The ACTX Top Ten: June 2017

Albert Drake and Emily Alexa Drake
Photo by Brian Guilliaux.

#10:  Bruce Wood Dance Project

DALLAS-Bruce Wood Dance Project closes their season with a spectacular evening of dance demonstrating a thriving company which is continuing Bruce Wood’s legacy with innovation and respect. Albert Drake, founding company member and rising choreographer, premieres Chasing Home, with an original score by Joseph Thalken, along with two rare works by Bruce Wood, Zero Hero and Schmetterling, as part of JOURNEYS, June 16-17 at Moody Performance Hall.

Albert Drake and Emily Alexa Drake
Photo by Brian Guilliaux.
more about the Bruce Wood Dance Project on A+C TX

#9: A Better Yesterday at CAMH

HOUSTON-The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston’s latest exhibition A Better Yesterday, curated by Bill Arning, brings together work by Jack Early, JooYoung Choi, and Lily van der Stokker, artists that have an unusual relationship with creating for themselves or giving to themselves “better yesterdays,” through Sept. 3.

JooYoung Choi, Quantum Soup—Spacia and Amplexus: All There Is That Is Real Is the Friendship That Two Can Share, 2016, acrylic on cut and layered canvas, 61 1/2 x 66 inches. Courtesy Drs. Duyen and Marc Nguyen. Image courtesy the artist and Anya Tish Gallery, Houston. Photo by Sarah Ansell.
more about A Better Yesterday on A+C TX

#8:  CIRCUS 1903-The Golden Age of Circus

DALLAS/AUSTIN/HOUSTON—The circus as we know it may have shut down its tents, but it has found its way to the stage with CIRCUS 1903–The Golden Age of Circus, a theatrical take on this great american art form. With puppetry by Handspring (War Horse), you won’t even miss the live elephants. CIRCUS 1903 stops in Dallas, through June 4 at Music Hall at Fair Park presented by Dallas Summer Musicals; in Austin, June 6-8 at presented by The Long Center; and in Houston, June 9-11 at Jones Hall, presented by Society for the Performing Arts. San Antonio fans can see the show on Nov. 12 at The Tobin Center.

Photo by Scott Levy.

#7:  Keir Collection at DMA

DALLAS – Dallas Museum of Art presents an exquisite exhibition of one of the world’s most important private collections of Islamic art, on view through April 28, 2019, spanning 13 centuries and 3 continents from the Western Mediterranean to South Asia.

Manuscript, Turkey, c. 1605–1610, work on paper, overall: 7 7/8 × 5 1/4 × 1 3/16 inches. The Keir Collection of Islamic Art on loan to the Dallas Museum of Art, K.1.2014.575
more about the Keir Collection on A+C TX

#6:  Inherit the Wind at Dallas Theater Center

DALLAS-Inherit the Wind first premiered in Dallas in 1955, directed by legendary Margo Jones, one of the founders of regional theater and theater-in-the-round innovator. Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s iconic play returns just in time with a new vision under Dallas Theater Center artistic director Kevin Moriarty’s direction, through June 18 at Dallas Theater Center.

Akin Babatunde and Liz Mikel in DTC’s Inherit the Wind.
Photo by Karen Almond.
more about Inherit the Wind on A+C TX

#5:  Artpace

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio artists address international border issues at Artpace with Borderline Reality, an exhibition of 2-and 3-D work by Sabine Senft in the Hudson Showroom, and Checkpoint, an installation of large tapestry panels by Doerte Weber in the newly named Main Space.

Sabine Senft, Borderline Reality, 2017, Artpace installation detail.
Image courtesy the artist.
more about Artpace on A+C TX

#4:  Performa/Dance

AUSTIN- Midsummer Offerings: Three Dances is the third annual summertime performance Jennifer Hart has produced under the Performa/Dance name. The evening includes Fellow Travelers by Hart, a new work by Uri Sands and Austin-based Magdalena Jarkowiec’s Overseas Phone Call, 1987, a tribute to the landline conversations she and her family had while split between socialist-era Poland and the U.S, June 23-24 at Ballet Austin’s AustinVentures StudioTheater.

Oren Porterfield
Photo by Anne Marie Bloodgood.
more about Performa/Dance on A+C TX

#3:  Referendum at Flight Gallery

SAN ANTONIO- Referendum, a group show at Flight Gallery, features Texas artists Nick Barbee, Ed Blackburn, Kristen Cliburn, K.C. Collins, Casey Arguelles Gregory, Tommy Gregory, Mat Kubo, Aaron Munoz, Brendan O’Connell, Kyle Olson, Howard Sherman, Kelli Vance and George Zupp. “The range in this exhibition is tied together not by aesthetics, but by a spirit within the makers, whether it be the rebellious nature of their process or the blatant political implications,” says Tommy Gregory who coordinated the show, which runs June 1 – July 2.

Kelli Vance, K.O, 2009
oil on canvas
48”x72”
more about Kelli Vance on A+C TX

#2:  Ai Weiwei at The Contemporary Austin (Museum Without Walls)

AUSTIN-As part of its Museum Without Walls program, The Contemporary Austin is presenting two major works by the renowned Chinese artist and dissident Ai WeiweiForever Bicycles, 2014, and Iron Tree Trunk, 2015, on long-term view at the Waller Creek Delta and the Betty and Edward Marcus Sculpture Park at Laguna Gloria, respectively, June 3-ongoing.

Image © Ai Weiwei. Courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery.
Photograph by Gao Yuan.
more about The Contemporary Austin on A+C TX

#1:  Cry Havoc at 4th Wall

HOUSTON-When Bedlam Theater perform their stripped-down, glorious Saint Joan at 4th Wall Theatre last season they also included special performances of Stephan Wolfert in Cry Havoc, a one-man autobiographical show that merges veterans’ stories with the words of Shakespeare. 4th Wall brings Wolfert back for another round of performances June 7-18 at Studio 101 at Spring Street Studios. Wolfert will also offer training to help 4th Wall begin workshops for local veterans based on his De-cruit program, which introduces classical actor training to military veterans to help them reintegrate back into civilian life.

Stephan Wolfert in Cry Havoc.
Photo by Ashley Garrett.
more about Cry Havoc on A+C TX