenants/Tenets, a futurist dance theater performance that spontaneously generates a fully functioning society in which its community must determine their responsibility to each other. Throughout the process of creating this work, an interview process will devise the performance which will also create an experiential encounter for the audience, revealing the process behind the performance through engaging the audience in the interview process. The production, part of AT&T Performing Arts Center's Elevator Project, will play at Wyly Theatre three times through Saturday.

Improv Arlington presents Craig Robinson
While Craig Robinson is well known now, he wanted to be a teacher for a long time. It was while he was studying education in Chicago that he also discovered his love of acting and comedy when he joined the famed Second City Theatre. He's arguably best known for his role as acerbic Dunder-Mifflin employee Darryl Philbin on NBC’s Emmy-winning The Office, but he's starred in a number of other movies and TV shows. He'll perform six times through Sunday at Improv Arlington.

Friday, May 28

Improv Addison presents Ron White
Comedian Ron “Tater Salad” White first rose to fame as the cigar-smoking, scotch-drinking funnyman from the Blue Collar Comedy Tour phenomenon, but now as a chart-topping Grammy-nominated comedian and a feature film actor, White has established himself as a star in his own right. He'll perform six times through Sunday at Improv Addison.

Wynonna & The Big Noise in concert
There are few musicians more synonymous with country music than Wynonna Judd. For almost 40 years, Wynonna has been a brand name, either has one half of The Judds with her mom, Naomi, or as a solo artist since the early 1990s. She has released nine full-length albums in her career, and she released the EP Recollections in 2020. She'll play with her band The Big Noise at Arlington Music Hall.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents The Firebird Suite
This concert from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Krzysztof Urbanski and featuring violinist Vadim Gluzman, will include Glinka's Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla, Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2, and Stravinsky's The Firebird: Suite. There will be three performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Saturday, May 29

MexTour: Mexico vs. Iceland
MexTour, the Mexican National Team’s annual tour of the United States, returns with an opening match against Iceland. Mexico’s game against Iceland will serve as a critical preparation match for the CONCACAF Nations League Finals, which will be played in June. Manager Gerardo “Tata” Martino is expected to bring his top roster to this match at AT&T Stadium.

Wynonna and her band The Big Noise will play at Arlington Music Hall on May 28.

Photo by Kristin Barlowe

Wynonna and her band The Big Noise will play at Arlington Music Hall on May 28.

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Movie Review

Reminders of Him blends trauma and romance in slight but effective story

Photo by Michelle Faye / Universal Pictures

Maika Monroe and Tyriq Withers in Reminders of HIm.

Texas author Colleen Hoover has gone from being a popular writer to a full-on celebrity in the 2020s, with the new film Reminders of Him marking the third adaptation of her books in just 19 months (a fourth, Verity, is scheduled for release in October 2026). All of her books that have been adapted so far - most notably It Ends With Us - are female-led stories that feature elements of romance and trauma, catnip for studios looking to appeal to the underserved demographic of women.

Leading the way in this film is Kenna Rowan (Maika Monroe), who returns to her hometown of Laramie, Wyoming after spending years in prison for killing her boyfriend, Scotty (Rudy Pankow), in a car accident. That relationship resulted in a daughter, Diem (Zoe Kosovic), whom Kenna gave birth to while imprisoned and is now being raised by her grandparents, Patrick (Bradley Whitford) and Grace (Lauren Graham).

Yearning to be a part of Diem’s life, Kenna tries to reconnect with Patrick and Grace, only to be rebuffed by Scotty’s best friend, Ledger (Tyriq Withers), a former NFL player who now owns a local bar. In running interference, Ledger starts to become closer to Kenna, discovering that her tragic mistake shouldn’t be the only thing that defines her.

Directed by Vanessa Caswill and written by Lauren Levine, the film features mostly surface level examinations of its themes and average performances, yet it winds up being effective thanks to a willingness not to rush through its storytelling beats. The filmmakers take the slow and steady approach toward the coupling of Kenna and Ledger, setting up their bond through a series of heart-to-heart conversations that makes any romance feel earned.

The majority of the focus is on Kenna reclaiming her place in the world, and on Ledger coming to terms with the fact that the person who killed his best friend is not inherently a bad person. The film definitely could have gone deeper in its explorations of grief and anger, but the sheer amount of time it takes in addressing the characters’ doubts and fears turns out to be sufficient for a film that’s not aiming to be considered a dramatic masterpiece.

It also helps that Caswill and Levine do a solid job of establishing the variety of characters that inhabit the film. Kenna and Ledger don’t always feel like fully-formed people, but they become so through their interactions with each other and the other townspeople. Lady Diana (Monika Myers), a girl with Down syndrome who lives in Kenna’s apartment complex, and Roman (Nicholas Duvernay), Ledger’s co-worker at his bar, help to broaden the appeal of the two leads.

Monroe has, to this point, been best known for starring roles in horror films like It Follows and Longlegs. While she does somewhat well in this role, her delivery is often more flat than you’d expect for a character going through what she does. Withers thankfully doesn’t remind viewers of his recent bomb Him, demonstrating a crossover appeal that should serve him well in the future. Whitford and Graham don’t get to do much, but their combined experience gives their roles exactly what is needed.

It may sound like damning with faint praise, but Reminders of Him is a competently made film that knows how to serve its core audience without insulting anyone who may not automatically be all-in for such a story. The filmmakers don’t try to force any of the key moments down the audience’s throat, and that stands out in a genre that’s not always known for its subtlety.

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Reminders of Him opens in theaters on March 13.

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