Weekend Event Planner

These are the 15 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

It's another busy weekend in and around Dallas. There will be two different film festivals, an NFL draft celebration, four new theater productions, two dance events, a quartet of concerts featuring well-known names, a special movie event with famous actor, and more.

Below are the best ways to spend your precious free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, April 27

Thin Line Fest
Thin Line Fest combines the best of modern media to create an engaging, multi-layered experience. Thin Line Film is the longest running documentary film festival in Texas, while Thin Line Music has a mix of styles from national and regional acts on small and intimate stages. The festival will take place at multiple venues around Denton, including Campus Theatre, Dan's Silverleaf, Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios, and more through Sunday.

Dallas Cowboys Draft Weekend
The Dallas Cowboys Draft Weekend at The Star in Frisco will feature a Draft Day Party on Thursday to watch live coverage of the 2023 NFL Draft, including the Dallas Cowboys’ first round selection. Visitors can see current players and alumni, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, and Rowdy the mascot. On Friday, Draft Night Out will feature live draft coverage, live and local music by Ray Johnston Band, food trucks, lawn games, and more on Tostitos Championship Plaza. The weekend ends with the Dallas Cowboys Draft Day 5K on Saturday and live draft coverage.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Shostakovich Symphony No. 8"
Known for his interpretations of Shostakovich, conductor Jukka Pekka Saraste leads the Dallas Symphony Orchestra through the composer's Eighth Symphony. The concert will also include Sibelius' Pohjola’s Daughter. There will be three performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Prism Movement Theater presents Circe: The Song of Benedito
Circe: The Song of Benedito combines dance, song, and martial arts to tell the story of enslaved Africans from Angola who developed Capoeira. The martial art utilized song and dance to secretly develop techniques that allowed them to escape their captors. There will be six performances of this outdoor production through May 13 at Kidd Springs Park.

Brian Culbertson in concert
Over the course of crafting 25 albums and releasing nearly 40 Billboard No. 1 singles as a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer, jazz/R&B pianist Brian Culbertson has charted his own unique course in music. The Trilogy Tour will feature a mix of songs from The Trilogy Albums, as well as the greatest hits from his catalog. He'll perform at Majestic Theatre.

Friday, April 28

Dallas International Film Festival
The 17th Dallas International Film Festival will feature screenings of more than 100 films submitted from more than 60 countries, as well as Q&A sessions with filmmakers and actors, nightly DIFF Red Carpets, a Festival Lounge, and special events. Notable films in the festival include BlackBerry, A Disturbance in the Force: How the Star Wars Holiday Special Happened, Gibson Icons: Rex Brown of Pantera, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, and more. The festival takes place daily through May 5 at Violet Crown Cinema.

HITS! The Musical
HITS! The Musical is a high energy musical production featuring a cast of 30 members who will take audiences on a musical journey through the decades; highlighting the biggest hits of all time in pop, rock, and Broadway, and the most iconic songs from the 1960s to present day. The production will have a one-night-only performance at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

Avant Chamber Ballet presents Women's Choreography Project
To finish their season, Avant Chamber Ballet presents an evening of world premieres and commissions with live music. The program features new works by female-identifying choreographers who are under-represented voices in the creation process in the world of dance. There will be performances on both Friday and Saturday at Sammons Center for the Arts.

Art Centre Theatre presents The Bad Seed
The Bad Seed takes place in a small Southern town where Rhoda is, on the surface, sweet and charming girl, full of old-fashioned graces, loved by her parents, admired by all her elders. But Rhoda’s mother has an uneasy feeling about her. When one of Rhoda’s schoolmates is mysteriously drowned at a picnic, Rhoda's mother is alarmed. The production runs through May 13 at Art Centre Theatre in Plano.

Dinosaur Jr. in concert
Alt-rock band Dinosaur Jr. has been around for nearly 40 years, gaining cult status thanks to '90s songs like "Start Choppin'" and "Feel the Pain." Led by lead singer J Mascis since the beginning, the band took a break in the late '90s/early 2000s before reuniting in 2005, releasing five more albums, most recently 2021's Sweep It Into Space. They'll play at Longhorn Ballroom.

Bruce Wood Dance presents 13th Anniversary Performance & Gala
Bruce Wood Dance's 13th Anniversary Performance & Gala will feature the work of choreographic legend Lar Lubovitch. The performance also features the world premiere of Conversing with Brahms, the Dallas premiere of his masterwork, Concerto Six Twenty–Two, and the return of his jubilant Elemental Brubeck. A gala dinner and entertainment will follow the show at Moody Performance Hall.

Saturday, April 29

Hardy in concert
Going only by his last name, country singer Hardy has quickly made a name for himself in the genre. He released his debut album, A Rock, in 2020, which featured the No. 1 song "One Beer." He's already had one hit song, "Wait in the Truck," off of his 2023 sophomore album, The Mockingbird and the Crow, with more sure to come. He'll play at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving.

Ochre House Theater presents Darken: Less A Light On
Ochre House Theater presents Darken: Less A Light On, which takes place in truly absurd times. A woman, having done something brave, now fears for her safety, and falls into a cloud of fear and paranoia. An oddball group of friends, family and strangers try to push her forward, or pull her back. The Absurdist piece points out the fears (both outside and within) people live with, in these precarious times. The production runs through May 20.

Sunday, April 30

Bruce Campbell presents Bruce-O-Rama: Evil Dead II
Cult favorite genre film star Bruce Campbell comes to Dallas as a part of his tour, Bruce-O-Rama. A two-part evening of indulgent fun, it begins with Last Fan Standing, an interactive game show exclusively for fans of pop culture. In the second half, Campbell will introduce Evil Dead II and take questions before the screening in a lively half-hour of anecdotes, insults, and random cash giveaways. The event takes place at Texas Theatre.

Seal in concert
Seal comes to Dallas as part of his 30th Anniversary Tour, commemorating three decades of his landmark self-titled 1991 debut album and eponymous follow-up Seal II (1994). He will perform the records in their entirety for the first time, delivering a set highlighted by hits like “Crazy,” “Future Love Paradise,” “Killer,” and “Kiss From A Rose.” Soul staples and standards will be peppered throughout the concert, taking place at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

Photo by Ryan Smith

Hardy will play at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving on April 29.

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Dudes Doing Things

Behind-the-scenes look at the Dude Perfect media empire in Frisco

Dude Perfect

The five buddies who now comprise Dude Perfect had no intention of creating a brand or even a business 16 years ago when they started making a video of basketball trick shots while they were attending Texas A&M.

“My dad would say we were procrastinating studying for finals at that time, which he is 100 percent correct,” said Coby Cotton, whose twin brother Cory is also part of the group. “We were just having fun, and that’s one thing that I am grateful to say has continued.”

When they posted that first video on YouTube in April 2009, the nearly 3 1/2-minute clip was just a way to share with family and friends what they were doing on an $80 portable basketball rim they bought for the backyard.

Things have expanded far beyond that small circle. And the tricks got much bigger, like the world record shot made from 856 feet high in Las Vegas two summers ago on the third day of attempts.

Dude Perfect now has more than 61 million subscribers on YouTube, with 482 videos that have gotten more than 18.5 billion total views. An "Average Dude vs. Steph Curry" video did 16 million views just four months ago.

The group’s family-friendly content has gone beyond just basketball shots and is big business, among the top 1 percent of channels on the second most-viewed website in the world.

Professional athletes, celebrities and musicians want to be part of their productions, both short form and longer videos. Among those who have taken part in recent Dude Perfect projects are Tom Brady, Caitlin Clark, and Paul Skenes; the pitcher was blindfolded when he struck out 6-foot-6 Cody Jones, the DP member known as “Tall Guy.”

Dude Perfect dudes: twins Coby & Cory Cotton, sandwiching Garret Hilbert, Tyler Toney, and Cody Jones.Dude Perfect

The group last year hired its first CEO after acquiring at least $100 million in capital from a private investment firm. There are plans for a Dude Perfect theme park, and earlier this year the group opened a new headquarters. The facility located in a North Texas warehouse district includes a full basketball court with moving rims on one wall, half a football field with a regulation goalpost, a pickleball court, a putting area, a hidden candy vault and room for expansion to include experiences for fans.

“A sports lover’s Barbie dreamhouse” is how new CEO Andrew Yaffe described the 80,000-square-foot facility.

“If you ask the guys what they intended in 2009, I don’t know that this would have been in their wildest dreams,” said Yaffe, who previously was a senior NBA executive overseeing the league’s social, digital and original content. “We think about this is what a media company looks like in 2025. And it’s really exciting to think about what that can be in 2030 or 2035.”

More than trick shots
Dude Perfect has evolved from that original video shot with a single camera into successful content creators, with a mix of sports and comedy that is more than just basketball shots. The group will embark on another live tour later this year.

There have been nearly 50 episodes of “Overtime” since 2018, a variety show usually around 25 minutes with a variety of segments and often special guests. Curry in that recent episode took part in a 3-point shooting contest using a football, Frisbee, pickle ball and soccer ball before finally a basketball.

There are occasional videos such as “All Sports Golf Battle” when on a course without actual golf clubs, including once at Augusta National when Bryson DeChambeau used items like a tennis racket, Frisbee and pool stick. “Stereotype” videos poke fun at any number of groups or events.

“They’ve built a media empire that brings families together, whether it’s trick shots, epic challenges, live events or experiences that truly redefine what it means to connect with fans,” said Brian Albert, who leads Google’s US YouTube video deals and creative teams. “They are creator trailblazers.”

Safe for families
Even before each of the Dudes became fathers — there are now 16 children ages 10 and under between them, and another on the way — they wanted to be one of the world’s most trusted brands for families to enjoy together.

“Early on, we met through some Bible studies and so we knew we weren’t going to cuss in our videos, we weren’t going to have alcohol promotion,” Jones said. “Early on, it actually hurt our brand because people were going to YouTube in order to kind of have that wild side of things. And since, it’s only helped because we’ve become brand safe.”

Tyler Toney, the bearded Dude often front-and-center in videos, said that is the best thing they hear from parents.

“But it wasn’t until we had our own kids where we’ll be up here at the office filming and then I go home and now I’m on my TV at home and my boys are watching,” Toney said. “I get to hear myself a lot and it gets old, and I apologize now to all the parents for how loud we are in a lot of the videos. But it’s cool to see that even in our families the importance of that, having that quality entertainment that we can enjoy with our own kids.”

For the record books
Dude Perfect’s first record for longest shot came from the third deck of Texas A&M’s football stadium in the fall of 2009. That came months after the initial video of trick shots, which had been followed by one they did at a Christian-based camp that summer.

They made a shot from atop the 561-foot tall Reunion Tower in Dallas in 2014, a record then broken by another group before Dude Perfect reclaimed it in Las Vegas.

“We’re not hoping to have to improve on the world’s highest shot from The Strat in Vegas any time soon,” Coby Cotton said. “That was an exhausting experience.”

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