Courtesy of Deep Ellum Foundation
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In a city this big, there’s something to do every single day of the week. How could there not be? Dallas is a destination for festivals, traveling art exhibitions, stand-up comedy circuits and literally everything in between. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it is a curated, weekly guide of top picks you won’t want to miss. And the ways to fill your schedule don’t stop here — check out our full events calendar for even more ways to get through the week in North Texas.
Comedy, ballet, local music, nuclear annihilation and a dysfunctional family Thanksgiving — the latter two are not on the same bill, thankfully — are all on tap this week.
Monday, Nov. 17
Ali Wong at Addison Improv
Tickets are running short for comedian Ali Wong’s three nights of shows at the Addison Improv (4980 Belt Line Road, No. 250), so you might have to get creative to find a seat. That’s to be expected for the Emmy and Golden Globe winner, whose four Netflix specials have tracked her life as expectant mother (Baby Cobra), new mother (Hard Knock Wife), spouse (Don Wong) and newly single divorced mom (Single Lady), which she didn’t find bad at all: “I’d been married for 10 years, so I had that, like, ‘just got out of prison’ energy, you know? And my standards were strategically low. Like, the less hair on the head, the more hair on the body, the better. … ’Cause you know what kind of energy that dude is bringing to the bedroom? Gratitude.” Now that she’s reportedly in a relationship with fellow actor/comedian Bill Hader, maybe we’ll get her hilarious takes on her latest stage of love and life. Single guest tickets (for those few remaining) are $124 and range upward for tables of four, six or eight. Performances are at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. through Wednesday.
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Dr. Strangelove at Angelika Film Center
Baby Boomers must be asking themselves, “What the hell happened?” OK, that’s generally true, but more specifically, we’re talking about nuclear annihilation. After growing up being told to duck, cover and kiss their asses goodbye, expecting to be turned to ash before Social Security funds run out (which helps explain why they’re running out), boomers took a breather when the Berlin Wall fell and glasnost opened up Russia. Now, as anyone who watched director Kathryn Bigelow’s recent Netflix film, A House of Dynamite, knows, we should all still be scared AF. But just because you’re doomed doesn’t mean you can’t laugh. The Angelika Film Center, 5321 E. Mockingbird Lane, No. 230, is screening Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb, director Stanley Kubrick’s darkly hilarious take on our nuclear demise. It stars Peter Sellers in three roles and offers memorable lines such as, “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here. This is the War Room!” Catch it at 4 p.m or 7 p.m. Tickets are $14 or $16.19 when booked online.
Tuesday, Nov. 18
Deck the Halls: Holiday Traditions at the White House
Get a peek inside Christmas at the White House from the time before someone gilded it up to resemble a high-end Cathouse, as the George W. Bush Presidential Center, 2943 SMU Blvd., presents “Deck the Halls: Holiday Traditions at the White House.” Dori Thornton Waller, former White House deputy social secretary, Sara Armstrong, former deputy chief of staff to first lady Laura Bush, and Susan Whitson, Bush’s former press secretary, will offer inside details on how Christmas comes alive at the White House. Check-in begins at 5:30 p.m. for the hour-long presentation, which ends at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $40 for non-members, and a cash bar will be available.
Tianyu Lights Festival, through Jan. 18
The holidays are a season of lights, and the Texas Trust CU Theatre (1001 Texas Trust Way in Grand Prairie) is blazing the way with a showstopper called Koda’s Adventure to the Magical Ocean. Follow Koda’s journey “through glowing realms where ocean dreams sparkle, starlit fields glow with warmth, and playful nights come alive with light and laughter,” according to the event’s website, which makes the show look like something that would be delightful to accompany with mushrooms. (Not that we’re suggesting it — that would be wrong. This is a show for kids. We’re not judgmental, though.) Time slots for entry begin at 6 p.m. and continue every half-hour until 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $19-$27, and the show continues through Jan. 18.
Wednesday, Nov. 19
Create a Glass Snowman at Vetro Glassblowing Studio
We all know that person. While some of us have an artificial tree decorated with bargain ornaments, hung randomly with mismatched discount balls from Target, strands of lights with missing bulbs and limbs draped with clumps of tinsel, the overachievers go full Martha Stewart. Their 7-foot spruce is tastefully adorned with color-coordinated, hand-crafted ribbons, topped with an antique angel dressed in Italian silk and loaded with family heirlooms. Don’t hate these people — it’s Christmas. Instead, one-up them by blowing your own glass ornament at Vetro Glassblowing Studio (701 S. Main St. No. 103, Grapevine). The studio is offering daily one-hour classes in creating hand-blown glass snowmen throughout the season (and additional classes for making ornaments starting Nov. 18). Tickets are $73.47. That and the risk of a few burns is a small price to pay for an in-yo’-face holiday moment.
The Maltese Falcon at Angelika Film Center
When you’re a hard-bitten private investigator on the streets of San Francisco and your partner is murdered, you have to do something about it, no matter the costs. Follow Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) as he untwists a tangled plot involving a seductive mystery woman in pursuit of a jewel-encrusted statue of a bird. Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre deliver iconic performances in the king of noir films, showing at 7 p.m. at the Angelika Film Center, 5321 E. Mockingbird Lane, No. 230, as part of its Noir-vember series of classic films. Tickets are $14 and can be purchased online.
Thursday, Nov. 20
Downtown Plano Art & Wine Walk
Don’t scoff at us for saying this, Bishop Arts District, but Plano’s revitalized old downtown is actually kind of nice. It’s walkable, the architecture is traditional, and it offers great coffee shops, dining and entertainment. And for now at least, it’s readily accessible by DART rail. See it for yourself at Downtown Plano Art & Wine Walk’s “A Journey Through the Sense Edition.” Come to 1021 E. 15th St. for a night of local artists, crafts, live DJs, wine, wine, wine and more from 6:30-9:30 p.m. The event is for those 21 and older; it’ll happen rain or shine, and tickets are $19.32 with fees.
Padma Lakshmi at Horchow Auditorium
Join a conversation with Emmy-nominated food expert and best-selling author Padma Lakshmi as she appears at the Horchow Auditorium at the Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 N. Harwood St., to discuss her new cookbook All American: Tales, Travels, and Recipes from Taste the Nation and Beyond. The creator of the critically acclaimed Hulu series Taste the Nation is a superstar in America’s food world, so in-person tickets are already sold out, but you can get tickets to the livestream of her appearance online for $56.50 or $51.50 for DMA members. Both include a copy of her new book.
Friday, Nov. 21
A Christmas Story: The Musical at Winspear Opera House
First, let’s say thanks that the 1983 movie A Christmas Story has bumped off It’s a Wonderful Life as the holiday TV-movie staple. (The voice of that kid at the end about how angels get their wings pierces one’s ears like nails.) Granted, tons of people will disagree, but we’re solidly on team Ralphie and his quest to score an “official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time.” (What boy wouldn’t want that, at least back in Depression-era Indiana, before kids with guns got so terrifying?) But maybe you’ve seen the movie one too many times (anything is possible). Luckily, Broadway at the Center is bringing a musical version of the film to the Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora St., at 8 p.m. Friday with tunes from the songwriters behind theTony Award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen and the Academy Award-winning film La La Land. Tickets for Friday night’s performance start at $45.30, and the show continues at 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
My F*cked Up Thanksgiving
What could be a better setting for improvisational comedy than a family Thanksgiving? Weird uncles, obnoxious cousins and general family dysfunction, fueled with booze, are a vein of comedy gold that the Stomping Ground Comedy Theater troupe will mine with its longest-running show, My F*cked Up Thanksgiving. Performances are rated “M” for those 18 and older and take place at 1350 Manufacturing St., No. 109. Tickets for Friday’s show at 9 p.m. are $11.25-$25, and more performances are scheduled for Nov. 22 and Nov. 28-29.
Saturday, Nov. 22
Deep Ellum Block Party Courtesy of Deep Ellum Foundation
Reports of Deep Ellum’s imminent demise come around every few years or so, and they’re always premature. Come see and hear why that is — and help keep the ‘hood thriving — at the Deep Ellum Block Party, as around 25 venues join forces to fill the day with more local bands than we care to count. Some notable names include Joshua Ray Walker, Rosegarden Funeral Party, Cure for Paranoia, Branoo Funk and many, many more. The fun begins at noon. Let’s hope it never ends.
Hasan Hates Ronny|Ronny Hates Hasan
This is the season for the airing of grievances, and comedians Hasan Minhaj and Ronny Chieng have plenty, some about America, but mainly about each other. You may know them from The Daily Show, but you might not know that Hasan Hates Ronny|Ronny Hates Hasan. That’s the name of their touring comedy show that’s making a stop at the Music Hall at Fair Park, 909 1st Ave., at 4 p.m. Saturday. In these divisive times, is hatred really the answer? Could be. Come see for yourself. Tickets start at $71.
Sunday, Nov. 23
Nutcracker – Short and Sweet
If we were going to attend a ballet performance, one with the words “short and sweet” in the title would be a likely place to start, but then we’re Philistines — and not children. The North Central Ballet and the Palace Arts Center know their (better class of) audience and are offering an hour-long version of the classic Christmas ballet, The Nutcracker, to introduce children to the magic of ballet. (Adults are welcome, too.) See The Sugar Plum Fairy take to her toes at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at 300 S. Main St. in Grapevine both Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $18.
Continuing Events
Roaming Mexico: Laura Wilson at Meadows Museum, through Jan. 11
Now, if you’re thinking, “Wait, I thought that was going to be a book of Laura Wilson’s photographs,” you’re not wrong. The Roaming Mexico title inspiring artist/author events at the likes of Interabang Books in October, is published to accompany the major exhibition of the Meadows Museum opening Sunday, Sept. 14. The show features nearly 90 of Wilson’s photographs documenting more than three decades of the artist’s travels and studies across the country. It shows incredible range of Wilson’s talents, of course, but also of the people and culture of Mexico. Subjects sometimes provide a vibrant harmony and other times, offer a distinct dissonance when put in juxtaposition. Don’t miss Wilson’s love letter from the lens, hanging through Jan. 11. Find more online.
Return to Infinity: Yayoi Kusama at the Dallas Museum of Art, through Jan. 18
“All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins,” one of Yayoi Kusama’s iconic “infinity room” installations, will be displayed at the Dallas Museum of Art (1717 N. Harwood St.) for the first time since 2018. The immersive exhibition at the DMA envelopes the viewer in a trippy, tangible display of art history. Kusama hails from the mythic ’60s art scene. “Pumpkins,” created in 1991, incorporates many themes characteristic of the legendary artist’s work: infinity, the sublime, and obsessive repetition. And, of course, pumpkins – so many pumpkins. To book your appointment to honor these pumpkins, visit the DMA’s website.
International Surrealism at the Dallas Museum of Art, through March 22, 2026
The DMA (1717 N. Harwood St.) will be showing its latest exhibition, International Surrealism, from now through March 22, 2026. Featuring Surrealist icons like Salvador Dalí, René Magritte and Leonora Carrington, this showcase aims to “[plunge] audiences into the mind-bending dreamscapes of the Surrealist movement” and “[highlight] the wide range of practices and techniques from around the globe that define Surrealism.” Public tickets cost $20 and DMA members get in for free. International Surrealism will be included in the DMA’s Free First Sundays for every month of its run.
Groundbreakers: Post-War Japan and Korea from the DMA Collection at The Crow Museum of Asian Art at UT Dallas, through July 26, 2026
If you missed it at the Dallas Arts District location of The Crow, now’s your chance to see Groundbreakers: Post-War Japan and Korea from the DMA Collection… and consider that second degree. The Crow Museum of Asian Art at UT Dallas offers up the fantastic exhibition that includes pieces created in fascinating ways: with feet, with a mouth, by pouring paint onto a canvas, and other methods that channeled convention after the considerably conventional 1950s. Don’t miss it. Find out more online.
