As August begins, it's a relatively slow weekend in and around Dallas. New offerings include concerts from a variety of big names representing each of the past four decades. You can also see the start of two new local theater productions and the end of two others.
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, August 2
African American Repertory Theater presents Too Heavy for Your Pocket
This weekend is your final chance to catch the regional premiere of African American Repertory Theater's Too Heavy for Your Pocket. In the summer of 1961, the Freedom Riders are embarking on a courageous journey into the Deep South. When 20-year-old Bowzie Brandon gives up a life-changing college scholarship to join the movement, he’ll have to convince his loved ones — and himself — that shaping his country’s future might be worth jeopardizing his own. The play runs through Saturday at Mountain View College.
Theatre Three presents Heisenberg and Actually Double Feature
Double features are usually the purview of movies, not plays, but Theatre Three will offer up a rare theater double feature. Heisenberg and Actually are being produced together to spark a conversation as it relates to sex, desire, and the ages of man and woman (youth, middle-age, senior). The two productions starring Kieran Connolly and Jessica Cavanagh will run through August 26.
Festival of Independent Theatres
After three weeks, this is also your final chance to see the offerings at the Festival of Independent Theatres. Each of the eight shows, which are all one-act plays paired in two-show blocks, will have one final performance during the last three days of the festival, which ends on Saturday. FIT Underground, which features a stage with live music and dance by local artists after the shows, will take place on Friday and Saturday. All events will take place at Bath House Cultural Center.
Friday, August 3
WaterTower Theatre presents Hand To God
Public piety, seething lust, family dysfunction, and repressed anxiety interact with explosive results in Robert Askins’ darkly unsettling, foul-mouthed, and uproarious dissection of the troubled currents that roil a Christian puppet ministry in suburban Texas. Hand to God, playing through August 26 at WaterTower Theatre in Addison, contains an almost surreal world where hand puppets (meant to impart moral lessons) take on frightening lives of their own.
Erasure in concert with Reed & Caroline
Like many bands from "the other side of the pond," Erasure has always been more popular in its native United Kingdom than it has been in the United States. And yet songs like "Chains of Love," "A Little Respect," and "Always" gave them enough cachet with American audiences for them to remain headliners 30 years after their debut. They'll play at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving in support of their new album, World Beyond.
Saturday, August 4
Panic! At The Disco in concert with Hayley Kiyoko
You can think of Panic! At the Disco as a band, but for a long time it's essentially been just Brendon Urie leading the way. Despite a lack of hits — 2006's "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies" is the band's only top-10 song — the band has steadily gotten more and more popular, with each of its past two albums reaching No. 1 on the Billboard charts. They'll play at American Airlines Center in support of their new album, Pray for the Wicked.
Dave Koz and Friends Summer Horns Tour
Kenny G may hold the title of most popular modern day saxophonist, but jazz icon Dave Koz is not far behind. Over the course of almost 30 years, he's racked up a slew of best-selling albums and awards. The Dave Koz and Friends Summer Horns Tour at Meyerson Symphony Center will feature Koz, Gerald Albright, Rick Braun, Richard Elliot, Aubrey Logan, and Adam Hawley. They'll play songs from the new album, Dave Koz and Friends Summer Horns.
Sunday, August 5
Texas Rangers Post-Game Concert: Lonestar
Despite some solid play as of late, this has been a down year for the Texas Rangers, as they're currently in last place in the strong AL West. However, you'll have more to enjoy than just baseball when the Rangers take on the Baltimore Orioles at Globe Life Park in Arlington on Sunday. Following the game, country band Lonestar will put on a special concert that's free with game admission. If you so desire, you can also buy $12 field passes for closer access to the show.
Panic! At The Disco will play at American Airlines Center on August 4.
Figure skater Mariah Bell. Getty Images