Weekend Event Planner

These are the 8 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, 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 everyday life.

Thursday, April 22

George W. Bush Presidential Center presents "Out of Many, One: Portraits of America's Immigrants"
The George W. Bush Presidential Center will re-open to the public with the new exhibition, "Out of Many, One: Portraits of America's Immigrants." The exhibit, which coincides with President George W. Bush’s new book of the same name, includes 43 portraits painted by President Bush and an in-depth look at the many issues surrounding the immigration debate in the United States. The exhibition will remain on display through December 31.

USA Film Festival
The 51st Annual USA Film Festival will be an in-theater program, taking place at the Angelika Film Center in Dallas through Sunday. The line-up, which includes new feature films, documentaries and true stories, and dozens of short films, counts Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It; Enemies of the State; and Dream Horse among its offerings. All screenings are free, but tickets must be reserved in advance through the festival.

Soul Rep Theatre Company presents Liberation Laboratory, Volume 1: A New Oppression
In Liberation Laboratory, Volume 1: A New Oppression, Soul Rep's co-production with Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, students culminate six months of engaging workshops developed by Soul Rep and inspired by Augusto Boal and the “Theatre of the Oppressed” with curated filmed performances of their original work. Through their lens, viewers are taken on a journey to explore the correlation between past and current oppression in all of its forms. The virtual production can be streamed at any time through April 26.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Hadelich Plays Tchaikovsky"
The latest concert from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra will be conducted by Gemma New and feature award-winning violinist Augustin Hadelich. The program will include Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto and Stravinsky's Pulcinella Suite. There will be three performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Friday, April 23

Shakespeare Dallas presents Bard's Birthday Bash Concert & Fundraiser
Shakespeare Dallas, like most arts organizations, has not had much positive news in the past year. This livestreamed concert on YouTube Live will not only celebrate 457 years of the Bard, but also the creativity and perseverance of the theater industry, and the summer season that is to come. The night will be full of music, announcements, and fun.

Prism Movement Theater presents Overbooked
Prism Movement Theater is producing a drive-in workshop of Overbooked. A routine trip to her overbooked hair salon becomes more than she bargains for when a young Black woman with a painful past falls asleep under a new state of the art hair steamer, sending her 500 years into the future. Experiencing this new world where only people of color exist, she will have to decide if this is where she truly belongs or return home to people who still need her. There will be two performances at Latino Cultural Center through Saturday.

Hootie & The Blowfish Virtual Concert
We're still not at the point where major music acts are doing arena shows yet, but Hootie & The Blowfish will put on a special virtual concert. The rock band has been on-again, off-again since lead singer Darius Rucker embarked on a solo country career in 2008, but they reunited to make the album Imperfect Circle in 2019. All ticketholders will have access to a recording of the show for 72 hours following the performance.

Saturday, April 24

The Evil Dead II with Live Commentary from Bruce Campbell
Watch with Livestreams presents The Evil Dead II with live commentary from star Bruce Campbell. Campbell himself will host the live virtual viewing party, and fans will experience Campbell’s movie memories, behind-the-scenes stories, anecdotes from the film, and hilarious stories. Viewers will also have the unique opportunity to participate in a live chat with Campbell, where they can comment and ask questions.

Dream Horse, starring Toni Collette, will be one of the films screened during the USA Film Festival, taking place at Angelika Film Center Dallas through April 25.

Photo by Kerry Brown / Bleecker Street & Topic Studios

Dream Horse, starring Toni Collette, will be one of the films screened during the USA Film Festival, taking place at Angelika Film Center Dallas through April 25.

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Movie review

Tantalizing teen comedy Summer of 69 is more nerdy than naughty

Photo courtesy of Hulu

Sam Morelos and Chloe Fineman in Summer of 69.

There was a trend in the late 2010s/early 2020s of bawdy comedies featuring teenage female protagonists, including Blockers, Booksmart, and Yes, God, Yes. Those types of films seemed to go by the wayside in recent years, but they’re making a comeback with the new film Summer of 69.

Abby (Sam Morelos) is a high school senior and video game streamer who has had a crush on her classmate Max (Matt Cornett) for her entire childhood. When she learns that Max has recently broken up with his longtime girlfriend, she’s determined to make her move. With advice from a confidant that Max likes a certain sexual position, Abby sets out to learn as much as she can about it, including hiring a stripper, Santa Monica (Chloe Fineman), to help her.

Coincidentally, Santa Monica is facing a situation where the club at which she works, Diamond Dolls, will be closed if the owner doesn’t come up with $20,000 in a week. Abby, who comes from a well-to-do family, seems to offer the perfect solution, and so the two agree to a week of lessons for that amount. Naturally, all sorts of complications arise, as well as the two women forming an unexpected bond.

Written and directed by Jillian Bell, with help from co-writers Jules Byrne and Liz Nico, the film is both suggestive and innocent at the same time. For all of the talk about sex and innuendo, having the nerdy and inexperienced Abby at the center of the film ensures that the story remains relatively chaste throughout. That includes scenes at the strip club, where Bell makes the choice to show almost no nudity.

Most of the humor of the film stems from Abby’s lack of experience, highlighted by her having “sexual” fantasies about Max that never actually get to the sex part. The juxtaposition between Abby and Santa Monica is also used for laughs, although Bell and her co-writers make sure to include a side story for the dancer that makes her into a three-dimensional person.

What ultimately makes the movie succeed is the way it keeps its characters relatable. Many high school films feel the need to play into a bunch of stereotypes, but those are kept to a minimum here. Instead, Bell upends expectations by delivering honest - sometimes to a fault for the characters - dialogue that acknowledges the spectrum of sexual realities for high schoolers, a version that differs from insatiable horniness of some other teen comedies.

Morelos, one of the stars of Netflix’s That ‘90s Show, makes for a charming lead, someone who can convincingly take her character from awkward to confident over the course of the story. Fineman, best known for her current stint as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, complements her well, showing her comedic prowess in a number of physical scenes. A supporting cast that includes Nicole Byer, Paula Pell, Alex Moffat, and Natalie Morales keeps the energy level high.

Despite its titillating title, Summer of 69 is much more sweet than naughty. Like most coming-of-age movies, it’s about a girl who’s trying to figure out where she fits in the world. The answers she finds aren’t always the ones she was expecting, but in the best possible way.

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Summer of 69 starts streaming on Hulu on May 9.

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