The summer solstice is now upon us, and here’s our promise to you: We’re going to keep you inside with our best bets as much as possible. Unless we think it’s worth braving the summer elements, in which case, consider it. Keep reading for this week’s picks, including the return of a beloved play festival, a classic album come to life, and much more.
The Fade to Black Play Festival returns for its 12th season, placing the spotlight on short plays (10 of them, each 10 minutes or less) by African-American playwrights, on Thursday, June 20, at 8 p.m. Denise O’Neal, who puts on the festival through her nonprofit Shabach Enterprise, recently told the Houston Chronicle that this year’s plays include subject matter like Alzheimer’s disease and LGBTQ issues, and one play – by Alric Davis – tells the story of a real woman who became a Buffalo Soldier. The festival will continue through June 30 at the Match on Thursdays through Fridays at 8 p.m. and one matinee at 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 30. Regular admission tickets are available here for $45 ($55 at the door). If you want to guarantee one of the best seats in the house, you can also pick up VIP admission for $60 ($70 at the door).
When you think of the state of Texas, what comes to mind? If it’s Whataburger, high school football, Buc-ee’s ubiquitous beaver and gun culture, you’re in luck because you can appreciate all these things and more during the return of Tamarie Cooper’s annual summer musical, this year titled Tamarie’s Texas Toast, at The Catastrophic Theatre on Friday, June 21, at 8 p.m. About the show, Cooper recently told the Houston Press, “I can’t say that I’m not going to offend somebody. My humor has gotten a little more lewd at times over the years with more profanity,” but that she loves Houston, adding that she “wanted to share that.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and July 15, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2:30 p.m. Sundays through August 3 at the MATCH. Tickets are pay-what-you-can with a suggested price of $35 and can be purchased here.
Nat King Cole is remembered as “one of the most popular and influential entertainers of the 20th century,” a consistent chart-topper who “pushed jazz piano in a new direction and paved the way for later generations of performers.” His daughter, Natalie Cole, created “her own legacy, selling millions of albums across a wide range of genres and winning nine Grammy awards.” On Friday, June 21, at 8:30 p.m. you can hear their music, backed by a 28-piece pops orchestra, during The King Cole Legacy Experience produced by Dinkins Music and Arts Foundation at Miller Outdoor Theatre. The show is free and you can reserve tickets here starting today, June 20, at 10 a.m. No tickets required to sit on the Hill. The show will also be livestreamed on the Miller Outdoor Theatre website, YouTube channel, or Facebook page.
Composer extraordinaire John Williams “defied traditional monster-movie musical tropes” when he created the theme for Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film Jurassic Park: He wrote a hymn, one that “leapt out of the movie and got stuck in the ears of pop culture.” On Saturday, June 22, at 2:30 p.m. the Houston Symphony, under conductor Gonzalo Farias, will visit the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts to perform Williams’s score, which “plays to the awe and reverence these small human characters have for the majestic prehistoric beasts brought back to life,” alongside the film projected in all its HD glory during Jurassic Park in Concert. The concert will be performed again on Saturday, June 22, at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday, June 23, at 2:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased here for $48 to $145.
Merriam-Webster defines the word “aureate” as “of a golden color or brilliance.” The word lends itself to the title of the latest evening-length work from The Pilot Dance Project, choreographed by Adam CastanÍeda and Ashley Horn, which will be presented at The DeLuxe Theater on Saturday, June 22, at 7:30 p.m. Aureate will utilize 11 dancers from The Pilot Dance Project, as well as 15 members of CastanÍeda’s Community Ensemble, and an original score from Sonia Flores to explore themes of womanhood and nature, and incorporate the mythic tale “The Beauty Contest of the Birds.” The work will be presented a second time at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 23. Tickets to either performance are available here for $15.
Not only does it open with “one of the most iconic guitar riffs of all time,” and not only is it “one of the greatest debut albums ever,” it’s “one of the greatest albums, ever.” The album is Are You Experienced from the Jimi Hendrix Experience, “an unmistakably American album, an explosive convergence of blues, rock, and R&B that could only come to life in England’s mid-‘60s psychedelic rock scene,” and on Saturday, June 22, at 8:30 p.m. you can hear the entire 1967 album, faithfully recreated and performed track by track, live at Miller Outdoor Theatre when Classic Albums Live performs Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced. The show is free, and you can reserve tickets here starting at 10 a.m. on Friday, June 21, or you can take a seat on the no-ticket-required Hill.
Alex is a Belarusian who joins the French Foreign Legion hoping to start a new life. Jomo is a Nigerian rebel fighting the oil industry’s attempt to plunder in the Niger Delta. The two men “on opposite sides of an unremarkable clash” cross paths in Disco Boy, “a neon-dream parable cast against the shadow of sweeping global forces” from Italian director Giacomo Abbruzzese, which will screen at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston on Sunday, June 23, at 5 p.m. The film, which marks Abbruzzese’s feature film directorial debut, “is heady, seductive and heavily symbolic in its approach” showing that the men are “ordinary people, unwittingly caught up in the cold gusts of empire — men who, hoping for better lives, are pushed toward cruel fates beyond their control.” Tickets to the screening are available here for $7 to $9.
Sure, there are some problems with the 1999 coming-of-age football film Varsity Blues, including “thinly sketched female characters,” some “homophobic and misogynistic humor” and star James Van Der Beek’s put-on Texas twang, which was even roasted by the Dawson’s Creek actor’s 8-year-old. But it’s “a ’90s artifact that has endured the ravages of time” because what it “did do right was channel the anti-authoritarian vibe so integral to movies about teenagers and high school.” On Wednesday, June 26, at 6 p.m. you can enjoy a screening of the film, “about a Texas high-school football team rebelling against its abusive coach and holding on to one last gasp of glory before graduation,” during An Evening with James Van Der Beek at the House of Blues Houston. Tickets are available here for $59 to $119.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
