• Home
  • popular
  • Events
  • Submit New Event
  • Subscribe
  • About
  • News
  • Restaurants + Bars
  • City Life
  • Entertainment
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Arts
  • Society
  • Home + Design
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • Innovation
  • Sports
  • Charity Guide
  • children
  • education
  • health
  • veterans
  • SOCIAL SERVICES
  • ARTS + CULTURE
  • animals
  • lgbtq
  • New Charity
  • Series
  • Delivery Limited
  • DTX Giveaway 2012
  • DTX Ski Magic
  • dtx woodford reserve manhattans
  • Your Home in the Sky
  • DTX Best of 2013
  • DTX Trailblazers
  • Tastemakers Dallas 2017
  • Healthy Perspectives
  • Neighborhood Eats 2015
  • The Art of Making Whiskey
  • DTX International Film Festival
  • DTX Tatum Brown
  • Tastemaker Awards 2016 Dallas
  • DTX McCurley 2014
  • DTX Cars in Lifestyle
  • DTX Beyond presents Party Perfect
  • DTX Texas Health Resources
  • DART 2018
  • Alexan Central
  • State Fair 2018
  • Formula 1 Giveaway
  • Zatar
  • CityLine
  • Vision Veritas
  • Okay to Say
  • Hearts on the Trinity
  • DFW Auto Show 2015
  • Northpark 50
  • Anteks Curated
  • Red Bull Cliff Diving
  • Maggie Louise Confections Dallas
  • Gaia
  • Red Bull Global Rally Cross
  • NorthPark Holiday 2015
  • Ethan's View Dallas
  • DTX City Centre 2013
  • Galleria Dallas
  • Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty Luxury Homes in Dallas Texas
  • DTX Island Time
  • Simpson Property Group SkyHouse
  • DIFFA
  • Lotus Shop
  • Holiday Pop Up Shop Dallas
  • Clothes Circuit
  • DTX Tastemakers 2014
  • Elite Dental
  • Elan City Lights
  • Dallas Charity Guide
  • DTX Music Scene 2013
  • One Arts Party at the Plaza
  • J.R. Ewing
  • AMLI Design District Vibrant Living
  • Crest at Oak Park
  • Braun Enterprises Dallas
  • NorthPark 2016
  • Victory Park
  • DTX Common Desk
  • DTX Osborne Advisors
  • DTX Comforts of Home 2012
  • DFW Showcase Tour of Homes
  • DTX Neighborhood Eats
  • DTX Comforts of Home 2013
  • DTX Auto Awards
  • Cottonwood Art Festival 2017
  • Nasher Store
  • Guardian of The Glenlivet
  • Zyn22
  • Dallas Rx
  • Yellow Rose Gala
  • Opendoor
  • DTX Sun and Ski
  • Crow Collection
  • DTX Tastes of the Season
  • Skye of Turtle Creek Dallas
  • Cottonwood Art Festival
  • DTX Charity Challenge
  • DTX Culture Motive
  • DTX Good Eats 2012
  • DTX_15Winks
  • St. Bernard Sports
  • Jose
  • DTX SMU 2014
  • DTX Up to Speed
  • st bernard
  • Ardan West Village
  • DTX New York Fashion Week spring 2016
  • Taste the Difference
  • Parktoberfest 2016
  • Bob's Steak and Chop House
  • DTX Smart Luxury
  • DTX Earth Day
  • DTX_Gaylord_Promoted_Series
  • IIDA Lavish
  • Huffhines Art Trails 2017
  • Red Bull Flying Bach Dallas
  • Y+A Real Estate
  • Beauty Basics
  • DTX Pet of the Week
  • Long Cove
  • Charity Challenge 2014
  • Legacy West
  • Wildflower
  • Stillwater Capital
  • Tulum
  • DTX Texas Traveler
  • Dallas DART
  • Soldiers' Angels
  • Alexan Riveredge
  • Ebby Halliday Realtors
  • Zephyr Gin
  • Sixty Five Hundred Scene
  • Christy Berry
  • Entertainment Destination
  • Dallas Art Fair 2015
  • St. Bernard Sports Duck Head
  • Jameson DTX
  • Alara Uptown Dallas
  • Cottonwood Art Festival fall 2017
  • DTX Tastemakers 2015
  • Cottonwood Arts Festival
  • The Taylor
  • Decks in the Park
  • Alexan Henderson
  • Gallery at Turtle Creek
  • Omni Hotel DTX
  • Red on the Runway
  • Whole Foods Dallas 2018
  • Artizone Essential Eats
  • Galleria Dallas Runway Revue
  • State Fair 2016 Promoted
  • Trigger's Toys Ultimate Cocktail Experience
  • Dean's Texas Cuisine
  • Real Weddings Dallas
  • Real Housewives of Dallas
  • Jan Barboglio
  • Wildflower Arts and Music Festival
  • Hearts for Hounds
  • Okay to Say Dallas
  • Indochino Dallas
  • Old Forester Dallas
  • Dallas Apartment Locators
  • Dallas Summer Musicals
  • PSW Real Estate Dallas
  • Paintzen
  • DTX Dave Perry-Miller
  • DTX Reliant
  • Get in the Spirit
  • Bachendorf's
  • Holiday Wonder
  • Village on the Parkway
  • City Lifestyle
  • opportunity knox villa-o restaurant
  • Nasher Summer Sale
  • Simpson Property Group
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2017 Dallas
  • Carlisle & Vine
  • DTX New Beginnings
  • Get in the Game
  • Red Bull Air Race
  • Dallas DanceFest
  • 2015 Dallas Stylemaker
  • Youth With Faces
  • Energy Ogre
  • DTX Renewable You
  • Galleria Dallas Decadence
  • Bella MD
  • Tractorbeam
  • Young Texans Against Cancer
  • Fresh Start Dallas
  • Dallas Farmers Market
  • Soldier's Angels Dallas
  • Shipt
  • Elite Dental
  • Texas Restaurant Association 2017
  • State Fair 2017
  • Scottish Rite
  • Brooklyn Brewery
  • DTX_Stylemakers
  • Alexan Crossings
  • Ascent Victory Park
  • Top Texans Under 30 Dallas
  • Discover Downtown Dallas
  • San Luis Resort Dallas
  • Greystar The Collection
  • FIG Finale
  • Greystar M Line Tower
  • Lincoln Motor Company
  • The Shelby
  • Jonathan Goldwater Events
  • Windrose Tower
  • Gift Guide 2016
  • State Fair of Texas 2016
  • Choctaw Dallas
  • TodayTix Dallas promoted
  • Whole Foods
  • Unbranded 2014
  • Frisco Square
  • Unbranded 2016
  • Circuit of the Americas 2018
  • The Katy
  • Snap Kitchen
  • Partners Card
  • Omni Hotels Dallas
  • Landmark on Lovers
  • Harwood Herd
  • Galveston.com Dallas
  • Holiday Happenings Dallas 2018
  • TenantBase
  • Cottonwood Art Festival 2018
  • Hawkins-Welwood Homes
  • The Inner Circle Dallas
  • Eating in Season Dallas
  • ATTPAC Behind the Curtain
  • TodayTix Dallas
  • The Alexan
  • Toyota Music Factory
  • Nosh Box Eatery
  • Wildflower 2018
  • Society Style Dallas 2018
  • Texas Scottish Rite Hospital 2018
  • 5 Mockingbird
  • 4110 Fairmount
  • Visit Taos
  • Allegro Addison
  • Dallas Tastemakers 2018
  • The Village apartments
  • City of Burleson Dallas

    Weekend Event Planner

    These are the 17 best things to do in Dallas this Valentine's weekend

    Alex Bentley
    Feb 12, 2026 | 6:00 am

    If you're a theater lover, or know someone who is, Valentine's Day weekend will bring plenty of opportunities in and around Dallas, with no fewer than nine separate local productions starting their runs. Other choices include a symphony concert, two comedians, three dance productions, monster trucks, and the return of the Harlem Globetrotters.

    Harlem Globetrotters
    Photo courtesy of Harlem Globetrotters

    The Harlem Globetrotters 100 Year Tour comes to American Airlines Center on February 15.

    Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. If you want more options, check out the calendar for an even longer list of the city's best events. We also have lists for creative Valentine's options and best places to eat (if you can still get a reservation).

    Thursday, February 12

    Cara Mía Theatre presents Medea/Liturgia
    Cara Mía Theatre will present the world premiere of Medea/Liturgia, a contemporary, multimedia adaptation of the Greek tragedy Medea. The production reimagines Medea through a modern lens that confronts imperialism, immigration, and rebellion. The bilingual production, which contains brief non-sexual nudity and adult themes, runs through February 22 at Latino Cultural Center.

    Kitchen Dog Theater presents Pompeii!
    Under the shadow of a volcano, the citizens of Pompeii sing, dance, and tell jokes in the zany vaudeville show, Pompeii!. It's togas and tap shoes, centurions and sing-alongs in the timely satire of nationalistic hubris and narcissistic excess. Opening their brand-new home in the Design District, Kitchen Dog Theater Co-Artistic Directors Christopher Carlos and Tina Parker will direct the company's first-ever company-created musical. The production runs through March 8.

    Soul Rep Theatre Company presents Gem of the Ocean
    Through the mystical presence of Aunt Ester, a 285-year-old spiritual guide, playwright August Wilson weaves a powerful meditation on memory, responsibility, and Black survival. The story follows Citizen Barlow, a young man burdened by guilt and searching for redemption, as he embarks on a transformative ancestral journey aboard the mythical ship Gem of the Ocean - a voyage that bridges African ancestral memory with the lived Black experience of the 20th century. The production runs through February 22 at Kalita Humphreys Theater.

    Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Tchaikovsky & Rachmaninoff"
    The latest concert by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra will feature the impassioned music of Tchaikovsky’s timeless tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, while conductor Tabita Berglund returns to lead the kaleidoscopic Symphonic Dances by the last of the Russian Romantics, Rachmaninoff. Sphinx alumna and violinist Melissa White is in the solo spotlight for the world premiere of Composer-in-Residence Sophia Jani’s Violin Concerto. There will be four performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

    Friday, February 13

    Majestic Theatre presents George Lopez
    Comedian George Lopez’s career encompasses television, film, stand-up comedy, and late-night television. He has broken ground for Latino comics by embracing his ethnicity, confronting racial stereotypes, and fighting for his community on and off the stage. He recently starred on NBC's Lopez vs Lopez, featuring his real-life daughter, Mayan Lopez, which ran for three seasons. He'll perform for one-night-only at Majestic Theatre.

    Theatre Arlington presents Damn Yankees
    In the 1950s, super baseball fan Joe makes a deal with the devil so his Washington Senators (later to become the Texas Rangers) will beat those damn Yankees for the pennant. Devilishly clever, Damn Yankees is a home-run hit, with great songs, music, and a lot of heart. The production runs through March 8 at Theatre Arlington.

    Art Centre Theatre presents Suite Surrender
    It's 1942, and two of Hollywood's biggest divas have descended upon the luxurious Palm Beach Royale Hotel - assistants, luggage, and legendary feud with one another in tow. Everything seems to be in order for their wartime performance ... that is, until they are somehow assigned to the same suite. Mistaken identities, overblown egos, double entendres, and a lap dog named Mr. Boodles round out this hilarious riot of a love note to the classic farces of the '30s and '40s. The production runs through March 1 at Art Centre Theatre in Plano.

    Company of Rowlett Performers presents The Musical of Musicals (The Musical)
    In this hilarious satire of musical theatre, one story becomes five delightful musicals, each written in the distinctive style of a different master of the form, from Rodgers & Hammerstein to Stephen Sondheim. The production runs through February 22 at Plaza Theater in Garland.

    Dallas Black Dance Theatre presents Cultural Awareness: Kaleidoscope
    Colors shift and patterns emerge in Dallas Black Dance Theatre's 2026 Cultural Awareness series, Kaleidoscope. The performance will feature the artistry and music of Dianne McIntyre’s Nina Simone Project alongside the resilience of Bodies as Sites of Faith and Protest by Tommie-Waheed Evans. There will be three performances through Sunday at Wyly Theatre.

    Repertory Company Theatre presents The Hunchback of Notre Dame
    Repertory Company Theatre will present The Hunchback of Notre Dame as part of its Courtyard Theater Series. Inspired by Victor Hugo's novel, the musical is a dramatic retelling of the famous love story on a grand scale, with a lush, emotionally rich score. It features a book by Peter Parnell, music by Alan Menken, and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. The production will have three performances through Sunday at Courtyard Theater in Plano.

    Hyena's presents Christopher Titus
    Christopher Titus is a prolific stand-up comedian, writer, actor, and producer. He is currently performing his ninth 90-minute special "Stories I Shouldn't Tell, while his most recent hit special “Amerigeddon,” is available on Amazon. Additionally, Titus has a podcast called The Armageddon Update/Titus Podcast. In 2019, he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in the feature Special Unit, about a team of special needs people who form an undercover police unit. He'll perform four times through Saturday at Hyena's Comedy Nightclub.

    Saturday, February 14

    Avant Chamber Ballet presents Peter and the Wolf
    In the family-friendly tale Peter and the Wolf, Peter meets a collection of cheeky animal characters, including a rascally wolf, an unlucky duck, a clever cat, and a delicate bluebird. Throughout the imaginative retelling, each musical instrument represents a character, with Peter represented by the strings family, the stealthy wolf portrayed by the French horns, and more. The performance takes place at Moody Performance Hall.

    Teatro Dallas presents 22nd International Theatre Festival
    Teatro Dallas is in the middle of presenting their 22nd International Theatre Festival, taking place over three weeks and featuring three separate productions. The second production will be the Valentine's-appropriate Strategic Love Play, which dives headfirst into the messy, awkward, and painfully honest landscape of modern romance. The sharp and provocative play strips away the digital gloss to reveal what we’re truly searching for - connection, validation, and something real in an era that promises infinite options. The performance will be at Latino Cultural Center.

    Monster Jam
    What better entertainment for Valentine's Day could there be than rampaging monster trucks? Monster Jam returns to AT&T Stadium in Arlington to showcase massive Monster Jam trucks and world champion drivers as they perform high-flying action and jaw-dropping stunts. Trucks scheduled to perform include Grave Digger, El Toro Loco, Megalodon, Sparkle Smash, and more.

    Undermain Theatre presents The Skin of Our Teeth
    The Skin of Our Teeth, Thornton Wilder’s classic three-part allegory about the resilience of mankind, centers on the Antrobus family of the fictional town of Excelsior, New Jersey. The epic comedy-drama follows the family through an impending Ice Age, a world war, and a devastating flood, all of which they survive by the skin of their teeth. The play explores the cyclical nature of time, the capacity of both creation and destruction within humanity, and the enduring human spirit. The production runs through March 8 at Undermain Theatre.

    Avant Chamber Ballet presents Rhythm and Romance
    Avant Chamber Ballet will celebrate live music and dance with Rhythm and Romance, featuring three inspiring ballets, including Valse Fantaisie, choreographed by George Balanchine, Paul Mejia's Cafe Victoria, and Katie Puder’s Sisterhood. The production will have performances on Saturday and Sunday at Moody Performance Hall.

    Sunday, February 15

    The Harlem Globetrotters 100 Year Tour
    The world-famous Harlem Globetrotters come to Dallas as part of the team’s 100 Year Tour, celebrating 100 years of jaw-dropping “No Way!” moves, 100 years of “Wow!” moments, and 100 years of basketball thrills. From gravity-defying dunks to game-changing tricks, fans will feel the history, the joy, and the fun that only the Globetrotters can deliver. The Globetrotters will play against their long-time foes the Washington Generals at American Airlines Center.

    theatermusicconcertssymphonycomedydancesportsevent-planner
    news/entertainment
    CULTUREMAP EMAILS ARE AWESOME
    Get Dallas intel delivered daily.

    R.I.P.

    Texas actor James Van Der Beek, beloved for Dawson's Creek, dies at 48

    Associated Press
    Feb 11, 2026 | 4:47 pm
    James Van Der Beek
    James Van Der Beek/Instagram
    James Van Der Beek announced he was being treated for colorectal cancer in 2024.

    Actor James David Van Der Beek has died, according to an announcement on his social media. He was 48 years old.

    "Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning," the post reads. "He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace. There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity, and the sacredness of time. Those days will come. For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend.

    Van Der Beek shared in 2020 that he and his family were moving to the Austin area, and they settled in Spicewood. He announced his colorectal cancer diagnosis in 2024.

    In late 2025, Van Der Beek auctioned some of his TV memorabilia from his time on Dawson's Creek to pay for his treatment.

    The actor originally starred in coming-of-age dramas at the dawn of the new millennium, shooting to fame playing the titular character in Dawson’s Creek and in later years parodied his own hunky persona.

    Forever tied to ‘Dawson’s Creek'
    A one-time theater kid, Van Der Beek would star in the movie Varsity Blues and on TV in CSI: Cyber as FBI Special Agent Elijah Mundo, but was forever connected to Dawson’s Creek, which ran from 1998 to 2003 on The WB.

    The series followed a group of high school friends as they learned about falling in love, creating real friendships and finding their footing in life. Van Der Beek, then 20, played 15-year-old Dawson Leery, who aspired to be a director of Steven Spielberg quality.

    With Paula Cole’s “I Don’t Want To Wait,” as its moody theme song, Dawson's Creek helped define The WB as a haven for teens and young adults who related to its hyper-articulate dialogue and frank talk about sexuality. And it made household names of Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams, and Joshua Jackson.

    “While James' legacy will always live on, this is a huge loss to not just your family but the world,” Sarah Michelle Gellar wrote to his widow on Instagram. Katharine McPhee Foster added: “This is just beyond devastating news.” Others posting messages of mourning were Jenna Dewan and Olivia Munn.

    The show caused a stir when one of the teens embarked on a racy affair with a teacher 20 years his senior and when Holmes' character climbed through Dawson's bedroom window and they curled up together. Racier shows like Euphoria and Sex Education owe a debt to Dawson's Creek.

    Van Der Beek sometimes struggled to get out from under the shadow of the show but eventually leaned into lampooning himself, like on Funny Or Die videos and on Kesha's “Blow” music video, which included his laser gun battle with the pop star in a nightclub and dead unicorns.

    “It’s tough to compete with something that was the cultural phenomenon that Dawson’s Creek was,” he told Vulture in 2013. “It ran for so long. That’s a lot of hours playing one character in front of people. So it’s natural that they associate you with that.”

    A popular GIF and Varsity Blues
    More than a decade after the show went off the air, a scene at the end of the show’s third season became a GIF. Dawson was watching as his soul mate embarks on a love affair with his best friend and burst into tears.

    “It wasn’t scripted that I was supposed to cry; it was just one of those things where it’s a magical moment and it just happens in the scene,” Van Der Beek told Vanity Fair. He seemed exasperated when he told the Los Angeles Times: “All of a sudden, six years of work was boiled down to one seven-second clip on loop.” (Van Der Beek himself recreated the GIF in 2011 for Funny or Die and gave it a second life.)

    While still on Dawson’s Creek, Van Der Beek hosted Saturday Night Live — the musical guest was Everlast — and landed a plumb role in Varsity Blues, playing a second-string high school quarterback who leaps into the breach when the star suffers an injury.

    Van Der Beek’s character, Mox, turns out to not be a football fanatic, preferring to read Kurt Vonnegut and yearning for the college education that will allow him to escape the jock mentality of his Texas town.

    “I don’t want your life,” he screams at one point. Critic Roger Ebert called him “convincing and likable.

    After Dawson’s Creek
    Some of his projects after Dawson’s Creek included co-creating and playing Wesley “Diplo” Pentz, a dull but likable music producer in the mockumentary satire on Viceland, What Would Diplo Do? In 2019, he made it to the semifinals of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars and played a balding, out-of-shape ex-boyfriend on How I Met Your Mother.

    “The more you make fun of yourself and don’t try to go for any kind of respect, the more people seem to respect you,” he told Vanity Fair in 2011. “I’ve always been a clown trapped in a leading man’s body.”

    Between 2003 and 2013, he made appearances in shows like Criminal Minds, One Tree Hill, and How I Met Your Mother. He played himself with a crackpot intensity in the Krysten Ritter-led ABC drama Don’t Trust the B— in Apartment 23, and the short-lived CSI spinoff CSI: Cyber and CBS’ Friends With Better Lives.

    He’s also appeared in movies such as Kevin Smith’s 2001 comedy Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and its 2019 sequel, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. He was in the Bret Easton Ellis adaptation of The Rules of Attraction in 2002 opposite Jessica Biel and Kate Bosworth.

    In 2025, he was unmasked as Griffin on The Masked Singer, after singing a cover of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and “I Had Some Help” by Post Malone and Morgan Wallen.

    Early life as a theater kid
    Van Der Beek, who was raised in Cheshire, Connecticut, started acting at 13 after suffering a concussion playing football that prevented him from playing for a year. He landed the role of Danny Zuko in his school production of Grease.

    He stuck with theater, landing at 16 in 1994 an off-Broadway role in Finding the Sun by Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Albee and one of the sons in a revival of Shenandoah at the prestigious Goodspeed Opera House in his home state.

    He earned a scholarship to New Jersey’s Drew University but left school early when he was cast in Dawson’s Creek. In 2024, he returned to campus to accept an honorary degree for his “selfless service and exemplary commitment to the mission of Drew,” the university said.

    Drew University President Hilary Link welcomed Van Der Beek with a popular quote from his Dawson’s Creek character: “Edge is fleeting,” she said, “but heart lasts forever. So on this morning, we pay tribute to that heart.”

    He is survived by his wife, Kimberly, and six children, Olivia, Joshua, Annabel, Emilia, Gwendolyn and Jeremiah. A GoFundMe fundraiser has been established for the family.

    ___

    AP Music Writer Maria Sherman and CultureMap Austin editor Brianna Caleri contributed to this report.

    obituarycelebrities
    news/entertainment

    most read posts

    Cult ice cream brand Salt & Straw makes Texas debut in Dallas

    Dallas woos top-15 spot on new list of best places to get married

    Post Malone’s Dallas-area childhood home hits the market for $549K

    Loading...