5 Things to Do, May 23-27: Experimental Film in Oak Cliff, Polka in Ennis & More

As Dallas continues its gradual and mostly awesome slide into the slightly unpleasant and less awesome days of summer, we’d encourage you to soak it up while going out doesn’t yet involve pitting out your shirts and burning yourself on the steering wheel. Maybe you’ll need an umbrella here and there, but you won’t be dreading the walk from the car to the venue door the way you will in July. So cram it all in while you still can, Dallas: There’s plenty here to fill up these last few days of spring.

Ophelia Underwater
8 p.m. Monday, May 23
Margo Jones Theater
1121 1st Ave.
$5 to $25

Theater collective The Tribe takes on local playwright Janielle Kastner’s contemporary reimagination of Hamlet heroine Ophelia. The play considers the young woman liberated from the male perspective through which she’s always been seen — and the audience meets her as she meets her fate. As she drowns, she considers the ways her life, her memories and her end were shaped by her femininity and her sexuality. Zoe Kerr gives a haunting performance in a play that's a deep dive into what society expects of women and what they expect of themselves. Tickets are $5 to $25.

Youth Refugees: Stories of Conflict, Courage and Resettlement in Dallas
6 p.m. Tuesday, May 24
Emmett J. Conrad High School
7502 Fair Oaks Ave.
Free

The DFW World Affairs Council presents a stirring talk by three student refugees who’ve settled in Dallas after their families fled conflict and fear in Nepal, Malaysia and Iran. Beyond the politics and memes, this program features real-life tales of desperation, perseverance and serious bureaucracy as well as insight from community panelists representing resettlement agencies, law firms and human rights groups. Click to learn more.

"I Have Left Baltimore: Short Films by Margaret Rorison”
8 p.m. Wednesday, May 25
Texas Theatre
231 W. Jefferson Blvd.
$5 suggested donation

Artist Margaret Rorison’s short experimental films hit the big screen as The Spectacle Society collective hosts a screening at the legendary Texas Theatre. Eleven of Rorison’s films, ranging from 3 to 8 minutes in length, have been compiled for this event, weaving together sound and imagery to create meditations on the environment, nostalgia, landscapes and politics.

Sexual Geography
7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 26
The Wild Detectives
314 W. 8th St.
Free

Women have long been recognized as important and prolific contributors in the field of education, but even so, higher education can be a minefield for ladies who toil in the name of knowledge. A dramatic reading by the Goat Song Theatre Collective of Lauren Ferebee’s Sexual Geography explores the nexus of power, institutional sexism and workplace politics in this screwball comedy that would probably be considered totally absurd if it weren’t so true to life.

National Polka Festival
7 p.m. Friday, May 27
Downtown Ennis
$8 to $30

Czech out this big ol’celebration of that little dance move known as the polka, running all weekend long in downtown Ennis. Things get hopping at 7 p.m. Friday at the KJT Hall, 1216 South Paris St., with a spirited opening dance complete with traditional Czechoslovakian costumes and a King and Queen contest. The rest of the weekend is jam-packed with parades, live music, games, Czech food and all the polka you can handle. Click here for more.