Weekend Event Planner

Hadestown jazzes up the 13 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Performing arts will once again dominate the slate of events in and around Dallas this weekend, with five theater productions, two comedians, a chamber opera, a full-scale opera, and a dance production. There will also be two different festivals and a concert to celebrate a historic music venue.

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, February 27

Dallas Theater Center presents Primary Trust
Kenneth lives in a small town in upstate New York. For 15 years his life has been the same: by day, he works at a bookstore, in the evening, he drinks mai tais with his friend Bert. When the bookstore shuts down, Kenneth is forced out of his comfort zone to face a world he has long avoided - with transformative and heartwarming results. Performances of Primary Trust, winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, run through March 23 at Bryant Hall in the Kalita Humphreys Theater complex.

Undermain Theatre presents Box
Part magic show, part historical speculation, part romantic drama, Box explores the harrowing story of Henry Box Brown, the abolitionist lecturer and early magician who escaped slavery by mailing himself to freedom and went on to become a famed magician on the London stage. Using actual magic, the world premiere imagines an unwritten chapter in the story of one of history’s most overlooked folk heroes. The production runs through March 24 at Undermain Theatre.

Broadway Dallas presents Hadestown
Hadestown intertwines two mythic tales - that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone - as it invites the audience on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back. Singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell’s beguiling melodies and director Rachel Chavkin’s poetic imagination pit industry against nature, doubt against faith, and fear against love. The national tour of the jazzy Tony Award-winning musical runs through Sunday at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

Live With Jake Shane
Jake Shane is an influencer and comedian who became well-known for his viral TikTok videos featuring humorous re-enactments of historical events. In 2023, he was nominated for a Streamy Award and appeared on TikTok's inaugural LGBTQ+ Pride Visionary Voices List and on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. He'll perform at Majestic Theatre.

Friday, February 28

North Texas Irish Festival
The North Texas Irish Festival celebrates the best in music, dance, food and spirits, storytelling, art, and more originating in the Emerald Isle. The festival features 10 stages of live music, Irish step dancing, chef demonstrations and more. Guests will also enjoy beer and whiskey tastings, shopping, horse shows, sheepherding demonstrations, animal rescue groups, child-friendly entertainment, and arts and crafts for the kids. The festival takes place through Sunday at Fair Park.

Verdigris Ensemble presents Song From The Uproar: The Lives And Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt
In Song From The Uproar: The Lives And Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt, composer Missy Mazzoli brings to life the remarkable journey of Isabelle Eberhardt, a Swiss explorer who abandoned European privilege to roam the Sahara as a Sufi mystic. Through a blend of live instruments and electronics, the chamber opera illuminates the tensions between opposing forces - man and woman, water and sand, Europe and Africa. The production will have three performances through Sunday at Theatre Three.

The Dallas Opera presents La bohème
Hungry, cold, broke, and deliriously in love, the artists in Puccini’s masterpiece La bohème break hearts over and over again each time it is performed, with pulses quickening as Rodolfo lights Mimì’s candle anew. The Dallas Opera’s period production returns with a fresh cast of some of opera’s brightest rising stars, transporting audiences to the cafés and corridors of Paris’s Latin Quarter as tragedy hovers nearby. The production will have five performances through March 9 at Winspear Opera House.

Teatro Dallas presents Nuevo Mundo (A New Directors Festival)
The final weekend of Teatro Dallas' Nuevo Mundo, a festival that incubates new directors and playwrights, will feature a semi-devised premiere piece called In the Beginning, created by Gerald Taylor II under the mentorship of Lauren Leblanc. In a world where everything feels like it is ending, sometimes the answer lies at the start. The production, an exploration of several creation myths from around the world told by four storytellers, will have three performances through Sunday at Latino Cultural Center.

Texas Ballet Theater presents International Woman
In a celebration of female creativity and choreography, Texas Ballet Theater presents International Woman, an evening dedicated entirely to works by female choreographers. Highlights include Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's Shibuya Blues, an exploration of modern life and dance; Lamentation Variations, inspired by Martha Graham's elegy in movement; Martha Graham’s whimsical Maple Leaf Rag; and Natalie Weir’s vibrant Jabula, a celebration of motion and dance through the music of Hans Zimmer’s The Power of One. There will be four performances through Sunday at Wyly Theatre.

Majestic Theatre presents Luenell
Luenell is a force of nature best known for her role as the “hooker with the heart of gold” in Borat. She's also appeared in feature films like I Hate You Dad with Adam Sandler and Leighton Meester and Think Like a Man with Arielle Kebell and Meagan Good, as well as TV shows like The Middle and Always Sunny In Philadelphia. She'll perform for one night only at Majestic Theatre.

Saturday, March 1

Kitchen Dog Theater presents New Works Festival Staged Reading Series: Bad Books
When a troubled teen is given a controversial book, his mother visits the local library to discuss “appropriate” reading material with the librarian. However, their reasonable discussion quickly turns into a heated confrontation, sparking a dramatic chain reaction of unexpected consequences. With both heartbreak and humor, playwright Sharyn Rothstein offers compassion and empathy as an antidote to the deep debates that divide us. Part of Kitchen Dog Theater's Staged Reading Series, the production will be at Kitchen Dog Theater's new location in Expo Park.

City of Carrollton presents TEXFest
The 10th annual TEXFest is a celebration of Texas Independence Day. The Texas-sized festival features craft beer, good grub, and local artists performing Texas music. Visitors can ride on a mechanical bull, participate in two-stepping and lawn games, and more. The festival takes place in Historic Downtown Carrollton.

Sunday, March 2

Longhorn Jubilee featuring Toadies
To celebrate Longhorn Ballroom’s 75th anniversary, the venue will host a series of events to honor the iconic room's past, present, and future. Dubbed the Longhorn Jubilee, the all-genre-encompassing events will unfold both inside the Ballroom and outside in the Courtyard combining music with food trucks, local vendors, brand activations, and more. The inaugural event takes on Texas Independence Day, featuring performances by Toadies, The Band of Heathens, Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys, and more.

Photo courtesy of KirtlandRecords.com

Toadies will perform at Longhorn Ballroom on March 2 as part of the Longhorn Jubilee.

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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.

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."

Other gorillas will be shipped in 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.

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