Do you have a burning question you’ve always wanted to ask someone older and wiser than yourself? Do you feel like your lunch hour could be better spent than with water cooler American Idol conversation? Follow-up question: Does anyone still watch American Idol? If you’re looking for wisdom in the…
Last year a biology major at University of Texas at Dallas was joking around with his friends about starting a fraternity. To Ali Mahmoud the idea of sitting around drinking mango juice and reading the Quran didn’t sound particularly appealing. But when Alpha Lambda Mu, the country’s first Muslim fraternity,…
It’s everywhere. The horribly catchy Oscar-winning song from the cartoon film that everyone saw except you. Until last year, Disney hadn’t made a movie anyone cared about in over a decade. When Frozen came out, no one could possibly have predicted its quick rise to ubiquity. But now you can’t…
It started as Texas Frightmare Weekend: Three days of horror flicks at the DFW Alamo Drafthouse alongside celebrity appearances by the likes of filmmakers, writers, make-up artists and stars. Then, it grew to an entire week of screenings, panels and opportunities to meet everyone from the original Creature from the…
Instead of a bouncer or a box office attendant, you find yourself approaching a psychic. She offers to read your palms and you begin to wonder what kind of night lies ahead. In Andy Baldwin’s vision, The Sophistication of the Oldfashioned will be something in between theater and a speakeasy…
It’s Saturday morning just before 11:30 a.m. and the staff at the Dallas Contemporary is adjusting microphones and setting up chairs for its Chit Chat with Richard Phillips. I dusted off my hangover from Friday night’s champagne-laced gallery hopping, because I felt I owed it to Phillips to show up…
“April is the cruelest month,” TS Eliot penned to open his poetic triumph, The Wasteland. Poets have written at length about this month filled with spring showers and a sense of renewal. Odgen Nash exhorted readers to marry an April girl; Robert Frost described the days of April as blue…
The hooks slip in to your skin, like a fish caught on a line. Each hook aligned with a particular area of your body to keep a secure grasp on you without ripping out flesh. It takes years to get it right. It takes a practiced hand and a knowledgeable…
I am not an art collector. If I could afford it, I suppose I would be, but at this point in my life I cannot claim it as a hobby. But as an arts journalist, I find myself staring at the price tag of a piece at a gallery scheming…
This morning in the foyer of the Meyerson Symphony Center, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra revealed plans for a large-scale festival of the arts. In May 2015, Soluna brings together the city’s artistic institutions as the foundation for the festival that will include international artists and commissions of new work…
Only in America can you tug the sleeve of your Lyft driver, clear your throat and politely ask him to drive-thru Whataburger for you at 2 a.m. Sure, other countries serve third meal at gyro stands or back alley cafes, but here you don’t even have to leave the car…
If you want to stuff any more into this weekend, you’re going to have to pack it to the point of bursting. There are so many art events, we’re struggling to zip it all together. There are gallery openings, farmer’s markets, festivals, dance show, theater productions, a huge film festival,…
There aren’t many artists with the balls to install a set of neon Playboy bunny ears on the side of the road. That’s exactly what Richard Phillips did out in the wild West Texas town of Marfa. Of course, it encouraged the rest of the world the to debate the…
It’s not every day that a museum announces an exhibition that is a re-creation of a gasoline service station, but those are the exact words the Nasher Sculpture Center used for Bettina Pousttchi’s Sightings installation that opens Saturday. The first American exhibition for German-Iranian artist Pousttchi will be a “drive-thru”…
A grown man who lives with his parents; your cousin who has no desire to keep her day job. A psychologist nicknamed them “kidults.” Everybody knows a few. Hell, I’ve dated a few. These stunted adults are the subject of Brooke Berman’s sharp new play Hunting + Gathering, about characters…
Sure, Beauty and the Beast is one of those shows that parents will attach leashes to their babies and drag them along to “expose” them to art. Sure, the toddlers might hum along through their snot noses to “Be our Guest.” And sure, I may find myself sitting next to…
If you’ve not yet made it to Ochre House Theater to see a show, shame on you. When you step into the tiny storefront in Exposition Park, you enter the crazy mind of Matthew Posey. It’s a strange and beautiful place. The shows are dark, zany adventures and the latest,…
Playwright Kevin Christensen unveils his work about an astronomy professor whose life begins to unravel around him, pending an alien invasion. Sat., April 5, 8 p.m.; Sun., April 6, 3 p.m.; Fri., April 11, 8 p.m.; Sat., April 12, 8 p.m.; Sun., April 13, 3 p.m., 2014…
Collecting art is like raising race horses: a real knack for it is rare and you need a ton of money to raise a good one. But unlike speedy thoroughbreds, it’s never to late to take up an interest in building your collection or window shop. This weekend the Dallas…
You’ve probably heard the alarmist statistics about the swiftly approaching demise of the Earth. We’re treating the planet poorly and our lifestyles are evidence of our guilt. And no, driving a Prius does not exempt you. Once a year, groups of Earth’s inhabitants gather in remorse. On Earth Day, we…
The panel begins and immediately the question of diversity arises. Mayor Mike Rawlings poses the question, what’s exciting in Dallas and what needs improvements? Anne Bothwell, director of KERA’s Art & Seek, answers first. The arts here, she says, reflects the spirit of Dallas. Artists are independently creating really ambitious…
In 2010, Jordan Roth and his mother Susan Roth Romans set up an exhibition on the second floor of the Fairmont Hotel during the Dallas Art Fair. A veteran in the art world, Romans knew this would attract attention from the collectors visiting the fair or staying at the hotel…
