Weekend Event Planner

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

While most big events in and around Dallas have either been postponed or canceled during the 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, October 8

Festival of Independent Theatres
The 22nd Festival of Independent Theatres has switched to a virtual format for 2020. Six performing arts groups will offer audiences something for everyone, and for the first time ever, viewing on demand and from the comfort of home. This year's lineup features original works, dance, comedy, drama, and more. All performances will be available for viewing anytime through October 31.

Undermain Theatre presents St. Nicholas
In St. Nicholas by Conor McPherson, a cynical and jaded drama critic falls for a beautiful young actress. On a drunken bender one weekend, he pursues her to London, where he falls in with a coven of modern-day vampires. Is it a drunken fairy tale or his own vision of a higher truth? This haunting solo story performed by Undermain artistic director Bruce DuBose will be available for viewing anytime through October 25.

Shakespeare Dallas presents Movies in the Park
Shakespeare Dallas continues its month of outdoor Movies in the Park at Samuell-Grand Amphitheatre. On Thursdays they’ll screen Shakespeare-inspired movies, Fridays will feature a classic selection, and on Saturdays they'll show family-friendly films. Selections this weekend include Ophelia, Casablanca, and Ghostbusters. Advance purchase is required for all ticketholders. The series will continue every weekend through October 24.

Friday, October 9

State Fair-themed events
We can't go to the State Fair of Texas this year, but two separate events this weekend will offer a little fair flair. Legacy Hall's Fair Fest will feature their annual Texas vs. Oklahoma Red River Watch Party on October 10, as well as fried foods, football, corn dog ale, live music, and more all weekend long. At Reunion Tower's Fair in the Air, Corndog With No Name will be serving fair food favorites like corn dogs, funnel cakes, corn, fried Oreos, and more.

DFW China Town Drive-In Night Market presents The Karate Kid
Carbaret will take their act to a different part of Richardson when they present a screening of the 1984 classic The Karate Kid. DFW China Town's first-ever night market will also feature various China Town vendors and restaurants, including Jeng Chi, Canton Chinese, Java Land Coffee Haus, Sichaun King, and more. The event is limited to 70 cars. There will be a limited number of individual outdoor and socially distanced seating. Food tickets must be pre-ordered, and are good for all of the participating restaurants and vendors at the market.

UT Arlington Department of Theatre Arts presents Heal the Divide On and Off Campus
Heal the Divide On and Off Campus, presented by The University of Texas at Arlington’s Department of Theatre Arts, is comprised of original one-act plays written and performed by students from the Department of Theatre Arts. The pieces focus on topics that directly concern and impact the millennial and Gen Z generations, such as diversity in politics, colorism, racism, and the LGBTQ+ community, among others. The production will be available to stream anytime between October 9 and 11.

The Dallas Opera presents Carmen
The Dallas Opera will make the company’s 2018 hit production of Georges Bizet’s Carmen available for free for home viewing for a limited time. The video stream will premiere online on the evening of October 9, the originally scheduled date for the opening of the 2020/2021 season. Those interested in viewing must register online in order to access the program. Following the October 9 stream, the program can be viewed by registrants for 30 days until November 8.

Saturday, October 10

Laughter League and Shakespeare Dallas present Circo Metropolis
Circo Metropolis is an outdoor pop-up circus experience where families can enjoy an afternoon of zaniness from the dynamic clown duo Slappy and Monday and their endearing circus friends. The cast will also feature speed juggler Dario Vasquez, circus skills phenoms Kelli and Julio Ramazini, Magic Mike Williams, aerialists Circus2Wins, slack wire artist Chet Monday, and songbird Lily Monday. There will be two performances a day on Saturdays and Sundays at Samuell-Grand Amphitheatre through October 18.

Dallas Black Dance Theatre presents DanceAfrica
Dallas Black Dance Theatre celebrates the 15th Anniversary of DanceAfrica with a virtual cultural tradition. Step Afrika! will demonstrate the African American art of stepping, and Dallas’ Bandan Koro African Drum and Dance Ensemble will be featured as guest artists alongside DBDT, DBDT: Encore!, and DBDT academy ensembles. The dozens of dancers will be joined virtually by the award-winning DeSoto High School A Cappella Choir singing melodic and inspiring songs that capture the spirit of the African tradition.

Hyena's Comedy Nightclub Dallas presents Pauly Shore
Pauly Shore tasted stardom in the 1990s thanks to his MTV show Totally Pauly, as well as starring roles in films like Jury Duty, In the Army Now, Bio-Dome, Encino Man, Son In Law, and A Goofy Movie. Apart from actively touring the country with his stand-up comedy, Shore is working on a documentary of his life that spans the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. He'll perform two shows at Hyena's Dallas.

The Dallas Opera will stream their 2018 production of Carmen starting on October 9.

Photo courtesy of the Dallas Opera

The Dallas Opera will stream their 2018 production of Carmen starting on October 9.

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Movie Review

Steven Soderbergh film Presence is not your typical ghost story

Photo courtesy of Neon

Callina Liang in Presence.

There are few directors more adept at moving between genres than Steven Soderbergh. Throughout his career, he has made dramas and comedies, heist films and thrillers, films with serious topics like drug trafficking and films with frivolous subjects like male dancers. He’s also dipped his toe into horror on occasion, something he does again with Presence.

However, typical of the hard-to-pin-down filmmaker, this film is not your typical ghost story, as its plot is told from the perspective of the presence itself. With the camera as its “eyes,” the audience sees a family of four move into an older-but-updated home: Mother Rebekah (Lucy Liu), father Chris (Chris Sullivan), son Tyler (Eddy Maday), and daughter Chloe (Callina Liang). The family dynamics are established early, as Rebekah favors Tyler and pins her hopes and dreams on him, while Chris has a strained relationship with Rebekah and tries to protect Chloe from stress, who has recently gone through a trauma.

The family’s various issues keep the atmosphere tense, and for the most part the presence is merely an observer to their conversations and activities. But Chloe can sense it whenever it’s close to her, and this connection leads it to sometimes announce itself via physical interactions with objects in different rooms. As the other family members gradually become aware of it as well, the story’s supernatural aura starts to increase.

Working from a screenplay by David Koepp, Soderbergh does a kind of switcheroo on audience expectations. In your typical haunted house story, the mystery of the ghost(s) is what drives the plot and keeps things scary. But since the audience, in essence, is the ghost, we know everything it is doing at all times. Instead, the suspense comes from the family itself, who have backstories that make the whole clan dysfunctional, at best.

Story elements are brought in through different ways than your typical film, with little hints being dropped along the way about various things that have happened in the family’s recent past. Why Tyler seems to be angry with Chloe all the time, or why Rebekah and Chris never seem to be on the same page with anything the family is dealing with are equally as interesting as anything the presence is doing.

The first-person perspective (used in a much different way than in the recent - and now Oscar-nominated - Nickel Boys) gives an intimacy to the film that is sometimes invasive, sometimes disorienting, but always engrossing. Soderbergh, who acted as the cameraman himself, takes the camera to almost every nook and cranny of the house, often getting so close to the actors that it’s uncomfortable. The constant, silent movement of the presence/camera makes for great viewing, lending the audience a knowledge they rarely have.

Liu is given a meatier part than she’s had in recent years, and she plays the complicated role for all it’s worth. Sullivan, best known for his role on the NBC TV drama This is Us, is equally good, with a demeanor that’s slightly at odds with his stature, but in a good way. Both Liang and Maday have light resumes (this is Maday’s first credit of any kind), but their performances are what make the film as effective as it is. With the presence more interested in her character than anyone else, Liang is asked to do a lot, and she is especially memorable.

While more of a family drama than a true horror film, the paranormal aspect of Presence gives enough of a spooky vibe for it to qualify. The highly successful film demonstrates that, 36 years after his breakthrough, Soderbergh remains one of the more fascinating directors out there, willing to try different projects instead of doing the same thing over and over again.

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Presence opens in theaters on January 24.

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