Weekend Event Planner

These are the 13 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

In a slightly unusual weekend in Dallas, almost every event on our list can be viewed as a companion to at least one other event. There will be two golf-related events, two film showcases, three theater productions and another event featuring musical theater, two concerts, and three exhibitions of art. The only outlier is a convention focused on aliens, a subject for which there is no parallel.

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, October 3

Volunteers of America Classic
The Volunteers of America Classic is the only LPGA event in Texas, with a player field consisting of five out of the Top 10 LPGA professionals on the Rolex Rankings list, in addition to four out of the Top 10 LPGA Tour Money Leaders. Among the players will be defending champion Sung Hyun Park, who's currently ranked No. 2, and LPGA Rolex Rookie of the Year leader Jeongeun Lee. The tournament will take place at Old American Golf Club in The Colony through Sunday.

Angelika Film Center presents Hitchcocktober
October turns into Hitchocktober again at both Angelika Film Center Dallas and Angelika Film Center Plano. Every Thursday night in October, a classic film by Alfred Hitchcock will be featured, starting with a 3D version of Dial M for Murder on Thursday. The series will also feature North by Northwest, The Birds, and The Lady Vanishes, ending with Psycho on Halloween night.

Dallas VideoFest presents DocuFest
DocuFest features dozens of documentary features and short films over four days. The festival aims to present the best in independent documentary film and video from across the globe and showcase meaningful life stories, which educate and entertain audiences of every demographic. Notable films include Errol Morris' American Dharma, Now or Never: A Tony Romo Story, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol, and more. The festival will take place through Sunday at Angelika Film Center Dallas.

Theatre Three presents Dracula
You’ve long heard the story of Dracula, everyone’s favorite blood-sucking Transylvanian; but what stories might we learn through the eyes of his mysterious mistress Mina? This fresh adaptation of the Bram Stoker Gothic horror novel takes a deeper look into the Romanian folklore with an update on the undead. Be prepared for plenty of bloody plot twists and turns in this production, running at Theatre Three through October 27.

Shakespeare Dallas presents Macbeth
After two weeks at Samuell-Grand Amphitheatre in Dallas, Shakespeare Dallas' updated version of Macbeth moves to The Sound at Cypress Waters in Coppell. While keeping true to Shakespeare’s original bloody script, the classic tale of power, ambition, and tragic downfall is set in an alternative near future Silicon Valley where tech companies bid for ultimate control in a dynamic and changing industry. Following a prophecy from three witches that he will be king, Macbeth — at the urging of his wife — plots King Duncan’s murder to secure the throne. The production will run through from October 13.

Kitchen Dog Theater presents a love offering
T'Wana Jepson has been bit before. And scratched. And kicked. And punched. And called every dirty word in the book. But so has her coworker and play-mama, Miss Georgia. It comes with the territory as a nurse’s aide caring for patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia. But after T’Wana is attacked by the patient, something happens that threatens the bonds of trust and friendship. The world premiere of a love offering by Jonathan Norton will play at Trinity River Arts Center through October 27.

Friday, October 4

Globe Life Park presents Stadiumlinks
The former home of the Texas Rangers is now closed to baseball forever, so why not use it for another purpose? The Arlington stadium will once again be transformed into Stadiumlinks, a one-of-a-kind, nine-hole golf experience. Tee times are offered across two days, Friday and Saturday, offering both early morning and evening sessions, ending with the ballpark lights illuminating the entire course under the night sky.

AlienCon Dallas
AlienCon, which comes to Dallas for the first time, is an offshoot of the History Channel show Ancient Aliens. Fans of the show, as well as curious newcomers, sci-fi buffs, truth seekers, and pop culture enthusiasts can meet, get autographs, and take photographs with some of their favorite sci-fi celebrities, authors, scientists, filmmakers, engineers, archaeologists, and other experts. The convention will take place through Sunday at Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Chicago The Musical: In Concert
Chicago is the longest-running American musical in Broadway history, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra will pay tribute to its legacy by performing its songs live with a full symphony orchestra and singers. Selections for the concert include "All That Jazz," "Cell Block Tango," "Razzle Dazzle," "Mister Cellophane," and many more. The concert, conducted by Rob Fisher, will have three performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Wu-Tang Clan in concert
It's an unfortunate circumstance the Wu-Tang Clan is best known in recent years for its legal fight with Martin Shkreli over the ownership of its album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. Since that battle was resolved last year, they can move on to promote their other music, which includes their new EP, Of Mics and Men. At this concert at The Bomb Factory, they'll celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).

Saturday, October 5

Cottonwood Art Festival
Cottonwood Art Festival is a semi-annual event that features works from the nation's top visual artists. Approximately 1,400 artists submitted their work for consideration, and jurors select more than 240 artists to exhibit their museum-quality work and compete in 14 separate categories. The festival, which also features local bands performing the best in rock, country, jazz, blues, swing, and folk, will be at Cottonwood Park in Richardson through Sunday.

Lizzo in concert
Singer/rapper Lizzo has been releasing music for six years or so, but she's really broken out in 2019. She released her third album, Cuz I Love You, in April, which made it to No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and spawned the No. 1 hit, "Truth Hurts." She has also made a brief but memorable appearance in the movie Hustlers. She'll perform at South Side Ballroom.

Sunday, October 6

Museum exhibition closing days
After many months of being on display, two local museum exhibitions will come to a close on Sunday. "America Will Be!: Surveying the Contemporary Landscape" at the Dallas Museum of Art draws on works from the DMA’s permanent collection and explores how contemporary “landscapes” might better reflect the full diversity of the peoples who inhabit North and South America. "Away from the White House: Presidential Retreats" at George W. Bush Presidential Center showcases presidential retreats as unique places of work and attempts at relaxation.

Lizzo will perform at South Side Ballroom on October 5.

Photo courtesy of Lizzo

Lizzo will perform at South Side Ballroom on October 5.

event-planner museums concerts theater festivals

Movie Review

New film I Want Your Sex somehow makes kinky activity boring

Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Cooper Hoffman and Olivia Wilde in I Want Your Sex.

Writer/director Gregg Araki has been making provocative movies for nearly 40 years, releasing his debut - Three Bewildered People in the Night - in 1987. Most of them have had plotlines that revolved around sex in one way or another, and for his latest - his first film in 12 years - he’s putting it right there in the title, I Want Your Sex.

Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) is an aimless twenty-something who can’t even afford the rent for his apartment with best friend, Apple (Chase Sui Wonders). Thankfully, he finds a job at the gallery of artist Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde), who is open with her sexuality both in her artwork and in her day-to-day life. That soon includes Elliot, whom she convinces to enter into a dominant-submissive relationship with her, with sessions taking place both at work and her home.

Elliot, who’s in a going-nowhere coupling with Minerva (Charli XCX), is more than willing to participate, both because it lets him feel something he doesn’t get normally and because Erika offers a perspective on sex that’s much different from people of his generation. But as he gets in deeper with her, he starts to lose a sense of himself, going down a path in which he finds himself talking to police detectives Zem (Johnny Knoxville) and Zola (Margaret Cho).

Araki does his level best to make I Want Your Sex into a broad comedy, and early on it seems as if he might succeed. The deadpan way that sexual objects appear in the film (a penis-shaped rug in Elliot and Apple’s apartment, a vagina artwork with chewed gum as the medium) make for amusing sight gags. He also makes Elliot the bewildered other in multiple twosomes, with Minerva being the funniest, as she’s way more interested in studying than his ham-fisted attempts at sex.

It’s clear that Araki wants the film to be a commentary on the generational differences about sex, but he fumbles his own idea. It starts with an on-the-nose conversation between Erika and Elliot, and continues with the various dalliances, which seem to be more about making Elliot look and feel ridiculous than giving true insight. Their encounters certainly open his mind about what sex can be, but their one-note nature makes them repetitive and frankly boring, odd considering the acts in which the two engage.

The uninspired storytelling makes the 90-minute film drag way more than it should. Araki includes a few other characters to try to vary the tone of the film, including gallery workers Zap (Mason Gooding) and Vikktor (Daveed Diggs), but their early promise yields little results. The framing device of Elliot’s interview with the detectives never works, especially because Araki completely neuters the personalities of Cho and Knoxville for seemingly no good reason.

The cast as a whole goes to waste. Hoffman is showing the promise of his late father (Philip Seymour Hoffman), and even though he’s appealing here, the material pulls him down. Wilde just made her own provocative movie about sex (The Invite), and this one pales in comparison despite her heightened performance. Wonders, Charli XCX, and Gooding are all young stars who deserve to be showcased much better than they are in this film.

A film called I Want Your Sex is announcing itself as daring and alluring, but this film contains almost none of those qualities. Instead, it’s a slog that only occasionally has something interesting to show or say, mostly relying on the power of its actors to hold viewers’ attention - and failing at even that.

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I Want Your Sex is now playing in select theaters.