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, some 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, December 10

The Dallas Opera presents The Magic Flute
The Dallas Opera will make the company’s 2019 production of Mozart’s family-friendly The Magic Flute available free for home viewing for a limited time. The fanciful, wildly colorful production was originally simulcast live in high definition to a Dallas audience at Klyde Warren Park. The video will be available to view at any time through January 5.

Theatre Three presents The Immigrant
After a virtual run over the summer, Theatre Three will once again stream Mark Harelik’s inspiring play The Immigrant. Set in Hamilton, Texas in the early half of the 20th century, this technologically-forward telling of the play won’t put audiences in the room where it happened, but it will make history. The play, performed and designed to work within the necessary current restrictions, will play through Sunday.

East Dallas Arts presents The Christmas Line: A Chorus Line Parody
East Dallas Arts presents its third socially-distanced, on-demand production, The Christmas Line: A Chorus Line Parody. Santa and his lead elf, Rosie Jingles, help a wide variety of toys discover their path to being underneath the Christmas tree. Barbie, Ken, Wonder Woman, Batman and Robin — all of your favorite toys are here to put their own unique spin on this parody of the Broadway musical A Chorus Line. The production will be available to stream on demand through Sunday, January 3.

MainStage Irving-Las Colinas presents "Broadway Christmas Cabaret"
Irving’s own Amy Stevenson and Craig Boleman are back (virtually) to perform classic holiday songs with a couple of hilarious and touching surprises along the way in "A Broadway Christmas Cabaret." The dynamic duo will set out to save the end of 2020 with songs from Elf, Meet Me in St. Louis, White Christmas, and more. Coinciding with the live concert is an online auction featuring various gift baskets filled with luxurious holiday necessities and must-have gifts.

Second Thought Theatre presents Second Thought Emerging Playwrights
Second Thought Theatre will present their inaugural new playwriting series, Second Thought Emerging Playwrights (STEP). With three unique online events, STT invites audiences to experience a behind-the-scenes look in creating a play from the ground up. This first event consists of a public reading of the first draft of the script. Online audiences will learn about what is working in the new play and hear what questions are still unanswered. The other events will be in January and February.

Friday, December 11

Kevin Russell of Shinyribs in concert
Kevin Russell is the frontman and multi-instrumentalist of the award-winning Austin-based eight-piece Swamp-Pop-Soul supergroup Shinyribs, and former member of the cult-favorite The Gourds. A Beaumont native, Russell is a natural observer and wordsmith — drawing from the Gulf Coast hotbeds of roots music to craft his clever songwriting and on-stage antics to create an ethereal entertainment experience. He'll play twice at The Kessler.

Saturday, December 12

Dallas Black Dance Academy presents Espresso Nutcracker
Dallas Black Dance Academy will present the third annual Espresso Nutcracker, allowing viewers to celebrate the holiday in the comfort of their own home. The performance spins a new twist on a holiday tradition, as it is jazz-influenced by the music of Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite. The production will be available to stream for one night only through the DBDA's website.

Avant Chamber Ballet presents Nutcracker Sweets
Avant Chamber Ballet brings Paul Mejia’s The Nutcracker from the stage to living rooms with a new virtual performance of the iconic masterpiece with live music, Nutcracker Sweets. This year the production features Act 2 and the "Dance of the Snowflakes" with new costumes. Dallas’ own Cezanne Quartet will accompany the dancers with Tchaikovsky’s famous score. The performance will be available to rent at any time through December 31.

Sunday, December 13

Dallas Children's Theater presents Heroes for the Pages
With Heroes for the Pages, Dallas Children’s Theater will provide families with a chance to learn more about three December holidays and the children’s book authors who have written about them. In the first of three free Zoom shows, DCT will spotlight local Dallas author Nancy Churnin’s children’s book Irving Berlin: The Immigrant Boy Who Made America Sing, followed by Churnin's The Queen and the First Christmas Tree on December 20, and Donna L. Washington’s book L’il Rabbit’s Kwanzaa on December 27. Each show will include singalongs, author Q&As, and a feature on the hero’s culture.

Luminova Holidays
After taking a break due to the rodeo being in town, Luminova will start up again. Visitors will be able to view millions of twinkling lights, take to the ice on an outdoor rink, and snap selfie-worthy pics. The sprawling indoor and outdoor wonderland, located at Globe Life Field in Arlington through January 3, marks the first event to be open to the general public at the new stadium. It also includes appearances by Santa Claus, a 65-foot Christmas tree, interactive activities like light up hopscotch, train rides for the kids, strolling holiday entertainers, and booths with food and special mementos.

East Dallas Arts presents the virtual production A Christmas Line: A Chorus Line Parody, available to stream on-demand through January 3.

Photo courtesy of East Dallas Arts

East Dallas Arts presents the virtual production A Christmas Line: A Chorus Line Parody, available to stream on-demand through January 3.

dance concerts families theater event-planner holidays opera

Animal News

Latest animal to die at Dallas Zoo is young male gorilla named Zola

Dallas Zoo

Zola RIP

Another animal at the Dallas Zoo has died an untimely death: Zola, a young Western lowland gorilla, died on Wednesday, November 5, at age 23.

The zoo does not know why Zola died. A necropsy will be performed. According to their post, Zola was euthanized after showing symptoms of lethargy, reduced appetite, and signs of discomfort at the end of October.

"Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to begin breathing on his own afterward, despite the extraordinary efforts of our veterinary and animal care teams," their post says. "With his comfort as our priority, we made the difficult decision to let him go peacefully."

The zoo did not announce Zola's death immediately, instead waiting two days until Friday afternoon at 3 pm. Politicians and government agencies prefer to choose Friday afternoons to post news that is negative or controversial, since fewer people, and definitely fewer journalists, are online on Friday afternoons. It's called the "Friday news dump."

The death is very inconvenient for the Dallas Zoo since they were just about to ship off their male gorillas, which also include Juba, B'Wenzi, and Zola's half-brother Shana, to the San Antonio Zoo. Animals are very dear to the zoo — until it's time to ship them off to another zoo.

The relocation of the other three male gorillas is "temporarily on hold" but the zoo says they will be moved "when the time is right."

Other gorillas will be shipped in to replace them — although we do not know which gorillas and from where. The Association of Zoos & Aquariums, the overseeing body for zoos, only divulges that kind of intel on a "need to know" basis. Right now, you and I do not need to know. If we did know which gorillas were coming and where they were coming from, we might ask questions that would force the zoo to explain what it's up to.

Zola was born at the Bronx Zoo in 2002 and became internet famous as the "breakdancing gorilla" for splashing in pools and puddles. Some animal experts attributed his actions to frustration at being locked inside a zoo. He was relocated to the Calgary Zoo in 2009 when he was only 7 years old — zoos always play up what great bonds and family ties their animals have, until it's time to ship them somewhere else, and then suddenly the bonds and family ties don't matter.

Unfortunately, Zola did not "integrate well" at the Calgary Zoo, so he got shipped off to the Dallas Zoo in 2013.

At least now he won't have to be relocated again.

Death count
Zola's death is one more in a long-running series of deaths at the Dallas Zoo in recent years, the most previous being Jata, a 7-year-old painted dog who died in June 2024. Jata also showed signs of lethargy and decreased appetite, reportedly due to kidney disease.

Whenever a death occurs, they always wax on about their "extraordinary" veterinary and animal care teams — and yet, so many of these deaths were either unexplained or completely caught their teams by surprise.

Zola the Western lowland gorilla is the latest to join this death march of animals at the Dallas Zoo:

Jata, one of the zoo's three African painted dogs, died in June 2024, at seven years old.
Ferrell, a 15-year-old giraffe, died in December, 2023, following "an unexpected fall in the barn" that injured the giraffe's jaw so badly, they were forced to euthanize him.
Ajabu, a 6-year-old African elephant who died on May 8, 2023, from the herpes virus.
Pin, a 35-year-old lappet-faced vulture, died on January 22, 2023, cause unknown.
Jesse, a 14-year-old giraffe, died on October 29, 2021, cause unknown.
Auggie, a 19-year-old giraffe, died in late October 2021 of liver failure.
Marekani, a 3-month-old baby giraffe, sustained a mysterious injury and was euthanized on October 3, 2021.
Kirk, a 31-year-old chimpanzee, died in August 2021 due to "surprise" heart disease.
Keeya, a 6-year-old Hartmann's mountain zebra, died in March 2021 due to a mysterious unexplained head injury.
Subira, a 24-year-old silverback gorilla, died suddenly in March 2020, due to a cough, or maybe cardiovascular disease. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Hope, a 23-year-old Western lowland gorilla, died suddenly in November 2019 after being at the zoo for only two years.
Ola, an 8-year-old female African painted dog, was killed in July 2019 by two other painted dogs, less than a month after she was transferred to the zoo.
Witten, a 1-year-old giraffe, died in June 2019 during a physical exam under anesthesia when he suddenly stopped breathing.
Adhama, a baby hippopotamus, mysteriously died in 2018.
Kipenzi, a baby giraffe, died in 2015 after running in her enclosure.
Kamau, a young cheetah, died of pneumonia in 2014.
Johari, a female lion, was killed in front of zoo spectators in 2013 by male lions with whom she shared an enclosure.

And in February 2021, they lost a crow called Onyx who was part of their "animal ambassador team," "participating in a training session" for a bird show. He was never found.

animals