Welcome to Places!, which returns to a Thursday-to-Wednesday cycle and rounds up our picks for the best theater, dance, classical music, opera, comedy, spoken word/poetry, cabaret and other performing arts on local stages and arts on film in movie theaters. Of all the local print and/or digital publications out there, it's the only weekly list of best bets that covers the range of performing arts—and only performing arts.
This week: Amphibian has a world premiere; WaterTower and Stage West have regional premieres; Teatro Dallas opens adaptations of important Latin American writers; and a ton of classical music organizations begin their seasons this week. Lots of good comedy, too. Plus: Edith Piaf, puppets with classical music, two films with original scores played live, and spooky goings-on underneath the Bath House Cultural Center.
This list doesn't have everything happening in this week's cycle, but we've hit the highlights. For more listings, click the red calendar button at the top right of the page, and then you'll see a search function where you can search for events by presenting company, venue, title, description, date range and more options. The list is still growing with the new seasons, and should be full in the next few weeks.
Note: Theater productions that have opened in a previous cycle and are in the middle of the run are not in the list below, but you can find them in the listings (see paragraph above). When a show is in its final weekend, we'll mention it in the "Last Chance" section of Places!
Get out and support the arts!
THE BIG 12
THURSDAY OCT. 12 thru WEDNESDAY OCT. 18
1 A Lost Leonardo
Amphibian Stage Productions | Fort Worth
Amphibian's second world premiere of 2017 was first seen at this theater as a staged reading in 2015, under the title Daedalus. This new play from David Davalos, best known for Wittenberg, finds Leonard da Vinci renouncing his Muse because his artistic career is in ruins, and he teams up with Cesare Borgia to change the world. Amphibian's production is directed by Illana Stein with dramaturgy by Kate Farrington, previously of the recently shuttered Pearl Theatre Company in NYC. Matthew Amendt is Leonardo, and the cast also features Jenna Anderson, Jim Jorgensen, Kelsey Milbourn, Shawn Gann and Patrick Bynane. | Oct. 13-Nov. 5
» Look for an interview with David Davalos coming on TheaterJones
2 Pride and Prejudice
WaterTower Theatre | Addison
Usually when a play has had a premiere elsewhere in the country, it takes at least one or two more years before a Dallas-Fort Worth theater can snag it. Part of the change Joanie Schultz is bringing to WaterTower Theatre is her national connections. She snagged the middle-of-the-country regional premiere of Kate Hamill's adaptation of the Jane Austen favorite just a few months after it premiered at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. It coincides with the West Coast premiere at Seattle Repertory Theatre (that began Sept. 29), and the New York City premiere at Primary Stages (opening Nov. 7). Hamill's version has a cast of eight actors, five of them playing multiple roles. The exceptions are Lizzy (played by Jenny Ledel here), Mr. Darcy (John Michael-Marrs) and Mrs. Bennett (Wendy Welch). The ensemble rounds out with Brandon Potter, Steph Garrett, Kate Paulsen, Bob Hess and Justin Duncan. And, as with Schultz's first production at WaterTower, Hit the Wall, there is an Intersection series with talks and events after many performances, including a talk-back with playwright Hamill on Saturday, Oct. 14. The Oct. 15 preview is pay-what-you-can, with proceeds benefiting the Alley Theatre in Houston, which suffered losses in the flooding after Hurricane Harvey. Also, taking a cue from Theatre Three, WaterTower has added a "hooky matinee" in the run. It's 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 24. | Previews Oct. 13-15; opens Monday, Oct. 16 and runs through Nov. 5
» More info in our listing, which has the list of Intersections events
» Read our interview with Kate Hamill
3 Life Sucks. + Stiff
Stage West | Fort Worth
Stage West's season opens with Life Sucks. (the period is part of the title), another of Aaron Posner's riffs on a Chekhov play, this time Uncle Vanya. Emily Scott Banks, who directed Posner's Seagull riff Stupid Fucking Bird last season, takes on the Chekhov playfulness again. The cast includes Sherry Jo Ward, who will also perform her incredible one-woman show Stiff, which was highly acclaimed at the Festival of Independent Theatres this year, under the banner of Risk Theater Initiative and directed by Marianne Galloway. Stiff, performed on Tuesdays during the run of Life Sucks., is a frank, and very funny, discussion of Ward's diagnosis with the neuromuscular disease Stiff Person Syndrome. | Life Sucks. previews Oct. 12 and 13; opens Saturday, Oct. 14 and runs through Nov. 12; Stiff plays at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays, Oct. 17-31
» More info in our listing for Life Sucks.
» More info in our listing for Stiff
» Look for special content related to Life Sucks. coming next week on TheaterJones
4 An Evening with Two Giants
Teatro Dallas | Dallas
Teatro Dallas' season opens with a pairing of stories by Mexican writer Juan Rulfo and Costa Rican writer Alfredo Cardona Peña, both adapted by Anyika McMillan-Herod of Soul Rep Theatre Company. Rulfo's Anacleto Morones is about a group of women who wish to canonize Anacleto Morones, a scoundrel. The second adaptation is based on The Best Mystery Story by Peña, about Cristóbal Magallans, a poor starving writer who wishes to support himself from his writing and marry Lucia (Sorany Gutiérrez.) These are performed as Teatro Dallas' Days of the Day production, and there will be altars and a Día de los Muertos celeration. | Oct. 13-Nov. 4
5 Piaf! The Show
Eisemann Presents | Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts | Richardson
French actress Anne Carrere plays the legendary French songstress in this tour that stops at the Eisemann Center in Richardson for one night. | 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14
» Read our interview with Anne Carrere
6 Eddie Izzard
The Majestic Theatre | Dallas
The transgender comedian who has announced running for parliament in England in 2020, and recently wrote a book, makes an appearance on his national tour to do comedy, sign books, and whatever else strikes his fancy. | 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13
7 In the Theater of Life
Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth | Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth | Fort Worth
Puppets are often seen in plays and musicals, but never with a classical music performance. Until now. The Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth brings in puppeteer Dan Butterworth (see video above) with life-size marionettes and shadow puppets for a performance of Stravinsky's L'histoire du soldat, a theatrical work meant to be "played or danced." Also on the program is Messiaen's Quartet for the End of the World. | 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14
8 ReMix: Dvořák's American Suite
Dallas Symphony Orchestra | Moody Performance Hall | Dallas
The Dallas Symphony's ReMix series has munchies before the shorter intermissionless concert, and mingling with the musicians afterward. For this edition, Ruth Reinhardt conducts Angela Fuller Heyde, violin, and the program has Copland's Three Latin American Sketches, Edgar Meyer's Violin Concerto and Dvořák Suite in A Major, Op. 98b, "American Suite." | 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 13 and 14
9 Ernie Kovacs Award: Kids in the Hall
Video Association of Dallas/Dallas VideoFest | Alamo Drafthouse | Richardson
Each year the Dallas VideoFest gives out the Kovacs Award to an innovator in television, film, comedy, or all of the above. This year that honor goes to the influential Canadian sketch comedy outfit Kids in the Hall. Two of the five members, Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald, will be here to accept and participate in an audience Q&A. They'll also introduce a screening of the KITH film Brain Candy. | 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Oct. 14
» Read our interview with Dave Foley
10 The General
Dallas Chamber Symphony | Moody Performance Hall | Dallas
As as become the signature of Richard McKay's Dallas Chamber Symphony, the group has commissioned a composer to create an original score for a silent film. This year, Douglas Pipes has scored the Buster Keaton great The General (1926), which will be performed by the symphony as the film plays on a screen over them. You'll remember that the last Pipes score for DCS was for Hitchcock's The Lodger in 2014. | 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17
11 Paddle to the Sea
Soundings: New Music at the Nasher | Nasher Sculpture Center | Dallas
The Nasher Sculpture Center's Soundings series, one of DFW's musical treasures, kicks off the 2017-18 season. Providing a live “soundtrack”, Third Coast Percussion performs works inspired by impressions of water and the natural world by Philip Glass, Jacob Druckman, traditional music of the Shona people of Zimbabwe, and music of its own, creating a performance that flows seamlessly throughout the course of the film. | 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18
12 Shadow Woman
House Party Theatre | Lake Level at Bath House Cultural Center | Dallas
Southern Methodist University alum Claire Carson, whose Hypochondria was seen from the Tribe in 2016, has a new play performed by House Party Theatre. Shadow Woman, which is staged in the lake level space at the Bath House Cultural Center, uses movement, spectacle, and visual storytelling in an immersive piece about a 17-year-old girl living alone with her father and a cat named Lucifer in a house where weird things start to happen. Directed by Jenna Hannum. | Oct. 14-28
» Our interview with Claire Carson
MORE PERFORMANCES OPENING/BEGINNING OCT. 12-18
THURSDAY, OCT. 12
Don Barnhart, Hypnotist
The comedian is at Hyena's Comedy Night Club Fort Worth. | Oct. 12-13
Sean Chen
The Cliburn inaugurates its first season of Cliburn Sessions at the Scat Lounge in downtown Fort Worth with the American who was a finalist in the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. | 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12
Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine
The University of North Texas presents the Lynn Nottage play, directed by Vickie Washington. | Oct. 12-15
Steve Hirst
The comedian is at Hyena's Comedy Night Club Plano. | Oct. 12-13
Paul Hooper
The comedian is at Hyena's Comedy Night Club Dallas. | Oct. 12-14
Jokin' and Smokin' featuring Bryson Brown
The comedian is at the Arlington Improv. | Oct. 12
Ronn McFarlane
The Fort Worth Classic Guitar Society presents the lutenist at the Kimbell Art Museum. | 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12
» Our review from the Oct. 10 performance in Dallas
Poetry Smash #1: Will a Real Man Take the Mic?
The first Poetry Smash of the 2017-18 season, hosted by Brenda Randall and Gabreal Lyitx, features poets Priceless Black, Gregory II, Sin, Austin Caraway and Poetre. At the Clarence Muse Cafe in the Black Academy of Arts and Letters. | 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12
Ali Siddiq
The comedian is at the Addison Improv. | Oct. 12-15
FRIDAY, OCT. 13
Corpse!
Onstage in Bedford presents the thriller by Gerald Moon, at the Trinity Arts Theater at the Bedford Boys Ranch. | Oct. 13-29
Le Ballet de Dracula
LakeCities Ballet presents its annual Halloween ballet, at MCL Grand Theater in Lewisville. | 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13; and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14
» Read Katie Dravenstott's behind-the-scenes preview of the ballet
I Love a Piano
The Fort Worth Symphony does a pops concert with pianist Tony Desare, at Bass Performance Hall. | 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 13-14; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15
Ghouls and Graveyards
Dallas Children's Theater's Teen Scene players does the Halloween-themed work featuring snippets of work by Poe and others. In the studio theater at the Rosewood Center for Family Arts, Dallas. | Oct. 13-29
Island Song
Ohlook Performing Arts in Grapevine presents the regional premiere of this musical, featuring words and music by Sam Camer and Derek Gregor, conceived with Laura Pietropinto. | Oct. 13-15
Lil Duvall
The comedian is at the Arlington Improv. | Oct. 13-14
Little Shop of Horrors
The Firehouse Theatre in Farmer's Branch presents the Ashman/Menken rock musical. |
The Mystery of Irma Vep
Adam Adolfo directs the Charles Ludlam for Mesquite Community Theatre at the Mesquite Arts Center. | Oct. 13-29
Orpheus and the King of Instruments
Orpheus Chamber Singers opens its season, at Church of the Incarnation in Dallas. | 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13
SSG Classics Fest: She Stoops to Conquer + Three Sisters
Stolen Shakespeare Guild presents its second Classics Fest. This weekend, Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer opens. Next weekend, the fest adds Steven Young's adaptation of Chekhov's Three Sisters, and then both will run in repertory. | Oct. 13-29
SATURDAY, OCT. 14
Coloratura Furiosa
Dallas Bach Society opens its season with a private house concert (the address is sent after you purchase a ticket) featuring coloratura soprano Camille Ortiz-Lafont, performing works by Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Rameau and Purcell. | 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14
Eunice Keem and Friends
The Fine Arts Chamber Players season opens with the Dallas Symphony's Associate Concertmaster Eunice Keem playing with her friends, including Aleksandr Snytkin, violin, DSO; Christine Hwang, viola, DSO; Sarah Kienle, viola, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra; Joseph Kuipers, cello; Nan Zhang, cello, DSO; and Jonathan Tsay, piano. At Horchow Auditorium in the Dallas Museum of Art. | 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14
» Listen to Jonathan Tsay's podcast interview with Eunice Keem
Steve Hirst
The comedian is at Hyena's Comedy Night Club Fort Worth. | Oct. 14
Martin Luther
The Christian theater company Puritan Productions does a piece in dance and drama about Martin Luther, important in the Protestant Reformation. Performed Oct. 14-15 at the Scott Theatre at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center; and Oct. 28-29 at Brownlee Auditorium in Garland. | Oct. 14-29
One Day Only 28
Rover Dramawerks in Plano presents its twice-yearly event in which short plays are written, designed, rehearsed, teched and performed within 24 hours. | 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14
SUNDAY, OCT. 15
Donizetti & Company
The Dallas Opera's Family Series presents a short opera performing works from Donizetti and telling the story of his life. Tickets are only $5! At the AT&T Performing Arts Center's Winspear Opera House. | 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15
Dream Catchers
The Lone Star Wind Orchestra opens its season with works by Mays, Daugherty, Noro, Holst, Bryant and Nancy Galbraith, at Moody Performance Hall. | 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15
Opus 100: Michel Bouvard
The Dallas Symphony's organ series on the Lay Family Organ at the Meyerson Symphony Center features organist Michel Bouvard, on works by Franck, Messiaen, Widor and more. | 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15
MONDAY, OCT. 16
The Danish String Quartet
Dallas Chamber Music Society opens its season with the return of this acclaimed group. Performed at Southern Methodist University's Caruth Auditorium. | 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 16
Live Theatre League of Tarrant County Mixer
The Live Theatre League of Tarrant county does a mixer event at Stage West, and this time the guest is yours truly. That's Mark Lowry of TheaterJones. There will be free food and a cash bar. | 5:30-7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 16
TUESDAY, OCT. 17
Echo Reads: Teen Dad
Echo Theatre's reading series presents Adrienne Dawes' comedy, with the playwright in attendance. | 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17
» Read our story on the 20th anniversary of Echo Theatre
October Overtures
Dallas Winds plays Eric Whitacre’s lovely October, John Wesley Gibson’s We Will Always Share the Stars, Holst’s First Suite in E-flat for Military Band, and Tchaikovsky’s classic 1812 Overture, at the Meyerson Symphony Center. | 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17
Rent 20th Anniversary Tour
Performing Arts Fort Worth presents the 20th anniversary tour of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Rent. | Oct. 17-22
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18
The Road to FCIT
The Arlington Improv begins events to the run-up of the annual Funniest Comic in Texas event. | 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18
WEEKLY/MONTHLY HAPPENINGS + OPEN MICS
Arlington Improv Open Mike
Free comedy open mike on Wednesdays at the Arlington Improv. | 7 p.m. Wednesdays
Backdoor Comedy Open Mike
The Backdoor Comedy Club at the Doubletree Hotel in Dallas has weekly open mike stand-up. | 8:30 p.m. Thursdays
» Our listing, with times, ticket info, map and more
Broadway on a Tuesday with K-Marie and Friends
Kimberly Oliver hosts this weekly showcase (#BOAT) of musical theater peeps and other vocalists singing showtunes and more, at Alexandre's Bar, 4026 Cedar Springs Road, Dallas. | 8 p.m. Tuesdays
Dallas Area Open Play
The Allegro Guitar Society has an open classical guitar session 4-6 p.m. on the second Sunday of each month at Dunn Brothers Coffee Shop, 3725 Belt Line Road in Addison.
Dallas Comedy House
The Dallas Comedy House in Deep Ellum has improv and sketch performances by local and regional troupes at various times on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with free improv jam sessions and stand-up open mikes on Tuesdays. Closed Sundays and Mondays.
Denise Lee Onstage Cabaret Series
Denise Lee presents monthly cabaret nights at two venues in town:
- Two Corks and a Bottle in the Quadrangle in Uptown Dallas, 7:30 p.m. third Tuesday of the month
- Women's Building in Fair Park, 7:30 p.m. fourth Tuesday of the month
Fort Worth Poetry Slams Open Mike
Host Michael Guinn leads this weekly open mike; participants earn points to see who makes it to Cowtown's award-winning national slam team. You can also just go to watch and listen. | 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Dec. 22
» Our listing, with times, ticket info, map and more
Four Day Weekend
Fort Worth's popular, long-running improv company has four performances every weekend at the Four Day Weekend Theater, Fort Worth. | 7:30 and 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays
» Our listing, with times, ticket info, map and more
Mama's Party
Amy Stevenson hosts a musical theater open mike event at the Uptown Theater in Grand Prairie. | 7:30 p.m. on select Mondays
Liz Mikel's Entertainer's Showcase
Dallas Theater Center company member Liz Mikel leads a jazz, R&B and show tune open mike every Monday at the Balcony Club, above the Lakewood Theater in East Dallas. | 9:30 p.m. Mondays
Open Classical
Bring an instrument (including your voice) and participate in this weekly classical music open mic. Events are in various locations in North Texas:
- 8 p.m. every Tuesday at Buzzbrews Kitchen on Lemmon Avenue, Dallas
- 8 p.m. second and fourth Mondays at Button's in Fort Worth
» Our listing, with times, ticket info, map and more
Open Mic Nite at Central
The Dallas Public Library Central Branch presents an open mic for musicians, poets and other performers. At the J. Erik Jonsson Library in downtown Dallas. | 5:30-7:30 p.m. on the first and third Thursdays of the month.
The Rose Room at S4
The Rose Room is a cabaret club within the dance S4 in Oak Lawn, Dallas, that has drag shows at 11 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays; and at 11 p.m. Thursdays.
Tuesday Tease
Sue Ellen's presents an evening of Queer variety every Tuesday at the bar at 3014 Throckmorton, Dallas. | 10 p.m. every Tuesday
LAST CHANCE
THESE PRODUCTIONS CLOSE THIS WEEK END
Alice in Slasherland
Lakeside Community Theatre in The Colony does Qui Nguyen's comedy about horror movie tropes. | Closes Saturday
Bat Boy: The Musical
Outcry Theatre Company does the 2001 musical about a boy who is half-bat and is taken in by a family in a rural town. Performed at the Addison Theatre Centre's Studio Theatre. | Closes Sunday
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Casa Mañana Children's Theatre presents the regional premiere of the musical based on the classic children's book, with penguin puppets! | Closes Sunday
Titus Andronicus
Shakespeare Dallas' fall production is the Bard's bloodiest play, directed by Christie Vela. Performed at Addison Circle Park. | Closes Sunday
The Trip to Bountiful
The Horton Foote classic presented by One Thirty Productions at the Bath House Cultural Center, Dallas. | Closes Saturday
LOOKING AHEAD
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES AND EVENTS
THEATER + CABARET + CIRCUS ARTS
- Circle Theatre presents Application Pending | Oct. 19-Nov. 18
- Uptown Players' season opens with The Full Monty | Oct. 20-Nov. 5
- Brick Road Theatre presents The Secret Garden at the Courtyard Theatre in Plano | Oct. 20-29
- Amphibian Stage Productions presents a New Play Festival | Oct. 21-Nov. 5
- Kitchen Dog Theater presents Ironbound at the Trinity River Arts Center | Oct. 26-Nov. 12
- Our Productions Theatre Company presents Haunted at MCL Grand Theater in Lewisville | Oct. 26-29
- Prism Movement Theater presents Lear at Theatre Three's Theatre Too! | Oct. 26-Nov. 19
- Resolute Theatre Project presents Ordinary People at Amy's Studio of Performing Arts | Nov. 3-12
- Casa Mañana presents Evita | Nov. 4-12
- Undermain Theatre presents John | Nov. 8-Dec. 3
- Jubilee Theatre presents Saturday Nights, Sunday Mornings: The Story of Al Green at the Scott Theatre | Nov. 10
- The tour of Irving Berlin's White Christmas comes to Bass Performance Hall | Nov. 14-19
DANCE + BURLESQUE
- Dark Circles Contemporary Dance presents Big Bad Wolf and Les Fairies in the AT&T Performing Arts Center's Elevator Project in the Sixth Floor Studio Theatre at the Wyly Theatre, Dallas | Oct. 19-21
- The Bombshell Dance Project debuts at Sammons Center for the Arts | Oct. 20
- TITAS brings Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company to Moody Performance Hall, Dallas | Oct. 27-28
- The Dallas Black Dance Theatre presents Director's Choice at the Wyly Theatre | Nov. 3-5
- TITAS brings Malpaso Dance Company to Moody Performance Hall, Dallas | Nov. 10-11
CLASSICAL MUSIC + OPERA
- The Dallas Opera season opens with Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila at the Winspear Opera House | Oct. 20-Nov. 5
- The Dallas Opera presents Verdi's La traviata at Winspear Opera House | Oc. 27-Nov. 12
COMEDY + SPOKEN WORD + FILM FESTIVALS
- Bill Bellamy comes to the Arlington Improv | Oct. 20-22
- Rhett & Link's Tour of Mythicality comes to the Majestic Theatre | Oct. 21
- Bill Engvall comes to the Winspear Opera House | Nov. 2
- Colin Quinn comes to the Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff | Nov. 16
» For complete listings of what's happening on North Texas stages, click on the calendar icon at the top right of the page. Once there, you can click the red "Search the Calendar" box, and search for listings by dates, performance type, the presenting company, titles or descriptions. For instance, type "Shakespeare" into the description field, click SEARCH and you'll find a host of performances (theater, dance, music, etc.) by, adapted from or about the Bard. 
Follow TheaterJones