Thursday
By now, we know what to expect from House Party Theatre: surprises and unexpectedly good theater. The nontraditional theater company has racked up accolades since its inception in 2014, putting together smart and concise pieces that range from goofy to downright intellectual. HPT’s latest play, Shadow Woman by Claire Carson, departs from the usual formula of “custom theater” and instead focuses on play development, bringing Carson’s vision for this supernatural metaphor to fruition. The scare-themed play explores the haunting of a young woman who is assailed by something in her home that only she and her cat can see. A preview on the group’s Facebook page looks like something out of a horror movie — so be prepared for tense moments and graphic visuals. Also watch for the ways Carson melds the supernaturally terrifying with parallels to the modern female experience. Shadow Woman will be staged at the Bath House Cultural Center, 521 E. Lawther Dr. Performances are at 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays through Oct. 28. Tickets are $15 at housepartytheatre.com. Bath House Cultural Center, 521 E. Lawther Drive, 8 p.m., $15, housepartytheatre.com. — Jennifer Davis-Lamm
The season of the arts is upon us, bringing with it openings, premieres and bold new levels of creativity. In that spirit, Dark Circles Contemporary Dance kicks off its fifth anniversary season with founder and artistic director Joshua L. Peugh’s visionary takes on both a classic ballet and a collective of classic fables. As part of the 2017-18 Elevator Project at the Studio Theatre, 2400 Flora St., Peugh and his dancers deliver Big Bad Wolf and Les Fairies at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. In Big Bad Wolf, Peugh goes for a grand, almost Vaudevillian retelling of the age-old fairy tales of wicked children and their comeuppance in the form of wily carnivores or twisted caricatures. Les Fairies pays homage to Les Sylphide, a groundbreaking 19th century ballet that infused the genre with a rich, romantic flair. Les Fairies includes music by Chopin and a magical, timely and inspiring reimaging of its muse. Tickets are $20 to $25 at attpac.org; learn more at darkcirclescontemporarydance.com. Wyly Studio Theatre, 2400 Flora St., 7:30 p.m., $20-$25, attpac.org. — Jennifer Davis-Lamm
Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet is renowned for his atmospheric, highly colorful interpretations and his intense emotive capabilities. To highlight these gifts, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents a Debussy and Ravel program fine-tuned to bring out Thibaudet’s best. Debussy's hazy, elemental vision of the ocean, the ever popular impressionistic masterstroke “La Mer” and the composer’s distinctly modern “Gigues & Rondes de Printemps” appear alongside Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloé” Printemps” and the evening’s centerpiece, Ravel’s “Piano Concerto for the Left Hand.” Pabo Heras-Casado conducts. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora St. Tickets start at $19. For more information, visit mydso.com. Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora St., 7:30 p.m., $19 and up, mydso.com. — Jonathan Patrick
With cooler temperatures come unmistakable urges to sit nestled among the skeins knitting something cozy. Even better if you can do it outside, and with a libation, which is just what Craft & Cocktails at the Southwest Porch in Klyde Warren Park, 2012 Woodall Rodgers Freeway, has in mind for 6-8 p.m. Thursday. Get ready for Yarn Bombing with Sally Ackerman — yes, the same Sally from Creative Arts Center, knitting group the Knit Wits and band The Ackermans. She’s a pro yarn bomber, having bombed the Lakewood Library, Dallas Heritage Village and the AT&T Performing Arts Center. This time, she’s urging you to create your own public-worthy vision, and all supplies and ample demonstrations are provided. If you need a little liquid crafting courage, sangria, wine and beer are available at Relish and may be enjoyed while you get your fiber crafting on. Cocktails are available inside Savor. Search “Craft & Cocktails at the Southwest Porch” on Facebook. Klyde Warren Park, 2012 Woodall Rodgers Freeway, 6-8 p.m. Thursday, fee, see Facebook. — Merritt Martin
Look, we're not here to tell you that Corey Feldman and the Angels are a mainstay in the world of good music by any stretch of the imagination. What we will say is that it's pretty entertaining to watch the former child star of the 1980s recall his former pal onstage as he mimics Michael Jackson and dances around with scantily clad women in angel outfits. His show at Dada may not inspire a musical revolution, but it will get your toes tapping. Club Dada, 2720 Elm St., 8 p.m., $20, dadadallas.com. — Diamond Victoria
Nobody dons a pair of prosthetic breasts, a wig or high heels like drag queen extraordinaire RuPaul. And her hit reality TV show, RuPaul’s Drag Race, which is in its ninth season and pits glitter-coated queens against one another, gives us all the confidence needed to live our most fabulous lives. But the best way to see the show’s technicolor girls work the stage is firsthand. Spill the tea with the divas of decadence during RuPaul’s Drag Race: Werq the World Tour at 9 p.m. Thursday at Majestic Theatre, 1925 Em St., featuring host Michelle Visage and performances by Alyssa Edwards, Detox, Kim Chi, Latrice Royale, Peppermint, Shangela, Valentina and Violet Chachki. Seats are filling up fast but some tickets are still available for $39 and can be purchased at ticketmaster.com. Majestic Theatre, 1925 Elm St., 9 p.m., $39, ticketmaster.com. — Diamond Victoria
The work of poet, rapper, writer and actor Saul Williams — a gridlock of pillaged hip-hop beats and neon-drenched avant-garde music — is nothing if not intensely visceral. Its textures are biting and distorted; its message is sharply political — and damning. To open its 24th season, local literary nonprofit WordSpace has invited Williams to headline the upcoming Dallas Poetry Slam at the Kessler Theater. With his urgent delivery and infectious zeal, Williams is an ideal pick — just the sort of artist to reintroduce what's become one of our city’s most cherished arts institutions. Expect stark contrasts, like enraged poetry set to classical music flourishes, and a mixture of diverging styles, like keening noise married to delicate piano and embattled hip-hop. But above all, expect to be changed. Kessler Theater, 1230 W. Davis St., 8 p.m., $35 and up, thekessler.org. — Jonathan Patrick
Friday
Pop quiz time! Without resorting to Google, name three ballets. Swan Lake, OK, that's pretty obvious. Yeah, The Nutcracker's another. Easy peasy, since Christmas is only two months away and that thing gets performed, like, a zillion times. But what's another one? If you came up with an answer — we couldn't — you're probably pretty pumped to know that the Russian Grand Ballet will perform Swan Lake at 8 p.m. Friday at Richardson's Eisemann Center, 2351 Performance Drive. Here's what we know about Swan Lake: Dancers say it's technically demanding, though one might assume that's true about all ballet. Tchaikovsky wrote the score. It features an evil sorcerer, a handsome, ornithologically confused prince and a dual role for the lead ballerina. The good guys die at the end, and unlike in the wonderfully trashy movie Black Swan, nobody wanks. Those of you who could answer our quiz, get tickets — $27 to $100 — at eisemanncenter.com. Those who could name only two but have never seen Swan Lake can get the cheap ones and up your cultural IQ tout suite. And those who couldn't name any ... dude, one was in the headline. Just stay home, fire up the bong and rent Black Swan. You'll like it. Eisemann Center, 2351 Performance Drive, 8 p.m., $27-$100, eisemanncenter.com. — Patrick Williams
Panic is a tribute act, meaning its members only cover songs by a particular artist — the Smiths and Morrissey, in this case — and they are dead ringers for the real thing. Singer Josh Venable, whom you may remember as the longtime host of the late great “Adventure Club” on KDGE-FM 94.5 and later 102.1, sounds the way you like to imagine you do when you’re singing along with Moz alone in your car, and Glen Reynolds nails Johnny Marr’s guitar parts and tone. Panic will perform at 8 p.m. Friday in the atrium at the Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 N. Harwood St. A screening of the video installation “the world won’t listen,” which shows fans in Colombia, Turkey and Indonesia singing karaoke versions of tunes from the Smiths’ 1987 album of the same name, will follow. The event is $10 for the public, $5 for students, and free for DMA members and children ages 11 and younger. Visit dma.org. Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 N. Harwood St., 8 p.m., free-$10, dma.org. — Jesse Hughey
If you were a kid without cable television in the 1990s, you were probably aware of about six stand-up comedians. Sinbad told long, hilarious stories full of physical humor rather than compact jokes and dressed like some deranged costumer shredded every item of clothing in a Gadzooks store and made a single jumpsuit. Sinbad added a turban to his customary stage outfit to play a genie in the seemingly forgotten 1990s comedy Shazaam. None of my friends remember the movie, anyway — maybe because it came out around the time most of them were still reading Berenstain Bears books, little more than a decade after Nelson Mandela died in prison. Jog your memory with the unforgettable stand-up at 7 p.m. Friday at House of Blues, 2200 N. Lamar St. General admission tickets, $30 plus some $11 in service fees, are available at 214-978-258 or livenation.com. House of Blues, 2200 N. Lamar St., 7 p.m., $30, livenation.com. — Jesse Hughey
If you’re a fan of anything, you don’t want to just consume it. You want to share your love of it with the world. You want to show as many people as you can the joy it can bring them in the hopes of using your love for Deadpool comics, Doctor Who or Gilmore Girls to make the world a better place. Make a trip to the Dallas Fan Days from Friday through Sunday at the Irving Convention Center, 500 W. Las Colinas Blvd. This three-day gathering will feature famous faces such as Doctor Who’s David Tennant, Stranger Things’ Caleb McLaughlin and Gaten Matarazzo, and Game of Thrones’ Kristian Nairn. Visitors can also show off their best cosplay costumes in a contest and buy as much pop culture-infused swag as their bank accounts can handle. Tickets range from $20 to $60. Tickets for children ages 6-12 are $5 to $8. Three-day passes, VIP packages and family passes are also available. Visit dallasfandays.com for more information. Irving Convention Center, 500 W. Las Colinas Blvd., Friday-Sunday, $20-$60, dallasfandays.com. — Danny Gallagher
Earlier this year, cinephiles lost legendary filmmaker George A. Romero, who in 1968 single-handedly invented the modern zombie film with his groundbreaking, cinema vérité-style feat of independent filmmaking, Night of the Living Dead. And, like the slow-moving, fresh-from-the-grave, flesh-eating ghouls of Romero’s first feature-length film, Night of the Living Dead is back from the grave of scratched celluloid and murky sound with a new 4K restoration. After decades of midnight showings and home movies of poor-quality prints and video transfers, Romero’s masterwork can finally be viewed on the silver screen as it was intended — scanned from the original negative and supervised by Romero. “What we have now, for good or for bad, is exactly what I shot,” Romero has widely been reported as saying. “This is closer than anything we’ve seen to the definitive version of the film. It’s in the right format, 1.33:1, and that’s never been seen before either.” Texas Theatre, 231 W. Jefferson Blvd., screens three showings this weekend: at 7 p.m. Friday, 5 p.m. Saturday and 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets, $10, are available at thetexastheatre.com. Texas Theatre, 231 W. Jefferson Blvd., 7 p.m., $10, thetexastheatre.com.— Daniel Rodrigue
Murder. Temptation. Passion. And that's just act one of Saint Saens' Samson & Dalila, opening the Dallas Opera season Friday at the Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora St. Clifton Forbes and Olga Borodina are cast in the lead roles of the Bible tale. Opera-goers will remember Forbes from Tristan and Isolde and Otello. The Russian mezzo soprano Borodina starred with Placido Domingo in Samson in London in 1992. Emmanuel Villaume conducts and enters his fourth season as musical director of the Dallas Opera. Special guest Pierre Vallet makes his Dallas Opera debut as conductor at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Bruno Berger-Gorski directs. The opera, rated PG-13, is sung in French with English subtitles. Other performances are at 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28 and 2 p.m. Nov. 5. Call 214-443-1000 or visit dallasopera.org for tickets. Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora St., 8 p.m., $19 and up, dallasopera.org. — Reba Liner
Saturday
Flea markets are so named because back in the day, the furniture put out for sale used to be riddled with the jumping buggers. But you won't find anything like that at Flea Style's Fall Dallas Show; the flea markets of 2017 are a different animal entirely. This one, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Dallas Market Hall, 2200 Stemmons Freeway, will have more than 200 booths of handmade and vintage clothes, art and home decor, all perfectly sanitary and ready for Instagram. If you plan to stay all day and knock out a few early Christmas gifts, there will be plenty of food and refreshments for sale when your shopping feet need a break. Tickets are $5 at eventbrite.com. Dallas Market Hall, 2200 Stemmons Freeway, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., $5, eventbrite.com. — Caroline North
If you've been awake in the morning and surfing YouTube, then you’ve probably seen Rhett and Link’s popular morning show, Good Mythical Morning. These North Carolina natives spend their mornings doing just about anything to enlighten and entertain their audiences, including testing their taste buds by identifying fast food tacos while blindfolded, trying to make each other flinch by any means necessary and seeing if snail meat is tastier when turned into jerky. Now that the internet-tainers have the Book of Mythicality, a new release celebrating their unique view of life called, they can share their worldview with a new audience: readers. They’ve also launched a Tour of Mythicality to celebrate the book and get closer to the fans, including those with tickets for their two sold-out shows Saturday at the Majestic Theater, 1925 Elm St. Check axs.com for available seats if they open up. Majestic Theater, 1925 Elm St., 1 and 7 p.m., $29.75 and up, axs.com. — Danny Gallagher
One of the hardest parts of being an emerging artist in any medium is getting people to pay attention to you. You can take classes and spend months on each painting, but you can't become the next Picasso if no one looks your way. So can you fault the Pancakes & Booze Art Show for pandering a bit? Everyone loves booze. Everyone loves pancakes. Sure, neither has much to do with art — unless you consider the funny face pancake at IHOP a masterpiece — but they'll both draw a crowd to The Door, 2513 Main St., beginning at 8 p.m. Saturday, giving more than 75 artists the chance to get their work seen. Along with artist booths, there will be live painting (on bodies and canvases), a free pancake bar and music by DJ Serb & Sweetleaf. The event is for people 21 and older. For more info, visit eventbrite.com. The Door, 2513 Main St., 8 p.m., $15, eventbrite.com. — Caroline North
Sunday
Scott Mescudi uses his atmospheric art to bring his experiences with depression to light as Kid Cudi. In the process, he’s amassed a cultlike following and influenced a new generation of hip-hop with his debut LP, Man on the Moon: The End of Day. His career has seen peaks and valleys as he’s experimented with wide-ranging sonics and genres, all while remaining transparent about his mental health. In 2016, Cudi spent most of the year in rehab for suicidal thoughts, as he told fans via an open letter. During that time, he wrote one of his best albums in years, Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin. Kid Cudi is embarking on a 27-city tour in support of the album, and fans are reporting he looks happier than he has in years. The Bomb Factory, 2713 Canton St., 7 p.m., $59.50-$75, thebombfactory.com. — Mikel Galicia
We can understand the appeal of home tours for the tourists. The chance to peek inside architecturally interesting or historical homes, to explore the variety of design and decor, to envy the lifestyles of people with way better taste than oneself: That makes sense. Sounds fun, even. We do, however, have questions for people who open their wonderful homes to tours: Are you nuts? You do realize that virtually anyone can buy a ticket, even the sort of people who work here? How much work and stress is involved in prepping your home for a tour? Where do you hide the liquor? All we can say to the people who own the eight homes on view this weekend for the Oak Cliff Fall Home Tour is that it's mighty gracious of you (as we make circling motions with our index finger beside our head). Ranch, prairie style, and contemporary dwellings are among the mix of homes that will be on view in historic Oak Cliff. Heritage Oak Cliff sponsors the event, which will take place from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, rain or shine. Advance tickets, $20 for adults and $15 for seniors, can be bought at ooccl.org or at Lucky Dog Books, Kessler Baking Studio and participating Tom Thumb stores. Day-of tickets are $25 and $20. Oak Cliff, noon-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, $15-$20, ooccl.org. — Patrick Williams
Monday
Most of us will never get to experience the final frontier firsthand, but that doesn’t mean we can’t pretend to know what it’s like on the International Space Station's Destiny module. The Perot Museum of Nature and Science, 2201 N. Field St., gives children and adults the opportunity to step aboard its massive, 10,000-square-foot, two-lab space station simulator featuring robotic arms, ion engines, water rockets and other authentic space travel and exploration objects during its Journey to Space exhibit. Along with general admission to the museum and the interactive elements of the exhibit ($7 for museum members or $19 to $28 for nonmembers), a Total Experience package option includes a space-themed film of your choice in The Hoglund Foundation Theater, a National Geographic Experience ($13 to $14 for members or $25 to $36 for nonmembers). The exhibit runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Visit perotmuseum.org for more information. Perot Museum of Nature and Science, 2201 N. Field St., 10 a.m.-5 p.m., $7 and up, perotmuseum.org. — Diamond Victoria
Tuesday
Drawing its name from French film director Jean-Luc Goddard's famous quote, “[T]he cinema is truth 24 frames per second,” Truth: 24 frames per second brings together 24 pioneers of film and video whose work spans six decades. The Dallas Museum of Art’s first major exhibition dedicated to “time-based media” attempts to explore how film is uniquely equipped to draw attention to the marginalized and disenfranchised. Truth is inspired by the DMA’s significant film and video holdings and includes 10 works from the collection, many of which have never been exhibited. The exhibition, on view through Jan. 28 at the DMA, 1717 N. Harwood St., also features the U.S. debut of John Gerrard’s "Western Flag (Spindletop, Texas)" and the world premiere of a newly restored version of Bruce Conner’s "Report," which examines the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Admission is $16 with discounts for seniors, students and military. (It’s free for DMA members and children 11 and younger.) Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 N. Harwood St., through Jan. 28, $16, dma.org. — Daniel Rodrigue
Wednesday
Houston-based artist John Adelman shares his latest collection of work, consisting of ink drawings on canvas in an exhibit titled Drawing:Attn. In his fifth solo show at Holly Johnson Gallery, 1845 Levee St., Adelman goes outside traditional boundaries of canvas pieces, literally and figuratively, with some pieces in the exhibit physically manipulated to join them with others. Varying in size, subject and resources, Adelman’s meticulous gel ink drawings accumulate through heavy layering, turning a nuts-and-bolts canvas platform into an opulent backdrop of rich ink strokes. Drawing: Attn is on display from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday through Dec. 23. The exhibit is free to attend. For more information, visit hollyjohnsongallery.com. Holly Johnson Gallery, 1845 Levee St., 11 a.m.-5 p.m., free, hollyjohnsongallery.com. — Diamond Victoria