Wednesday 30 – Jonathan Rockefeller is an Australian who became interested in theater after watching Moulin Rouge! and going to work for the film’s director, Baz Luhrmann. His stage adaptation of The Very Hungry Caterpillar has earned rave reviews, and now it comes here for one night only. Three other children’s stories by Eric Carle are part of this show, as well as the beloved title story. The curtain rises at 7pm at Bass Performance Hall, 555 Commerce St, FW. Tickets are $22-44. Call 817-212-4280.
Thursday 31 – We think The Skin of Our Teeth is the best among Thornton Wilder’s plays ourselves, but now that small-town repertory companies have stopped beating Our Town into the ground, perhaps it’s time to take a fresh look at this play about the verities of life in a hamlet and the then-groundbreaking techniques that Wilder used to tell the story. Circle Theatre’s production runs today thru Mar 9 at 230 W 4th St, FW. Tickets are $15-38. Call 817-877-3040.
Friday 01 – The audition process continues to find a conductor who will replace Miguel Harth-Bedoya at the podium of The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. This weekend, Andrew Grams (who was here less than two years ago) will conduct a heavily Germanic program with one of Schumann’s lesser-known orchestral overtures, Brahms’ Second Symphony, and Bruch’s First Violin Concerto, the latter with Simone Porter. The concerts run today thru Sun at Bass Performance Hall, 555 Commerce St, FW. Tickets are $18.70-97. Call 817-665-6000.
Saturday 02 – Pyrography is the art of burning designs onto leather, gourds, or pieces of wood. It’s the last that Marsha Wilson will demonstrate in her wood burning demonstration at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center. You’ll see how she creates pieces like the ones she has hanging in the venue as part of her Western Roots exhibit. The event is at noon at 1300 Gendy St, FW. Admission is free. Call 817-738-1938.
Sunday 03 – A two-hander is what people call a play that has only two actors in it. Such works tend to be intense, but Steven Dietz’ Lonely Planet strikes a funnier, more melancholy tone. Written during the height of the AIDS crisis, it concerns two gay men, one an owner of a map store and the other his only regular customer who keeps filling his store with empty chairs for obscure reasons. Amphibian Stage Productions’ version runs Fri thru Feb 24 at 120 S Main St, FW. Tickets are $20-34. Call 817-923-3012.
Monday 04 – This week at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, you can partake in both their Wednesday wine event and their Sunday chicken and sparkling wine wingding. The Wednesday event is free, but you’ll have to pay $65 extra for the Sunday brunch, which comes with free admission to the grounds. The Stock Show runs thru Feb 9 at the Will Rogers Memorial Center, 3401 W Lancaster Av, FW. Grounds admission is free-$10, rodeo tickets are $22-30. Call 817-877-2400.
Tuesday 05 – Mario Fortuny y Marsal is not a household name even in the households of artists, but the Spanish painter was based in Paris, where he was a respected colleague of John Singer Sargent and Jean-León Gérôme. The Meadows Museum puts on Fortuny: Friends and Followers, a show of his paintings as well as those of his colleagues to demonstrate how this forgotten name influenced ones that we remember well. The show runs Sun thru Jun 2 at 5900 Bishop Blvd, Dallas. Tickets are $4-12. Call 214-768-2516.
