Performania: A Spotlight on Texas Stages

Nancy Wozny·
AustinDallas/Ft WorthHoustonPerformaniaSan Antonio
·

HOUSTON

Paty Lorena Solórzano

Rising Texas choreographer Paty Lorena Solórzano premieres La Maleza: Weeds as Teachers, an experimental dance performance and installation created in collaboration with sound-based artist Anthony Alméndarez and visual artist Nicole Sara Simpkins, Nov. 6 – 7 at Houston Met Dance. “Through conceptual choreography and improvised vignettes, the dance questions what it means to be uprooted and/or find roots in unfamiliar spaces, and what plants can teach us about healing troubled environments,” explains Solórzano. “The work is an invitation into a sensory experience to rethink the concept of weeds.”

Houston Ballet

It’s a busy time for Houston Ballet as they celebrate the 10th anniversary of Stanton Welch’s The Nutcracker, a richly textured retelling of E.T.A. Hoffman’s classic holiday tale, Nov. 27 – Dec. 28 at Wortham Center, and the Margaret Alkek Williams Jubilee of Dance, a delicious ballet sampler, comes to the stage on Dec. 4 at Wortham Center.

DALLAS/FORT WORTH

TITAS/Dance Unbound

TITAS/Dance Unbound presents the audience favorite Pilobolus in the  gravity-defying Trips, Nov. 6 – 7 at Moody Performance Hall. Dec. 19, 2026, brings Alonzo King LINES Ballet, a company famous for classical/contemporary fusion. “Alonzo King is in a league all his own,” says Charles Santos, TITAS executive and artistic director. “His point of view is completely unique.”

Dallas Opera

Dallas Opera presents Leoš Janáček’s colorful tale of man versus fox, The Cunning Little Vixen, with soprano Mirjam Mesak making her American opera debut as the Little Vixen, Oct. 30, Nov. 1, 4, 7, 2026 at Winspear Opera House.

Broadway at the Bass

Performing Arts Fort Worth, Broadway at the Bass Series presents Tony Award®-winning, original Broadway sensation Jersey Boys, which chronicles the life and music of legendary Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, Nov. 3 – 8, 2026.

AUSTIN

Austin Shakespeare

Austin Shakespeare presents Lear, a costumed staged reading starring Austin Arts Hall of Fame honoree Franchelle S. Dorn with Helen Merino as Cordelia, Nov. 21 – 22 at the Long Center’s Rollins Theatre.

Broadway in Austin

Broadway in Austin presents A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical, the untold true story of a Brooklyn kid who became a chart-busting, show-stopping American icon, Nov. 3 – 6 at Bass Concert Hall.

Texas Performing Arts

Texas Performing Arts presents Motherhood, an artist lecture by Suzanne Bocanegra, starring Judah Lang presented with Fusebox world premiere, commissioned in part by Texas Performing Arts, Nov. 6 – 7, 2026 at McCullough Theatre. Part personal memoir with cultural and historic analysis, Motherhood  is an examination of how society views the work of raising children.

Ground Floor Theatre

Ground Floor Theatre presents, A Strange Loop, Michael R. Jackson’s Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning musical about a Black, queer writer navigating his own self-doubt, his family’s expectations, and a chorus of intrusive thoughts as he tries to write a musical about a Black, queer writer, Dec. 3 – 19, 2026.


SAN ANTONIO

Broadway in San Antonio

Broadway in San Antonio presents the now-classic musical, Beetlejuice, based on Tim Burton’s iconic film of the same name, chronicling the story of a teenager who meets a deceased couple and a demon, and hilarity ensues, Nov. 13 – 15 at the Majestic Theater.

—NANCY WOZNY

Nancy Wozny

Nancy Wozny is editor in chief at Arts and Culture Texas, a contributing editor at Dance Magazine and a frequent contributor to Pointe Magazine and Dance Teacher.