Hot Tickets: July 2019

Kimbell Art Museum

Renzo Piano Pavilion, 3333 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, 817-332-8451, kimbellart.org Family Festival: Light, Color, Monet! This free event honors the artist Claude Monet with art-making activities, performances and face-painting, and includes free admission to “Monet: The Late Years.” But it also celebrates National Ice Cream Day, with helpings of everyone’s summertime favorite. Noon- 5 p.m. July 21.

Perot Museum of Nature and Science

2201 N. Field St., Dallas, 214-428-5555, perotmuseum.org Sign the kids up for the museum’s Summer Nights series.

• July 5, Summer Science Explore subjects such as what makes sunscreen work
• Aug. 1, Maker Meet artists, engineers, builders and other creators and get some hands-on experience 5-8 p.m. Free with general admission.

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

3200 Darnell St., 817–738-9215

Modern Dance Festival Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth pay tribute to Merce Cunningham, master of modern dance, to mark the centennial of his birth. The choreographer, who died in July 2009, was known for radical experimentation, especially in collaborations with artists from other genres. A big highlight of the festival: A chance to see concert films of “Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event.” The 90-minute performances featuring 100 solos choreographed by Cunningham took place this past April 16, the artist’s birthday, in London, New York and Los Angeles. The Modern Dance Festival will screen films of the three concerts simultaneously in the lobby, the auditorium and in Gallery 14 on July 13, 20 and 27. Other events include dance performances, more films and videos, and lectures. CD/FW founder and artistic director Kerry Kreiman says Merce Cunningham has meant a lot to her. “I admired his spirit of curiosity, invention, exploration, experimentation. … His choice to leave some choices to chance and happenstance.” July 12-27. All events are free. For details, go to themodern.org/performances.

Mimir Chamber Music Festival

PepsiCo Recital Hall, Walsh Center for Performing Arts, 2800 S. University Drive, Fort Worth

While many performing-arts groups take their summer break (and as the symphony delights us with outdoor pops and fireworks), the Mimir festival, now in its 22nd year at TCU, is the place to be for thoughtful, engaging and air-conditioned classical fare. This season features high-profile guests from around the world, including the New York-based Horszowski Trio on the July 9 and 12 concerts. Other Mimir artists play evening concerts July 3 and 5, as well as a 2 p.m. matinee July 7 at the Kimbell Art Museum’s Renzo Piano Pavilion. The festival also highlights a roster of emerging artists in a pair of lower-priced concerts July 6 and 11. July 1-12, mimirfestival.org.

Amphibian Stage Productions

120 S. Main St., Fort Worth, 817-923-3012, amphibianstage.com

Gutenberg! The Musical! Amphibian revives Anthony King and Scott Brown’s hilarious two-man show about a pair of aspiring playwrights trying to get funding for their inspired project: a musical about Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press. The men, Bud and Doug, sing all the songs to impress producers sitting in the audience and do something like 30 characters in the play-within-a-play. July 12-Aug. 18.

Broadway at the Bass

Bass Performance Hall, 4th and Calhoun streets, Fort Worth, 817-212-4280, basshall.com

A Bronx Tale The story of actor Chazz Palminteri’s Italian-American upbringing gets a doo-wop soundtrack in this high-energy musical about Bronx life in the 1960s. (Palminteri wrote the book and starred in a movie version with Robert De Niro.) July 23-28.

Circle Theatre

230 W. 4th St., Fort Worth, 817-377-3040, circletheatre.com

Sweeney Todd If Stephen Sondheim’s macabre musical masterpiece scared the pants off you in a big concert hall, try it in Circle Theatre’s intimate little basement space. Dallas Theater Center veteran Joel Ferrell directs. June 6-July 13.

Hip Pocket Theatre

1950 Silver Creek Road, Fort Worth, 817-246-9775, hippocket.org

Arcadia Darling The second show of the season by this utterly distinctive Fort Worth institution is an “unfolding” of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, “drawn deeper still from the mythic Pan of Arcadia.” Adapted by Lake Simons and John Dyer, with puppetry and Dyer’s original music, it sounds magical. July 12-Aug. 4.

Jubilee Theatre

506 Main St., Fort Worth, 817-338-4411, jubileetheatre.org

Sistas The Musical You can’t beat this as a subject for a jukebox musical: The subtitle is “A musical journey of African-American women from Bessie Smith to Beyonce,” and ’60s girl groups get a lot of attention, too. Songs include “Mama Said,” “I Will Survive” and “A Woman’s Worth.” July 26-Aug. 25.

Artspace111

111 Hampton St., Fort Worth, 817-692-3228, artspace111.com

Sixth Annual Artspace111 Regional Juried Exhibition Hilde Nelson, curatorial assistant for contemporary art at the Dallas Museum of Art, selected the works for the show, featuring dozens of artists and celebrating the range of expression we see today in Texas and the region. Through July 20.

Webb Gallery

209 W. Franklin St., Waxahachie, 972-938-8085, webbartgallery.com

Paint It Black Check out the work of three outsider artists: Ricky Bearghost, a self-taught weaver, who works at the Portland Art & Learning Studios (for artists with developmental disabilities); Ike E. Morgan, who focuses on presidents, especially George Washington; and Taylor Rushing, who works in the traditions of tramp art and black-ink vintage comics. Through July 21.

William Campbell Contemporary Art

4935 Byers Ave., Fort Worth, 817-737-9566, williamcampbellcontemporaryart.com

Redux The gallery devotes its summer to a group exhibition featuring works from the vault. Among the many artists represented are Otis Jones, Frank Tolbert, Carol Benson, Jake Gilson, Bernd Haussmann, Julie Lazarus and JT Grant. July 6-Aug. 31.

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

3200 Darnell St., 817–738-9215, themodern.org/films

Little Shop of Horrors Recline on the Modern’s lawn near the reflecting pond for an outdoor screening of the 1980s cult musical starring Rick Moranis as Seymour and Audrey II as the singing plant from space. This is a director’s cut with Frank Oz’s original ending. And if that’s not nerdy enough, character costumes or ’80s finery is encouraged. First Friday at the Modern begins at 5 p.m. with a DJ and cash bar in the Grand Lobby. The Café Modern terrace and the lawn open at 6 p.m. (picnic baskets available with advance reservations; outside food and drink not permitted), and the film starts at 8:45. July 5.

Tuesday Evenings at the Modern

The Tuesday-night events series switches to films. These screenings have a “disappearing” theme, related to the aesthetic or philosophical issues raised in the current exhibit Disappearing—California, c. 1970: Bas Jan Ader, Chris Burden, Jack Goldstein

• Point Blank This 1967 thriller, a tense noir starring Lee Marvin and Angie Dickinson, has a fractured timeline and a flashy visual style. Artist Stephen Lapthisophon introduces the film. July 2.
• Faces This one, directed by John Cassavetes in a cinema verite style, stars Gena Rowlands in a story about middle-class, middle-aged ennui in LA in the late ’60s. July 9.
• Bigfoot Artist Gregory Ruppe presents his 2012 film along with Lightning (1976) by Paul and Marlene Kos, and the 2007 documentary Here is Always Somewhere Else: The Disappearance of Bas Jan Ader by Rene Daalder. July 16.
• Films and videos by Bruce Nauman Frances Colpitt, art historian at TCU, presents short works by Bruce Nauman, pointing out that the difference between film and video is important. The focus is on Walk with Contrapposto, 1968, a black-and-white video; Bouncing Balls, 1969, silent black-and-white 16 mm film on video; and Walking in an Exaggerated Manner Around the Perimeter of a Square, 1967-1968, silent black-and-white 16 mm film on video. July 23.
• Film and video works from John Baldessari, Vito Acconci and William Wegman The Modern’s Jesse Morgan Barnett presents film and video works by a trio of artists, finding themes in their early video art that help further illuminate the Modern’s “Disappearing” exhibit. July 30.
  

Magnolia at the Modern

Screenings of contemporary arthouse fare are shown every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

• The Tomorrow Man John Lithgow is a lonely old disaster prepper who meets Blythe Danner, who has some eccentric habits of her own, in the first feature from video director Noble Jones. July 5-7.
  
• The Fall of the American Empire Oscar winner Denys Arcand’s Quebec-set crime caper aims to show that the only value we have left is money. In French with English subtitles. July 12-14.