We've just barely entered the holiday season, but the first full weekend of November is absolutely packed with great events around Dallas. We're breaking with format to let you know about all the fun things to do in categories like holiday light events, music, theater, comedy, dance, opera, and festivals.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. If you want more options, check out the calendar for an even longer list of the city's best events.

Holiday Light Events

Fever and Moment Factory present Astra Lumina
Yes, Halloween just happened, but for event organizers, it's never too early to move on to the biggest holiday season of them all. Astra Lumina doesn't have an explicit holiday theme, but its dates in November and December give it that feel anyway. Visitors set off across mysterious grounds to discover a celestial pathway of lustrous light, cosmic visions, and astral song. Opening on November 6, the event takes place at Trinity Forest Adventure Park through December 31.

The Light Park
A light event that is more about the holiday season is The Light Park, which has become so popular that it has expanded to multiple locations around Dallas. Featuring millions of LED lights synchronized to holiday music, The Light Park invites families to buckle up, turn up the volume, and immerse themselves in a mile-long light show. The event, located in Arlington, Frisco, and (new this year) Little Elm, opens on November 7 and runs through January 4.

Tianyu Lights Festival
The Tianyu Lights Festival is an immersive show that features two themed displays straight from the imagination of 7-year-old boy Koda. Starlit Farm captures the peaceful beauty of summer nights in the countryside, while Magic Ocean dives deep into an illuminated undersea world of reefs and dreamlike creatures. It also features nightly live cultural performances. The event, which opens on November 7, takes place in the festival grounds of Texas Trust CU Theatre in Grand Prairie through January 18.

Music

OK Go in concert
There is arguably no current musical artist who has made more creative use of the video format than the rock band OK Go, which combines science with ingenuity to create eye-popping visuals. The videos have not led to overwhelming popularity for the band, but they have kept them as part of the zeitgeist for almost 25 years. They'll play at House of Blues Dallas on November 6 in support of their new album, And the Adjacent Possible.

Hudson Westbrook in concert
One of the latest big country stars is a Texas original, Hudson Westbrook. Hailing from Lubbock, the 21-year-old has gained popularity like he was shot out of a cannon, with his second single ever going to No. 11 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. His 2025 debut album, Texas Forever, went to No. 10 on the Top Country Albums chart. Having barely paid his dues at smaller venues, Westbrook will draw a crowd at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving on November 7.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Alsop Conducts Brahms"
Celebrated conductor Marin Alsop leads the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in the tale of the notorious libertine, Don Juan. Kathryn Bostic, award-winning composer of film, TV, and Broadway music, pays homage to Gladys Bentley, African American blues singer of the Harlem Renaissance in a world premiere work. The program will also include Brahms' Symphony No. 2. The concert, which will feature soprano Karen Slack, will have three performances, November 7-9, at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Maroon 5 in concert
Maroon 5 has been one of the biggest bands of the 21st century, maintaining a position toward the top of the charts thanks to hits like "This Love," "Makes Me Wonder," "Moves Like Jagger," "Animals," and "Girls Like You." Lead singer Adam Levine parlayed their popularity into a stint as a coach on NBC's The Voice from 2011-2019, and again this past spring. They'll play at American Airlines Center on November 7 in support of their new album, Love is Like.

Evil Dead in Concert
Sam Raimi’s beloved cult classic, Evil Dead, will be screened in a newly restored format that will feature a live ensemble performing the entire original musical score from composer Joe LoDuca. Evil Dead follows five college students on vacation in an isolated cabin in the woods, where they unwittingly release absolute evil into the world and have to fight to survive. The event takes place on November 8 at Majestic Theatre.

Theater

Undermain Theatre presents Action
In Action, four friends seek solace in each other's company by sharing a house over the Christmas holidays after a catastrophic event has thrown the world into chaos. They perform ordinary tasks like cooking a turkey, drinking coffee, going fishing, hanging laundry to dry, and telling stories, as well as unusual pastimes like tap dancing, acting like bears, and claiming a Barcalounger as their own personal kingdom. Their actions are tinged with a darkly funny absurdity. The production runs through December 7 at Undermain Theatre.

Broadway Dallas presents The Outsiders
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1967, Ponyboy Curtis, his best friend Johnny Cade, and their Greaser family of ‘outsiders’ battle with their affluent rivals, the Socs. The Outsiders, which won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2024, navigates the complexities of self-discovery as the Greasers dream about who they want to become in a world that may never accept them. The production runs through November 16 at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

Rover Dramawerks presents The Dingdong, or Take Me, I'm Yours!
Vatelin is a faithful husband - mostly. Lucy is a faithful wife - kind of. But their “fidelity” is about to be put to the test when a series of importunate suitors and femmes fatales invade their cozy little world. Audiences will dive headfirst into the misadventures of one madcap night in a Parisian hotel and discover how opening the wrong door in the dark of night can lead to mayhem, laughter, and a few unlikely revelations about the secret to a happy marriage. The production runs through November 22 at Cox Playhouse in Plano.

Mainstage Irving-Las Colinas presents The Cat and the Canary
Twenty years after his death, the family of Ambrose West arrive to his castle on the Hudson to attend a reading of his will at midnight. His will designates that Annabelle West is his sole heir if there is no indication that she suffers from insanity. Should she be unsound of mind, a second will is to be opened naming a different heir. The family endeavors to unbalance Annabelle with tales of lunatics, murders, and death strikes. Everyone among the possible heirs is suspected, but not until the final fall of the curtain is the extraordinary mystery solved. The production runs November 7-22 at Irving Arts Center.

Teatro Dallas presents Job
A psychological thriller, Job zooms in on two careerists of different generations, genders, and political paradigms to examine what it means to be a citizen of the internet and our obligation to help the people who need it most. The production runs November 7-16 at Latino Cultural Center.

Eisemann Center presents Churchill
In this often funny, sometimes touching, and engaging one-man-show, veteran British actor David Payne brings former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to life onstage. Audiences will hear of his exploits during the Boer War, his constant battles with Britain’s fellow politicians, and his special relationship with America and America’s presidents. But most telling of all, Churchill enlightens the audience with intimate and touching details of the two special women in his life, his wife Clementine and Queen Elizabeth. The production will have four performances, November 7-9, at Eisemann Center for Performing Arts in Richardson.

Comedy

John Mulaney: Mister Whatever
John Mulaney is as in-demand as a comedian can be these days, hosting the Netflix talk show, Everybody's Live With John Mulaney, hosting Saturday Night Live, and going on a tour of North America with his new show, Mister Whatever. Fresh off an Emmy win for his latest special, 2023's Baby J, he'll perform at Texas Trust CU Theatre in Grand Prairie on November 6 and 7.

Bert Kreischer: Permission to Party
Comedian Bert Kreischer’s career has evolved from earning Rolling Stone’s 1997 Number One Partier in the Nation, to one of the top grossing stand-up comics in the business. In addition to a successful stand-up career, Kreischer has made himself a top podcaster with his podcasts Bertcast and Two Bears One Cave with Tom Segura. He is also the host of the YouTube cooking show, Something’s Burning. He'll perform at American Airlines Center on November 8.

Dance

Dallas Black Dance Theatre presents Director's Choice Series: Catalyst
Dallas Black Dance Theatre will present the newest entry in their annual Director’s Choice series, Catalyst. The company's season premiere propels bold new voices and innovative choreography into the spotlight, featuring world premiere commissions alongside Lost in Memory by 2023 Guggenheim Fellow Nejla Yatkin. There will be performances on November 7 and 8 at Wyly Theatre.

TITAS/Dance Unbound presents Anne Plamondon Danse
After 20 years performing on international stages, Anne Plamondon took the leap into choreography in 2012, and the world has taken notice. Her work has earned rave reviews across the globe, celebrated for both its technical brilliance and its genuine emotional depth. TITAS will present the U.S. debut of Anne Plamondon Danse on November 7 and 8 at Moody Performance Hall.

Pegasus Contemporary Ballet presents The Egg
Pegasus Contemporary Ballet opens its season with The Egg, a new work inspired by the short story from Andy Weir, the bestselling author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary. With an original score commissioned from six-time Grammy Award-winning violinist Scott Tixier, the collaborative production fuses dance, music, and narration into a visceral, intimate performance. There will be three performances, November 7-9, at The Addison Performing Arts Centre in Addison.

Opera

The Dallas Opera presents Dialogues of the Carmelites
Time travel to 1794 Paris, where France's Reign of Terror is raging. A frightened young aristocrat enters a convent, desperate to find peace from religious persecution. But as the Mother Superior warns, she has entered a house of prayer, not an escape from reality. Based on a real-life incident, 16 Carmelite nuns - each with her own private demons - must decide if they will live in fear or die together in faith as martyrs on the guillotine. Opening on November 7, there will be four performances through November 15 at Winspear Opera House.

Festivals

The City of Carrollton presents 15th Annual Festival at the Switchyard
The annual Festival at the Switchyard will be headlined by '80s singer Rick Springfield, who will be joined by other notable acts like Spin Doctors, Sixpence None the Richer, and Alien Ant Farm. In addition to concerts, the festival features live children’s entertainment, community performances, rides and games, face painting and balloon art, a beer garden, and an array of food vendors and Festival booths. It takes place on November 8 at the Switchyard in Carrollton.

The Big Dill
The festival-style event The Big Dill delivers on its promise, featuring 70 vendors and food trucks, unlimited pickle sampling, mascots, carnival games, a kids zone, outdoor activities, a brine chug challenge, the World Pickle Eating Championship, a photo booth, face painting, live entertainment, and more. There is the notable absence of pickleball, but I guess you can't have everything. The one-day event takes place on November 8 at Globe Life Field and Texas Live in Arlington.

Photo courtesy of Moment Factory

Fever and Moment Factory present Astra Lumina at Trinity Forest Adventure Park through December 31.