It’s Thank You Day – in the United Kingdom. But we don’t mind borrowing from our friends across the pond if it means showing gratitude to the unsung heroes within our community, too. So, drop a thanks before and after checking out this week’s picks for best bets, which include an inaugural festival, a world premiere play, and much more.
It’s officially Pride Month, and you can start the monthlong celebration by grabbing a lawn blanket, packing some snacks and heading over to Trebly Park tonight, Thursday, June 5, at 8:30 p.m. for Movies Under the Stars: Kinky Boots, presented by Downtown Houston. Julian Jarrold’s film, inspired by a true story about a drag queen played by Chiwetel Ejiofor that saves the day at a failing English shoe factory, earned a cult following after its 2005 release, which in turn led to a popular Broadway musical in 2013 – a musical that may (per Cyndi Lauper, who wrote the music and lyrics) just might get its own film adaptation soon. The screening is free, but you need to reserve a ticket here.
In 1888, the “match girls” of the Bryant & May Factory formed the first “union of unskilled workers” to succeed “in striking for better pay and working conditions in London.” Coincidentally or not, as posed by playwright Maggie Lou Rader in LET. HER. RIP., at the same time, Jack the Ripper began his notorious killing spree. See the world premiere of the two-act play at Stages on Friday, June 6, at 7:30 p.m., which Stages Artistic Director (and play director) Derek Charles Livingston says “takes place in the past to expose the present.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, and 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets to any of the performances can be purchased here for $49 to $96.
Steven Spielberg’s 1974 film The Sugarland Express, so named for Sugar Land, Texas, “marked the beginning of a legendary partnership, as the young Spielberg requested ‘the composer for The Reivers’—John Williams—to score his feature debut.” On Friday, June 6, at 7:30 p.m., the Houston Symphony will celebrate the iconic music that’s come since, from films like Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, and more during John Williams & Steven Spielberg: Movie Magic at Jones Hall. The concert will be performed again on Saturday, June 7, at 2 and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, June 8, at 2 p.m. Tickets to the in-hall performances are available here for $57 to $187. Saturday night’s show will also be livestreamed (access the stream here for $20).
Following last month’s evening-length program at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Vitacca Ballet will head outside to present a night of contemporary ballet at Miller Outdoor Theatre on Friday, June 6, at 8:30 p.m. The program, titled LAUNCH, will present the work of choreographers like Ethan Colangelo, Hélène Simoneau, Houston native Alana Jones, and Vitacca Ballet’s resident choreographer Garrett Smith, whose work was highlighted last month. The evening will also include an original work by Ilya Kozadayev featuring 2025 Prix de Lausanne candidate Aubrey Daniels of Pearland ISD and the dancers of Vitacca Ballet. Like all performances at Miller, the show is free, and you can reserve a ticket here beginning at 10 a.m. on Thursday, June 5, or you can plan to sit on the Hill – no ticket required.
In conjunction with The Menil Collection’s current exhibition, “Animals, Monsters, and Creatures from the Collection” on view until October 19, the museum and Aurora Picture Show have joined forces for Constant Companions, a program of animal-centric short experimental films set to screen on Saturday, June 7, at 8:30 p.m. The program will feature six different works, including Steve Reinke and Jessie Mott‘s animated, forest-set Blood & Cinnamon; Andro Eradze’s Raised in the Dust, a video project inspired by Vazha-Pshavela’s 1901 poem The Snake Eater; and Emily Vey Duke and Cooper Battersby’s Here is Everything, a message from the future narrated by a cat and a rabbit. The evening, indoor screening is free and open to all but is recommended for ages 13 and up.
The city’s newest festival, the Fade To Black Arts Festival, kicks off on Sunday, June 8, with a Community Day and Kickoff Ceremony from noon to 4 p.m. at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. S. Denise O’Neal, the founder and executive director of the nonprofit behind the festival, told the Houston Press that audiences will “see some of the most talented Black creatives from Houston and across the country” and go “can go from a stage play to a performing arts class to a Zumba class in the same day.” The Fade To Black Arts Festival will continue through June 14 at various locations around Houston, including the MATCH. You can view the full schedule here. Individual tickets range from $20 to $60, and festival passes are also available for $150 to $600, here.
Solange Knowles’s Eldorado Ballroom Houston, a six-event series curated by Knowles for her collective Saint Heron, begins on Tuesday, June 10, at 7:30 p.m. with On Dissonance (An Evening of Classical, Symphonic, and Opera Works), presented by Performing Arts Houston, at Jones Hall. The entire series is a tribute to Houston’s Third Ward and Tuesday night’s program puts a spotlight on the contributions of Black women to opera and classical music with works by Julia Perry, Tania León, and Knowles. Joining the program are Conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson of Philadelphia’s Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, who will lead musicians from the Houston Symphony. The series continues through June 20 at locations around the city. Tickets can be purchased here for $49 to $159.
In Alfred Hitchcock’s 1938 film The Lady Vanishes, adapted from Ethel Lina White’s The Wheel Spins, a missing governess is at the center of “a beauty” of a plot, “with an impossible crime and a gallery of colorful suspects worthy of Agatha Christie or Ellery Queen.” Delve into White’s novel with Brazos Bookstore during their Summer of Hitchcock and then head over to River Oaks Theatre to see the film – second only to “North By Northwest for the title of best comedy thriller ever made” – on Wednesday, June 11. Gather for a book discussion at 6:30 p.m. followed by the film screening at 7:15 p.m. Tickets are available here for $12. If you can’t make it, the Summer of Hitchcock will continue with Vertigo in July and Psycho in August.
