Jean-Luc Picard, Captain of the Starship Enterprise, is in town this weekend for Comic Con. So is Stan Lee. Let us all salute this momentous occasion with a collective glasses readjustment.
All right, fellow office-dwellers! Let's bust out of our workweek ruts and slip into something a little more comfortable, like experimental theater, opera, competitive art handling and Nerdfest 2012 (aka: Dallas Comic Con). Click the titles to learn more about each event and share this party guide with your friends. They'd do it for you. Now, let's boldly go where no one has gone before. Thursday 5.17 Flesh World (at 500 Singleton Blvd.) -- Typically I get nervous when theatrical productions incorporate the audience, but this very strange new play (performance art?) happening in a converted welding shop at 500 Singleton Blvd. is worth confronting my inhibitions. It involves a spiritual spy, reincarnation and oddities galore. Only 30 people are allowed in at a time, so snatch up a ticket.
Friday 5.18 Big Girl's Guide to Love Penned right here in Dallas, this play introduces us to Sloane Davis, who could also be known as A Lady Who's Got Her Shit Together. Her career is swinging and those college loans are probably paid off, but where's that other driving element? Where's the love?
Taste of Addison By title alone I imagine "unlimited breadsticks." This annual festival culls Addison's best chefs, bands and carnival rides (!) together for a megafestapalooza. There's music by Rhett Miller and the Serial Lady Killers, Mat Kearney, Wade Bowen and more.
Late Nights at the DMA, Nasher and Crow Is it me or did life just get more awesome? Target is sponsoring the Nasher's 'Til Midnight series throughout the summer, which means you can go there FOR FREE and party in the sculpture garden until your Hyundai flips back into a pumpkin. The other two hotspots are the DMA and the Crow collection: Both locations are cramming in tons of cool activities and discounted entry rates. There's a progressive tour beginning at 8 that docents you through all three venues; there's a Twitter art scavenger hunt (winner wins memberships to all three museums!); and there's a rockin' street festival with dancers and music. If you savor moonbathing and art, this is the party for you.
Saturday 5.19 1700 Seeds Picnic Guerrilla gardening via sunflowers? Yes please. These urban farmers adopted an abandoned plot in Oak Cliff, ran a tractor over it and planted 1,700 sunflower seeds in a perfect grid formation. Now, they bloom. Revel in this temporary floral installation with a picnic on Saturday. I give it two green thumbs up. Hands on an Art Body Think: Hands on a Hard Body, but for art. Done in the style of 1960s endurance phenomenons, this Oliver Francis joint encourages folks to stick it out, hold onto their art of choice and attempt to last the duration. The final person holding art wins. Added bonus, those arts in question are designed to "resist touch." Dallas Comic Con Dear followers of the nerdly arts, today you can meet STAN LEE. I'm just going to let that sink in. Stan Lee. Saturday. Comic Con. You're welcome.
Cicerone Matthew Posey brings tremendous (read: bizarrely awesome) plays to his tiny space The Ochre House. Most recently he gave us a musical comedy based on the life of Charles Manson. This time he's tackling the banned book Tropic of Cancer. It's a darkly deconstructed take on the tale, relabeled Cicerone.
Sunday 5.20 Tosca The Fort Worth Opera Festival is flippin' more divas than a Tyler Perry joint, and today you can catch Tosca. This lead soprano isn't a fragile flower, despite her romantic foundations. This gal will stab a bro.
The Super Humor Funny Time Happy Show If you can smuggle a Rooty Tooty Fresh 'N Fruity plate into the Super Humor Funny Time Happy Show, you win.
