Weekend Event Planner

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

It's another eclectic weekend in and around Dallas, with events touching on a broad range of subjects. You can immerse yourself in some bright colors, take in one of three new local theater productions, listen to some great classical music, roam amongst dinosaurs, march for women's rights, or see some fantastic children's movies for free.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, January 17

Rainbow Vomit: An Interactive Art Adventure
Rainbow Vomit is a technicolor interactive art adventure that immerses guests in art, light, and sound reminiscent of a journey into the fantasy of flight. The 2,600-square foot space has been customized for an extraordinary experience from the outside in with more than 20 unique photo opportunities, massive touchable elements, and awesome Instagramable visuals that are designed for all ages. The experience will be open through February 17.

The Firehouse Theatre presents The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie explores segregated St, Louis, Missouri and the vibrant lives of former Southerners navigating a new reality. The Firehouse Theatre in Farmers Branch portrays one of the most famous “memory plays” of the modern theater, a tale of broken of dreams and altered realities. The production will run through January 27.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Dvorak’s New World Symphony
Dallas Symphony Orchestra will present Chopin’s dreamy Piano Concerto No. 2, performed by 22-year-old phenom Jan Lisiecki. This sets the stage for Dvořák’s magnificent ode to America, Symphony No. 9, "From the New World." The concert, conducted by Krzysztof Urbański, will have three performances through Saturday at the Meyerson Symphony Center.

Friday, January 18

Jurassic Quest
Jurassic Quest features over 80 ultra-realistic, life-size animatronic dinosaurs that visitors can interact with, learn about, and even ride. It features realistic scenes, enormous dinosaurs, cute baby dinosaurs, and lots of fun activities for kids of all ages. There are also T-Rex and Triceratops fossil digs where young paleontologists can uncover long hidden dinosaurs bones, the “Dino Bounce” area, dino crafts, and more. The event will be open at Fair Park through Monday.

MainStage Irving-Las Colinas presents Ravenscroft
On a snowy night, Inspector Ruffing is called to a remote house to investigate the headlong plunge of Patrick Roarke down the main staircase. Five alluring and dangerous women lead him through a bewildering labyrinth of contradictory versions of Patrick's demise and that of the late Mr. Ravenscroft. MainStage Irving-Las Colinas will present the fast-paced murder mystery at Irving Arts Center through February 2.

Dallas Theater Center presents Sweat
It’s the year 2000 in the steel town of Reading, Pennsylvania, and all best friends Tracey and Cynthia need are their steady factory jobs, their favorite bar, and each other. But as years pass and a recession hits, hard times at the factory threaten their livelihoods and test the limits of their friendship. Dallas Theater Center will present the 2017 Pulitzer Prize winner and Tony Award nominee at Kalita Humphreys Theater through February 10.

Saturday, January 19

Dallas Women's March
The 2017 Women’s March inspired hundreds of women to run, millions more to vote, and dozens to win elected office. The 2019 Women’s March marks two years of resistance to the Trump presidency, two years of training new activists, and two years of building power. Some behind-the-scenes controversy has led to two separate Dallas marches — one on Saturday starting at Dallas City Hall that coincides with the national march in Washington D.C., and one on Sunday that will go from St. Paul United Methodist Church in the Dallas Arts District toward Dallas City Hall.

USA Film Festival presents KidFilm
The USA Film Festival/Dallas will present KidFilm, the oldest and largest family film festival in the United States. The festival will be even more high-profile than usual this year, as it features an appearance by Arthur writer/illustrator Marc Brown and screenings of two anticipated kids movies, The Kid Who Would Be King and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. The festival, which is completely free while tickets last, will have 12 events over two days at Angelika Film Center Dallas.

Dallas Theater Center presents Sweat at Kalita Humphreys Theater, January 18 through February 10.

Photo by Evan Michael Woods

Dallas Theater Center presents Sweat at Kalita Humphreys Theater, January 18 through February 10.

event-planner

Movie Review

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma gives horror a surreal twist

Photo courtesy of MUBI

Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson in Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.

The horror genre really ramped up in the 1970s and ‘80s, bringing with it a new subgenre - the slasher - that gave audiences new visuals of gore, but also a reliance on sexism and homophobia that would come to define the era. The new film Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma wrestles with that legacy in ways that are funny, thought-provoking, and downright strange.

Kris (Hannah Einbinder) is a queer filmmaker who has been hired to reboot the moldy IP that is the Camp Miasma franchise, one that was fresh in the 1970s but which numerous shlocky sequels have rendered irrelevant. In an attempt to get to know the property better, Kris has scored a meeting with the reclusive Billy (Gillian Anderson), the star of the original film who has shunned the public eye for decades.

Turns out that Billy lives deep in the woods at Camp Rivoli, which served as the location for the first film. As Kris tries to get to know Billy and convince her to be a part of the new film, she starts to fall under Billy’s spell and the lore of the franchise as a whole. That includes believing that the movie’s villain, Little Death - a transgender person who has an air conditioning vent as a head/mask - may not just be a character created for the movies.

Written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow), the film at first feels like it’s going to go the straight-up comedy route, with comic explosions of blood, a strange fascination with candy brands, and a production design that does nothing to hide that the two main actors are on a movie set with painted backdrops. This is backed up by Kris’ phone conversations with her girlfriend, Mari (Jasmine Savoy Brown) and her agent (Sarah Sherman), as well as numerous other details.

But the film starts to go down the surreal route the longer Kris stays at the camp with Billy, especially when they sit down to watch the original Camp Miasma. An extended sequence shows a good amount of that film-within-the-film, demonstrating why Kris and Billy have a love/hate relationship with the property. For Kris, though, the lines between the film and the real world start to blur, and Schoenbrun uses a variety of out-there elements to drive the point home.

The final act of the film can barely be described as Kris goes deeper down the rabbit hole, with Schoenbrun using her film to comment on the horror genre as a whole, its treatment of women and LGBT people, the movie industry, and more. All the while the “camp” of Camp Miasma maintains a presence, with candy wrappers showing up everywhere and the tongue-in-cheek references to Little Death (the French term La petite mort, which means “the little death,” is a euphemism for orgasm).

Einbinder, an Emmy winner for Hacks, is the perfect person to inhabit her role. Her established real-life and fictional personas color everything she does in the film, with her enthusiasm and curiosity shining through. Anderson leans heavily into another reference - Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard - to create a character that is as mysterious as she is alluring. Supporting actors like Brown, Sherman, Patrick Fischler, Dylan Baker, and Eva Victor keep the movie at the right pitch all the way through.

While other films have made fun of horror movie tropes before, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma finds a wholly unique way of doing so. It’s a funny and daring trip into the psyches of two women who may be victims of their own obsessions, and of the movies that made them that way.

---

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is now playing in select theaters

movies film

Weekend Event Planner

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

Dallas Theater Center presents Sweat at Kalita Humphreys Theater, January 18 through February 10.

Movie Review

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma gives horror a surreal twist

Frisco development Fields West adds more big-name shops and restaurants

Twisted Root Burger Co. closes original Dallas location in Deep Ellum

More openings than closures give this Dallas restaurant news some pep