Best Bets: Psycho, A Golden Jubilee, and An Afrofuturist Affair

You’ve come to the right place if you’re looking for something to do and want to experience the best in theater, dance, opera, and more. Below you’ll find a mix of virtual, outdoor, and socially distanced events coming up this week.

Let Houston Grand Opera introduce you to the artists of the HGO Studio through the HGO Studio Digital Recital Series, which they launched on Tuesday. Each Studio singer has chosen a cycle of songs and performed them with a Studio pianist, with the resulting recitals set for release each day through August 20. Soprano Raven McMillon and bass-baritone Nicholas Newton’s recitals are out now, with mezzo-soprano Lindsay Kate Brown’s take on Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder premiering Thursday, August 12, at noon, and tenor Ricardo Garcia’s performance of Vaughan Williams's On Wenlock Edge scheduled for Friday, August 13. Next week, check back for bass William Guanbo Su, mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce, baritone Blake Denson, soprano Elena Villalón, and bass Cory McGee. Each recital will be available to view (free) on HGO’s YouTube channel and Facebook page. Check out the series program here.

Friday, August 13, is the last day to stream the last digital production of the Mildred’s Umbrella season, Will Eno’s Lady Grey (in ever lower light). The “sparse and handsomely filmed piece” earned a rave review from the Houston Press, which highlights director Greg Dean’s ability to honor not only the humor of the piece, but the heartache and anger, as well as star Sally Burtenshaw’s “excellent performance” – “cool and lady-like with just a splash of oddness.” More than that, it’s a production that “is in many ways better enjoyed in virtual format where one can pause, rewind and watch again.” You can get your free ticket here (though donations are appreciated).
Don’t miss your last chance to view 30 Ways To Get Free, a series of three Afrofuturist micro-films written by Candice D’Meza, and do it in style on Friday, August 13, at 7 p.m. during Black To The Future: An Afrofuturist Affair. The in-person event, presented by D’Meza and The Catastrophic Theatre, isn’t just a viewing party of the Nate Edwards-directed work – it’s a costume party with curated drinks for the first 50 people and a specially themed musical playlist. It is also part of “A Single Thread Weaves a Future,” a multimedia installation from Stacey Allen and Saida Carter, over at Winter Street Studios Gallery, where the event will take place. So put together your best merperson, alien or futuristic ensemble and show up to buy a pay-what-you-can ticket at the door. More information here.

NobleMotion Dance, three times named "Best Dance Company" by the Houston Press, marks their return to in-person dance performance this month with We Interrupt This Program. The 75-minute production, choreographed by co-artistic directors Andy and Dionne Noble with dancers, "features kaleidoscopic action that strings together an illogical chain of events infused with references to the pandemic waiting game, the feeling of being stuck in a loop and to the necessary protective behaviors that have become strangely habitual." If you can't make it out to The MATCH this weekend (on Friday, August 13, at 8 p.m. or Saturday, August 14, at 4 or 8 p.m.), you can also catch the show at 8 p.m. on August 20 or 21. Tickets to the socially distanced performances (each at 50 percent capacity) can be purchased here ($30 regular admission and $20 student admission).
Summer is winding down and so is the Downtown District’s summer edition of Movies at Market Square Park. On Friday, August 13, at 8:30 p.m. you can make your way over to Market Square Park for the penultimate film in the series, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. The 1960 film, about a secretary on the run who finds herself at the wrong motel, is widely recognized as having “the most celebrated kill scene in horror” and tends to land “near or atop lists of the greatest horror films ever made.” The screening is free, so get there early with your mask and blanket or lawn chair to establish your socially distanced bubble six feet from your nearest film-loving neighbor. (Also, if you’re wondering, the final film in the series, An American in Paris, is set for Wednesday, August 25.)

Head out to Miller Outdoor Theatre on Friday, August 13, at 8:30 p.m. for Silambam Houston Presents: Sharing Stories Indian Dance, Theatre, & Flamenco, two acts of family-friendly, cross-cultural fun. The evening includes the premiere of Chakravyuh: Battle Against The Odds, drawn from the Mahabharata. To enhance the experience, check out Silambam’s digital treasure hunt, which features characters from the Mahabharata and includes a video with characters from Chakravyuh: Battle Against The Odds. If you missed your chance to get a seated, socially distanced ticket, you can always grab a blanket or lawn chair and head for the un-ticketed seating on the Hill. Or you can stay home entirely and watch on the Miller Outdoor Theatre website, YouTube channel, or Facebook page.

The Catastrophic Theatre's Tamarie Cooper is 50 and you can celebrate, kvetch, and lament all that goes along with such a momentous occasion when Tamarie Cooper's Golden Jubilee opens on Friday, August 13. Though this virtual production will be the third show Cooper's created during the pandemic, the Golden Jubilee has an in-person, socially distanced component to it. On Saturday, August 14, at 9 p.m. (with doors at 8:30 p.m.) you can head out to enjoy the show on the roof of Khon’s Wine Darts Coffee Art. Masks are required and seating is limited, so get your tickets now. Like access to the livestream, tickets for the in-person viewing party are pay-what-you-can with a suggested price of $35. (Also, if you miss or can't make it, you can join one of the other two viewing parties set for August 21 and 28.) Tamarie Cooper's Golden Jubilee will be available to stream through September 5.

File this one under “all good things must come to an end”: The final concert in the Downtown District’s Road to River Revival Music Fest is scheduled for Saturday, August 14, at 7:30 p.m. The ongoing outdoor concert series that’s been happening down at Market Square Park over the last few months, co-presented with Houston’s own Splice Records and Saint Arnold Brewing Company, will close with performances by Money Chicha and Mia Borders. Headliner Money Chicha, a “passion project from a pared-down lineup of Brownout and Grupo Fantasma vets,” will play “cumbia music, or dance music, built on hypnotic, trippy grooves” with Borders opening with her own brand of “laidback R&B-tinged rock/pop.” “Doors” are at 6 p.m. so throw on your mask, grab a blanket or lawn chairs, and get there early to stake out the perfect socially distanced spot to enjoy the free show.