We say, why not plan to make a new friend on this, National New Friends Day, at one of this week’s upcoming best bets. This week, we’ve got larger than life art with a purpose, a world premiere opera, and much more. Keep reading for our full list of best bets.
Walk with Little Amal today, Thursday, October 19, and experience one of the more unique artistic endeavors the city will see this year. The 12-foot-tall puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl, designed by Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa, has walked across 13 countries over the last two years to bring attention to the refugee crisis, and she will be making three stops in town starting in front of the Alley Theatre at 1 p.m. Alley associate artistic director, Brandon Weinbrenner, told the Houston Press that they are trying to promote “the whole sense of community that Houston is so famous for,” adding that they’re “celebrating through music, through art, through a crowd coming together to lift up Amal." Free, but (of course) donations are welcome for the cause. You can learn more about Amal’s route here.
Women’s rights in the U.S. and abroad take center stage as ROCO returns to Asia Society Texas on Friday, October 20, at 7:30 p.m. for Rise Up, a program which will premiere a new work by Richard Danielpour, ROCO’s composer-in-residence, called “Breaking the Veil,” and a ballet by Quinn Mason called “The 19th Amendment” featuring members of the Houston Contemporary Dance Company. Following the performance, stay for a panel discussion on women's rights in Iran with Danielpour. Guests are welcome to arrive at 6:30 p.m. for a pre-show reception and to to view the museum’s galleries. Tickets are available here for $45 with tickets priced at $15 for students aged 17 or younger. If you can’t make it, the performance will be livestreamed free on ROCO’s website, Facebook page, YouTube channel and A440.live.
A chance meeting with a docent from the Smithsonian introduced Confederate-born, pro-Union spy Elizabeth Van Lew and one of her informants, an enslaved woman with a photographic memory, Mary Jane Bowser, to composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer. On Friday, October 20, at 7 p.m. their opera based on the two women, Intelligence, will make its debut at Houston Grand Opera. In addition to the intrigue of the unusual Civil War-era circumstances of their lives, Scheer told the Houston Press that another reason Houstonians will want to see the show is due to its cast, which Scheer compares to seeing “Mantle play baseball.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, October 28, Wednesday, November 1, and Friday, November 3, as well as 2 p.m. Sunday, October 22, at the Wortham Theater Center. Through November 3. Tickets can be purchased here for $25 to $210.
Gather your family and don your Halloween costumes because the Houston Symphony will return to The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands on Friday, October 20, at 7:30 p.m. for their annual Hocus Pocus POPS concert. Prior to the concert of seasonal favorites, led by conductor Gonzalo Farias, are a variety of pre-concert activities beginning at 6 p.m., such as pumpkin decorating, photo ops, and train rides on the Halloween Express. And remember, the first 100 fully costumed kids to check in get the chance to walk the stage during the always fun Goblin Parade. Tickets for orchestra-level seating are available here for $25, or you can plan to sit in one of The Pavilion’s free seating areas in the Mezzanine or on the Lawn – no ticket or preregistration required.
On Friday, October 20, at 7:30 p.m. Vitacca Ballet will open their latest season at The MATCH with a triple bill, titled SOWN, featuring a premiere from Hélène Simoneau; an extension of resident choreographer Garrett Smith’s “Hypnotic Forces”; and a remount of Robyn Mineko-Williams’s “Grey Horses,” originally choreographed with Hubbard Street Dance in 2013. Kelly Ann Vitacca, the artistic director and founder of Vitacca Ballet, recently told the Houston Press that though it was for a remount, Mineko-Williams “came into the room for this remount not as ‘this is what is was and therefore it should be’; she came into the room with ‘this is what is was, now let’s see what you do with it’” attitude. The program will be presented a second time at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 21. A post-performance mixer will follow each show. Tickets for either can be purchased here for $25 to $40.
Daphne du Maurier’s 1952 short story “The Birds” didn’t only inspire Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film, it’s also inspired a 2009 Conor McPherson adaptation, which will open Dirt Dogs Theatre Co.’s season on Friday, October 20, at 8 p.m. McPherson’s 80-minute-ish, New England-set “dystopian piece,” also titled The Birds, is “part Survivor and part The Lord of the Flies” as we visit a remote cabin where two strangers are taking shelter from the attacking birds – until another stranger arrives. Performances continue at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Monday, October 30, and 2 p.m. Sundays at The MATCH through November 4. Individual tickets can be purchased here for $30, with pay-what-you-can tickets available for Sunday matinees and the Monday, October 30, show (suggested price of $30).
ARToberFEST is once again about to take over Postoffice Street between 21st and 23rd Streets – also known as Galveston’s Historic Downtown Cultural Arts District – as the juried fine arts festival returns on Saturday, October 21, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, October 22, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for its 26th year. Presented by The Grand 1894 Opera House, the two-day-long festival will showcase the works of more than 100 artists, offering guests the chance to interact directly with the artists and view artist demonstrations (not to mention purchase those artists’ works to take home with them), listen to musical artists both days, and munch on food from food trucks and more. Tickets are required to attend and can be purchased here for $5 (children under 12 get in free).
Make your way down to Bad Astronaut Brewing Co. on Saturday, October 21, from 2 to 7 p.m. p.m. for the Spray City Mural Festival. More than a dozen artists will be on hand live painting 14 murals, and you can also peruse vendors in an artist market (presented by Insomnia Gallery), take the kids to a special arts and crafts area, snack at food trucks, listen to live music, drink beer and more. Following the festival, and ending the evening, at 8 p.m. will be six-artist black light graffiti battles. You can view the featured artist lineup here, and entry to the festival is free.
