Creativity Continues

The Dallas arts groups offering virtual access to opera, museums, and more

Avant Chamber Ballet is one of the arts groups participating.

Photo by Brian Guilliaux

Everything's canceled, but that doesn't mean you're limited in what you can enjoy from home right now. TACA recently released a list of Dallas-Fort Worth arts groups that are streaming concerts, opera, dance, and even museum tours for free during the coronavirus quarantine, and we're adding more as they come in.

Dallas Art Fair
From April 14-23, this new online platform allows collectors to digitally preview and purchase works from participating galleries before the fair’s upcoming twelfth edition, which has been rescheduled to October 1-4.

Main St. Fort Worth Arts Festival
Fort Worth's popular spring arts festival, originally scheduled for April 16-19, has been postponed until September. But organizers are still promoting the festival's artists, entertainers, vendors during a "Virtual Main St." event, April 13-19. The virtual festival will take place within a Facebook event on Main St.'s Facebook page, as well as on its Twitter and Instagram profiles. Throughout the week, the virtual event will feature 200 of this year’s artists, sharing exclusive artwork images, interactive art tutorials, behind-the-scenes studio tours, Facebook Live takeovers from entertainers, favorite restaurant recipes, and more.

Dallas Theater Center
A video was taken of the final dress rehearsal for American Mariachi, a new work by José Cruz Gonzalez about a young woman who forms the first all-female mariachi band in the 1970s, despite disapproving relatives and going against social norms. Patrons are encouraged to pay-what-you-can — starting at $15 — to receive a link and a password to access the recording within 24 hours. Purchasers will have up to two weeks to watch the video. Dallas Theater Center is allowed to sell the video up to the original close date of April 5, 2020; after that, it will be deleted. The number of videos for sale is the same as the number of seats available throughout the run, so patrons are encouraged to buy their "tickets" soon.

Erykah Badu
The singer is performing her Quarantine Concert Series: Live From My Bedroom on Instagram, with each concert only costing a dollar to watch.

The Dallas Opera
Livestream recital of American art songs and excepts from Don Carlo with baritone Lucas Meachem and Irina Meachem on piano. On March 18 at 1 pm, soprano Jocelyn Hansen will perform a 45 min recital of musical theater songs, accompanied by pianist Emily Baltzer.

Stage West
The third play of the theater's 41st season, The Children by Lucy Kirkwood, will be streaming through Vimeo On-Demand from April 9-22. There are a limited number of seats available for $40, and season ticket holders and previously-purchased single ticket holders will receive a unique promo code via email on April 9 at 12am to enter at check-out.

Ochre House Theatre
The pioneers of the suavant guarde are streaming their most recent production, Mrs. Haggardly, for free on their YouTube channel from April 3-24.

Perot Museum of Nature and Science
Following the closing of the Origins: Fossils from the Cradle of Humankind exhibition, you can now virtually explore real fossils that belonged to two very ancient relatives: Homo naledi (a.k.a. Neo) and Australopithecus sediba (a.k.a. Karabo). Plus follow the extraordinary journey of the scientists actively working on and researching these two new fascinating species. The 360-degree tour is available here.

Fort Worth Opera
The company will host free YouTube premieres and Facebook watch parties of the operas Frida Kahlo and the Bravest Girl in the World on April 16 and 18, and Feel the Tango on April 23 and 25.

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra
It has launched a virtual performance platform, the Music Lab, that will let the community enjoy their love of music, share music from multiple sources, access educational tools, and experience unique digital programs.

Lone Star Film Festival
Watch 30 days of short films for free on executive director Chad Mathews' vlog.

Avant Chamber Ballet
360-degree world premiere video of 19th Amendment recorded on February 15, 2020, at Moody Performance Hall, spotlighting choreographer Katie Puder and composer Quinn Mason.

American Baroque Opera Company
The full-length production of La Serva Padrona by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi.

Dallas Museum of Art
Browse more than 25,000 works of art from all cultures and time periods. The museum's new contemporary art exhibition “For a Dreamer of Houses” is making its public debut as a virtual experience. It includes large-scale, immersive installations, new acquisitions, works by artists with Texas ties, and treasures from the Museum’s permanent collection — all exploring themes of home.

Meadows Museum
The museum on the SMU campus is offering digital content posted on its social media channels, including docent-led tours, explorations of the collection, and activities for families. "Color Our Collection" offers coloring book pages to download and color at home, and "Crafternoon" videos are art activities that teach a technique inspired by works at the museum.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Follow #keepthemusicgoing on Facebook to listen to DSO musicians as they play along with each other from the comfort of their own homes.

The Cliburn
The esteemed classical piano music organization has announced three new online initiatives: Cliburn Watch Party, to relive some of the best moments of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition; Cliburn Kids, music fun for little ones; and Cliburn Amateur Spotlight, performance videos submitted by the 72 amateur pianists who were accepted as competitors or festival participants. Weekly schedules will be announced each Sunday.

Lumedia Musicworks
In tandem with its live programming, Lumedia also produces music videos and short films that are presented both online and at select shows.

Thin Line Fest and Dallas VideoFest
The Denton-based multidisciplinary festival will be streaming its selection of documentaries online March 25-29, while Dallas VideoFest will host its Alternative Fiction festival April 3-5. Featuring a curated collection of over 50 documentary features and shorts, Thin Line Fest's film division will stream all screenings and Q&A sessions online. Attendees will be able to login at www.thinline.us and then choose which "theater" to stream live. The fest will still hold its Photography & Film Award Ceremony, which will be live-streamed on March 29.

Quarantined Cabaret
The Dallas-Fort Worth theater community has formed this public Facebook group, where actors, singers, and dancers can post videos of themselves performing (either previously filmed or created during the quarantine).

Union Coffee Shop Concerts
Denise Lee and Michael Bachman, owner of Cedar Springs coffee shop Union, are setting up a series of concerts to be livestreamed on StageIt.com. You set up an account, follow @DeniseLeeOnstage, and pay a small fee to watch ($10 is suggested). You can also can tip the performers.

Eastfield College
Watch the 2020 Faculty Dance Concert featuring work from program coordinator Danielle Georgiou and current faculty members Robert Alvarez, Kiera Amison, Melissa Sanderson, YeaJean Choi, and Christie Bondade. Performers include company members from the Danielle Georgiou Dance Group, Muscle Memory Dance Theatre, independent dancers from Dallas-Fort Worth and Seattle, and students from the Universidad de las Américas Puebla in Mexico.

The Classics Theatre Project
Originally planned as a livestreamed complete production of Molière's classic comedy The Imaginary Invalid, actor Van Quattro is now doing a one-man rendition on YouTube for anyone who buys a ticket. Show times are April 1-19; see website for start times.

Sammons Center for the Arts
Watch clips of the Sammons Jazz and Cabaret concerts on the center's YouTube channel.

QuaranTV
DJ Blake Ward is teaming up with the team at the Deep Ellum bar Double Wide to record concerts from local bands at the empty venue and release them as episodes. You will be able to tip through the performers' Venmo accounts. Concerts will likely begin filming on March 19; keep an eye out here for more information and lineup.

Plano Symphony Orchestra
The orchestra will broadcast several previously performed concerts starting March 28 at 8 pm and will continue every Saturday evening at 8 pm for the next five Saturdays. Patrons can tune in for free by visiting the Plano Symphony Orchestra website.

Four Day Weekend
On March 21 at 8 pm, the critically aimed comedy troupe will feature five performers in a social distance-friendly performance that will be streamed live on Facebook. All donations made here will benefit the troupe's service industry neighbors on Lowest Greenville and Sundance Square.

EarthX2020
The Earthx2020 conferences and film festival will be presented virtually from April 23-25 and into May. The 50th Earth Day Celebration will be livestreamed on April 22. The virtual experience will be layered with the EarthxFilm Festival programming, which will then be presented at the physical film festival in the fall, along with the EarthxGlobalGala.

Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum
The education team has been developing digital content for families, students, and teachers that's available free of charge on the website. In addition, several upcoming speakers will be livestreamed and a virtual book club is being developed.

Irving Symphony Orchestra
Watch past performances on YouTube from your home, with the lineup changing each weekend.

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If you have a virtual concert or artwork that can be enjoyed from home during this time, email lindseyw@culturemap.com and we'll add you to the ever-growing list.

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Season Announcement

'Come find your people' in Echo Theatre Dallas' 2025 season

Photo by Joan Marcus

A scene from the Off-Broadway production of Catch As Catch Can.

The theme for Echo Theatre's 2025 season is family, with the tagline "Come find your people." Echo, if you need a reminder, is the Dallas-based company that solely produces plays written by women-plus.

"We recognize the limiting nature of the binary use of the word 'woman,'" the company explains on its website. "We use the term 'women-plus' to include an expansive and diverse array of people, including those born female, those who identify as women, and those who are gender non-conforming."

“This season, my thoughts have turned to family in all its forms,” says artistic director Kateri Cale. “Every person experiences generations of family expectations, judgements, competitions, celebrations, and disappointments, over and over again. If we're lucky, we experience the fierce love of family too.”

First up is the regional premiere of Catch as Catch Can by Mia Chung.

Double-cast across gender, generation, and race and set in a blue-collar New England town, the drama follows two families — the Irish-American Phelans and the Italian-American Lavecchias — as the prodigal son returns home for a holiday gathering. Two off-stage characters, who are Korean and Korean-American, impact the families as they face the weight of generational expectations.

“With Catch as Catch Can, I wanted the audience’s experience of what they’re watching to mirror that felt by the characters; the character doubling articulates and enhances the propulsion of the play," says Chung in a release about the play's Off-Broadway debut in 2022. "I believe in performance, I believe in the actor’s capacity to inhabit a character to the extent that an audience may stop seeing that the actor is a man, or is Asian, or is 30 years younger than the role they’re playing. The cognitive dissonance is by design.”

It runs February 3-March 8, 2025, at the Bath House Cultural Center.

Next is OPEN by Crystal Skillman, a queer love story told by an amateur magician, presented during Pride Month.

A woman called the Magician presents myriad tricks for our entertainment, yet her performance seems to be attempting the impossible: to save the life of her partner, Jenny. But is our faith in her illusions enough to rewrite the past? The clock is ticking, the show must go on, and, as impossible as it may seem, this Magician’s act may be our last hope against a world filled with intolerance and hate.

It runs June 6-21, 2025, at the Bath House Cultural Center.

Last is El Rey del Pollo, a world-premiere "nuevo comedy" by Anna Skidis Vargas that the playwright describes as "a Shakespearean telenovela that’s loosely based on King Lear, but it’s a lot shorter and a lot sillier."

Reymundo Lear is about to retire from his fried chicken empire, and he is leaving everything to his three daughters. But things aren’t as easy as they seem. Cordelia gets disinherited, and Gisela and Raquel hike the prices. El Rey del Pollo features a hungry old man, essential oils, a giant chicken suit, and all the family drama you can eat.

It runs September 11-27, 2025, at the Bath House Cultural Center.

The Echo Reads free play readings will continue next year, and are scheduled for the months of March, April, May and September, October, November.

Season tickets are on sale now at echotheatre.org. Single tickets will be available at a later date.

A fun fact about Echo Theatre productions: Up to 10 free tickets are set aside for every performance and given out on a first-come, first-served basis. Patrons must email the box office directly at reservations@echotheatre.org to participate.

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