Things To Do In Dallas This Weekend: July 8-10

Some scientific fossil genius over in England has figured out the Earth’s most fearsome predator. It’s called the pliosaur, which has just forced me to imagine a velociraptor named Mila Kunis doing a pas de deux with Natalie Portman. Anyway, this creature is very, very dead. And even though it lived in the ocean and didn’t breathe fire, I think prehistoric North America needs to step things up.

Friday

Speaking of dancing (without dinos), The Wiz starts tonight with a pay-what-you-can performance at the Wyly Theatre. Not only is this Dallas Theatre Center show a collaboration with the Dallas Black Dance Theatre, but if you remember from web intern Courtney Egelston’s preview, they’re using the theater’s funky design to do something a little different with the audience. Here’s how it works: of the 450 seat house, there are 12 moveable “pods” with 15 seats each. If you’re lucky enough to sit in one of these pods (spaceship style), you’ll find yourself rearranged at various points during the production. There’s no track, so there’ll be at least two crew members manning each section. Never, in all the shows I’ve seen, have I been physically transported to a different location. So this will be new for me, too.

And just before the performance, the DTC is hosting a free block party along Flora St. to celebrate. You should go, if only to grab your penny tickets at the box office since you can’t buy them online. But there will be food trucks, disco music in case you feel like breaking a full on waterfall instead of just a sweat, and free parking in the Lexus lots.

Saturday

If you’ve somehow missed a local sighting of the Larry O’Brien, I have the surefire chance you’ve been waiting for. Mark Cuban will be playing baseball for charity out in Frisco at the Reebok Celebrity Heroes game, and obviously, he’s bringing the trophy. And letting you take pictures with it (pretty sure it’ll be in a case, so, sorry. No grubby paws.) Mike Modano and Dez Bryant will cheat on their respective sports for this, and American Idol runner-up David Archuleta will sing “God Bless America” during the seventh-inning stretch.

Also participating? Geoff Stultz. In Wedding Crashers, he delivers one-half of the best marriage vows ever written. All the proceeds benefit the Mike Modano Foundation, which supports not for profits dedicated to abused and neglected children, and the Heroes Organization, which gives underprivileged kids a chance to participate in team sports.

In other charitable goings-on, Tiff’s Treats is opening their new store in Plano a day early for a Make-A-Wish fundraiser for four-year-old Abigail, who suffers from Amniotic Band Syndrome and Wilms’ Tumor, a cancer of the kidneys. Abigail wished for a giant pink playhouse in her backyard, and you can help her dream come true by buying and eating cookies.

Sunday

Taste of Dallas, which actually starts today, is wrapping up a weekend of eating. There will be food booths (think Cowboy Chow, the Cake Ball Company, Clay Pit, Lockhart Smokehouse, and Trailercakes) and culinary demonstrations from Thomas Holt of Sullivan’s Steakhouse and Chase Cheatham from TJ’s Seafood Market. No tasting is over $3, so you could probably cobble together a decent meal.

And finally, because I can’t go a single post without pointing you towards some sort of boozey event, the Flying Saucer in Addison is hosting an “American Beer/BBQ Fest.” They’ll tap different brews throughout the day, like the Rahr Pecker Wrecker Imperial Pilsner and an Avery Brewing 18th Anniversary Ale. Patriotism is patriotism, even if it is a week late.

For more things to do this weekend, go here.