Weekend Event Planner

These are the 11 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

While most big events in and around Dallas have either been postponed or canceled during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, there are a few that have popped up to offer the masses some entertainment while still adhering to the necessary social distancing measures.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. While they're not all outside of the house, they all promise to provide a nice distraction from the everyday life.

Thursday, September 24

Arts Mission Oak Cliff presents Parking Lot Series: Agora Artists' Tether
In Agora Artists' Tether, five local performers navigate the parking lot while tethered by rope, as the piece explores themes of relationship, communication, and allyship in a time when systemic racism is challenged and physical contact is restricted. Performers will wear protective gear, and music will be transmitted through the radio so audience members can enjoy the entire event from the comfort of their cars. The event takes place at Arts Mission Oak Cliff on select dates through October 3.

Friday, September 25

Austin Street Center presents Humble Beginnings Luncheon
Austin Street Center’s 20th Annual Humble Beginnings Luncheon will be a virtual event, featuring Tony and Grammy Award-Winning artist, Leslie Odom, Jr. who will perform live and participate in a moderated conversation. The luncheon celebrates Austin Street Center’s work to provide safe shelter and basic needs to help the most vulnerable individuals experiencing homelessness.

Hometown Heroes Music Festival
Hometown Heroes Music Festival is a hybrid of a drive-in and a socially-distanced outdoor music festival. Taking place at Knotting Hill Place in Little Elm on both Friday and Saturday, performers will include Randy Rogers Band, Lee Brice, and Kody West on Friday, and Parker McCollum, Pat Green, and Flatland Cavalry on Saturday. There will be streamed performances by Wade Bowen and Nelly on Friday, and Stoney Larue and Snoop Dogg on Saturday, who will be performing live at the festival's two other locations in Austin and Lubbock.

Six Flags Over Texas presents HallowFest
Six Flags will present HallowFest, featuring haunted experiences every weekend between September 25 and November 1. Thrills by Day will include activities like photo opportunities, a Trick-or-Treat Trail, and delicious treats. For Chills by Night, all Halloween attractions will be transported outdoors to the wide-open midways, featuring creepy fog, eerie lighting, larger-than-life Halloween props, and sinister music in four hair-raising Halloween zones. Roller coasters will ramp up the fear factor as guests fly through the air at high speeds in total darkness. The park will be operating at a limited capacity to avoid overcrowding and guests will be required to make a reservation.

Dallas Children's Theater presents Social Justice Play Series
Dallas Children’s Theater continues its commitment to using the power of theater to spark important conversation about race by producing a series of short plays by award-winning playwright, poet, and changemaker Idris Goodwin. The three short shows, dubbed the ‘Social Justice Play Series,’ will be available completely free of charge, starting with The Water Gun Song, streaming September 25-October 4. In the play, a parent tries to find the words to explain why a water gun isn't simply a toy.

Uptown Players presents Pageant
Uptown Players will present a virtual production of the 2014 audience favorite, the farcical Off‐Broadway hit Pageant. The show takes its shots not by mocking the pageant from the outside, but by being one. The six contestants, Miss Deep South, Miss West Coast, Miss Great Plains, Miss Bible Belt, Miss Industrial Northeast, and Miss Texas (all played by men) compete in evening gown, talent, swim-wear, and spokesmodel, plus each finalist answers calls from the Beauty Crisis Hotline. The production is available to stream anytime between September 25 and October 4.

The Firehouse Theatre presents Daddy Long Legs
A heartwarming Cinderella story about a witty and winsome young woman and her mysterious benefactor, Daddy Long Legs is a beloved tale in the spirit of Jane Austen. Jerusha Abbott is the “Oldest Orphan in the John Grier Home” until a mysterious benefactor decides to send her to college to be educated as a writer. Required to write him a letter once a month, she is never to know the benefactor’s identity – so she invents one for him: Daddy Long Legs. This two-person musical starring real-life couple Caitlin Martelle Jones and Preston Lee Isham will be streamed live on select dates through October 11.

B. Moore Dance presents ROOTED: Envisage Dance Installations
As part of the AT&T Performing Arts Center's Elevator Project, B. Moore Dance will present world premiere of ROOTED: Envisage Dance Installations, which draws inspiration from the repertoire created and curated by Founder/Artistic Director, Bridget L. Moore. These works challenge artistic practices by reimagining, rebuilding, and reinstalling works that were made in the past to reflect the present, and the Global World as it reopens for the future. ROOTED is specifically set for the Annette Strauss Square stage and replaces the previously scheduled production of The Neglected Heart of Soul: An Ode to Donny Hathaway in Hamon Hall.

Saturday, September 26

Oktoberfest celebrations
Two local venues will push ahead with Oktoberfest celebrations in safe and socially-distanced ways. Legacy Hall's Oktoberfeast in Plano will offer two time slots by reservation only, featuring a traditional live German band performance, stein-holding competitions, German fare, and beer-a-plenty. McKinney Main Street's Parktoberfest will feature live music from Brave Combo, a keg tapping, and stein holding competition. Traditional German fare will be offered as well as a variety of beers from the venue, TUPPS Brewery.

Ballet North Texas present Night on the Trinity
Ballet North Texas opens its 2020/21 season with Night on the Trinity, a celebration of diverse choreography and original music composition from local and national artists, including Kiyon Gaines Ross, guest performers by Bruce Wood Dance and Ballet Frontier of Texas, and live musical accompaniment from composer Quinn Mason and the musicians of MAKE Trio. The event will take place at Annette Strauss Square.

Sunday, September 27

Dallas Museum of Art presents "To Be Determined" opening day
The Dallas Museum of Art will present "To Be Determined," a new exhibition that explores individual and collective meanings through works of art, sacred objects, and design. Drawing from the museum’s encyclopedic collection, including 13 new acquisitions and three major paintings by Dallas-based artists, the exhibition juxtaposes works from across time, geography, and cultures, from the 13th century to the present day, to trace how the resonance of art can shift when presented in new contexts and as viewers imbue them with their own personal meanings. The exhibition will remain on display through December 27.

Agora Artists will present Tether at Arts Mission Oak Cliff through October 3.

Photo by Corey Haynes

Agora Artists will present Tether at Arts Mission Oak Cliff through October 3.

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Movie Review

Great acting and directing drive The Christophers to artistic heights

Photo by Claudette Barius

Michaela Coel and Ian McKellen in The Christophers.

Director Steven Soderbergh is one of those filmmakers who — aside from the Ocean’s series — never seems to make the same kind of movie twice. He is somehow able to adapt his abilities to all sorts of different stories, making each of them as compelling as any other. His latest masterclass is in the London-set film, The Christophers.

Lori Butler (Michaela Coel), who restores art for a living, is approached by brother and sister Sallie and Barnaby Sklar (Jessica Gunning and James Corden) with a scheme. They want her to become the new assistant for their aging father, Julian (Ian McKellen), a famous artist known for a series called “The Christophers,” in order to gain access to unfinished paintings from the series and complete them herself.

Lori accepts the deal despite having some uneasy feelings about Julian, with whom she had a bad interaction years ago. Julian is just as wary, both because he knows of his children’s interest in the unfinished works, and because he would prefer to be left in peace. Although the trepidation on both sides continues for the bulk of the story, a grudging respect arises between two artists who know skill when they see it.

Directed by Soderbergh and written by Ed Solomon, who last collaborated on No Sudden Move, the film is astonishing in its ability to be compelling with such a small story. Much of the film is spent inside Julian’s multi-story home as Julian and Lori have low-level confrontations about a variety of things, including the meaning of his art, her abilities, the fate of the remaining “Christophers,” and more. Each conversation brings out more detail about their worldviews and their thoughts about their lot in life.

Much of the success of the film lies in the performances of McKellen and Coel. The 86-year-old McKellen has not lost his ability to astonish with the spoken word, and the monologues he delivers are engrossing even when they’re about mundane things. Coel, best known for the 2020 HBO show I May Destroy You, is a great foil for McKellen, never backing down from his challenges and giving her own unique takes on her lines.

While the film can be enjoyable for non-art lovers, those who appreciate the vagaries of the art world will have a lot to chew on. Soderbergh and Solomon debate a lot of aspects of art, including whether it’s possible to separate the art from the person making it, why some art is valued more than others, the ethics of forgery, and more. Because the film is about a fictional artist, it gives the filmmakers a bit more freedom in their criticisms.

Aside from McKellen and Coel, Gunning (Baby Reindeer) and Corden are the only other two people who get significant screen time in the film. Both of them are, let’s say, acquired tastes, and each gives an elevated performance that matches the energy of their respective characters. Tilly Botsford makes a nice impression in a small role as Julian’s masseuse.

Soderbergh’s last three films — Presence, Black Bag, and now The Christophers — have nothing in common other than the expert filmmaker helming all of them. When you can make a ghost story, a spy film, and a small film about artists equally interesting, you know you’re doing something right.

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The Christophers is now playing in theaters.

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