Weekend Event Planner

These are the 10 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

This is one of those weekends in Dallas where there's almost too much to do. We've selected 10 events you can choose from, but there are many more that are equally worth your time. Among the ones that made the list are a timely play, a Tony Award-winning musical, and no fewer than six concerts covering a broad spectrum of music genres.

Below are the best happenings for your social calendar Thursday through Monday. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events. (Note: The Trinity River Wind Festival, which was to have taken place on September 16, has been postponed.)

Thursday, September 14

Cara Mía Theatre presents Deferred Action
This play was extremely relevant when it premiered last season, and given President Trump's recent decision on DACA, it's become all the more relevant. Deferred Action focuses on Javier Mejía, one of the immigrants known as DREAMers who arrived in the U.S. as an undocumented minor. Now he finds himself caught in the tangle of existing immigration laws, new presidential policies, and the harsh reality of living in the shadows. The play will run this weekend at SMU, move to UNT next weekend, and finish up at Latino Cultural Center September 27-29 before taking the show on the road to Houston and Los Angeles.

Sammy Hagar & The Circle in concert with Collective Soul
Legendary rocker Sammy Hagar has had a storied career as a solo artist ("I Can't Drive 55") and as the on-and-off lead singer of Van Halen. He's now heading up The Circle, a super group made up of rock heavyweights Michael Anthony, Jason Bonham, and Vic Johnson. They'll play at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, with renowned '90s alternative rock band Collective Soul opening the show.

AT&T Performing Arts Center Broadway Series: Fun Home
Proving that the theater world can make all sorts of story work through music, Fun Home, based on Alison Bechdel’s best-selling graphic memoir, introduces the audience to Alison at three different ages as she explores and unravels the many mysteries of her childhood. The 2015 Tony Award winner for Best Musical will play at Winspear Opera House through September 24.

TeCo Theatrical Productions presents In The Tall Grass
In The Tall Grass is a verbatim play written in response to the murder of Shade Schuler, a 22-year-old transgender woman whose decomposed body was found dumped in a field in the Medical District of Dallas in July 2015. Shade’s story is set against the backdrop of wider atrocities across the U.S., which saw at least 23 trans or gender-nonconforming people murdered in 2015 alone — more than the total number of trans murders than in any other year that advocates have recorded. The play will run at Bishop Arts Theatre Center through July 24.

Janet Jackson in concert
Janet Jackson's The State of the World tour finally makes its way to Dallas after her previous concert was canceled due to her pregnancy. The concert at American Airlines Center will include fan favorites from Jackson's latest album, 2015's Unbreakable, an array of her socially conscious music she’s released throughout her career, and other smash hits and soon-to-be released new tracks.

Friday, September 15

Ben Folds in concert
It's been just over 20 years since Ben Folds and his trio, the numbers-challenged Ben Folds Five, became one of the indie darlings of the '90s. Since then, Folds has established himself with that band, as a solo artist, and as a bridge between popular and classical music. Fans are guaranteed to hear their favorites at this concert at House of Blues Dallas, as Folds will be taking requests from paper airplanes fans can throw on the stage.

Zac Brown Band in concert with Darrell Scott and Caroline Jones
Since they won the Best New Artist Grammy in 2010, Zac Brown Band has been one of the biggest acts in country music. They've hit No. 1 on the country charts on each of their subsequent four albums, including 2017's Welcome Home, and have become a mainstay at the industry's various awards shows. They'll play at Starplex Pavilion, with Darrell Scott and Caroline Jones as opening acts.

Saturday, September 16

Dallas Comic Show
The Dallas Comic Show is a family-friendly event featuring comic book and media guests, costumed characters, gaming, and Anime content. Among the celebrities who will be on hand at the event, taking place at Richardson Civic Center on Saturday and Sunday, will be Kevin Nash, Lori Petty, Tom Sizemore, and Susan Eisenberg, as well as a variety of comic book writers and animators.

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue in concert with The Record Company
Jazz music has been declared dead or dying by a variety of people over the years, but as long as there are talented people like Trombone Shorty keeping the tradition alive, the genre will survive. He has worked with some of the biggest names in music, and his popularity allows him and his band, Orleans Avenue, to fill up a big venue like the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory. They'll be joined by The Record Company.

Old 97's in concert with Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
Two Dallas institutions, Old 97's and Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, will join forces for this special concert at the Bomb Factory. Somehow, Old 97's have released 18 albums in 23 years, including 2017's Graveyard Whistling. It's been 11 years since Edie Brickell & New Bohemians' last album, 2006's Stranger Things, but a friendly Dallas audience is sure to be happy just to see them live once more.

Cara Mia Theatre will present Deferred Action at three separate locations in Dallas and Denton through September 29.

Deferred Action at Dallas Theater Center

Photo by Karen Almond

Cara Mia Theatre will present Deferred Action at three separate locations in Dallas and Denton through September 29.

event-planner

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.

For now, 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," and that is all you need to know about that.

The zoo has already said that they'll be shipping in other gorillas 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