Born and raised in Taiwan, re-raised in America, with a cross-cultural perspective and a goofy personality, Jason Cheny points out social absurdities within his family, upbringing, and the society in which he constantly tries to find his belonging. He expresses his frustration and confusion on stage every night, in a way that feels the most truthful to him in that moment.
First presented by Fort Worth Opera in 1958, and last seen in 1999, Giuseppe Verdi’s grandest opera AIDA will be performed as a concert production with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Aida tells the fateful story of forbidden love between an enslaved Ethiopian princess, and an Egyptian military commander.
Making his debut with Fort Worth Opera as director is broadway and cabaret star T. Oliver Reid. He has spent the past 20 years working on Broadway shows which have amassed more than 20 Tony Awards. Elaine Rinaldi will also make her Fort Worth Opera debut as the first female conductor in their 75-year history. She is the founder and artistic director of Orchestra Miami, a professional symphonic ensemble based in Miami, Florida.
The Fort Worth Tattoo Arts Festival will feature dozens of tattoo artists and tattoo contests. There will be entertainment from Olde City Sideshow Reggie Bügmüncher, Cenobyte Suspension, Verona Fink, James Maltman, and Captain & Maybelle. There will also be special guests include Trocon Talhouk and Charles Whitfield from VH1, Nychelle Elise from Ink Master season 13, Katie McGowan from Ink Master seasons 6, 9, & 14, Katie Rhoden from Ink Master season 10, and Al Fliction and Team Fliction.
In advance of their co-production stage show of Cruel Intentions: The ‘90s Musical , Stage West and Uptown Players will present a movie watch party of the original 1999 film starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Reese Witherspoon, Ryan Phillippe, and Selma Blair.
The cast of Cruel Intentions: The ‘90s Musical will kick off the evening with a brief musical performance. Guest will be able to play “Cruel Intentions Bingo” while they watch, custom bingo cards will be provided with a secret perk on the back.
The evening is in partnership with the Fort Worth Film Club, who will also be in attendance and have memberships available for all local movie buffs.
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is transported to modern-day New York City as two young, idealistic lovers find themselves caught between warring street gangs, the "American" Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks. Their struggle to survive in a world of hate, violence and prejudice is one of the most innovative, heart-wrenching and relevant musical dramas of our time.
Sid Richardson Museum presents "Night & Day: Frederic Remington's Final Decade," which explores works made in the final decade of Remington’s life, when the artist alternated his canvases between the color dominant palettes of blue-green and yellow-orange. The works included range from 1900 to 1909, the year that Remington’s life was cut short by complications due to appendicitis at the young age of 48.
In these final years Remington was working to distance himself from his long-established reputation as an illustrator, to become accepted by the New York art world as a fine artist, as he embraced the painting style of the American Impressionists. In these late works he strove to revise his color palette, compositional structure, and brushwork as he set his Western subjects under an interchanging backdrop of the shadows of night and the dazzling light of day.
Throughout his career Remington revised and reworked compositions across media, from his illustrations to his oils to his three-dimensional bronzes. As part of this process of revision, Remington took extreme measures from 1907 to 1909 when, as part of his campaign toward changing the perception of his art, he destroyed well over 100 works that he felt did not satisfy his new standards of painting.
A contract made with Collier’s magazine that began in 1903 meant that many of the works he destroyed are preserved through halftone reproductions published by that journal. The inclusion of these images in this exhibition offers the opportunity to compare them with modified and remade compositions Remington produced in his final years.
The museum is extending the run of the exhibition to Sunday, April 30, to showcase a rare Remington watercolor titled Cold Day on Picket. The artwork was recently discovered by Museum Director Scott Winterrowd during a visit with Dallas collectors Duffy and Tina Oyster.
Yellowstone news
Yellowstone fans, get your comfy shoes ready - there'll be a long line for this one. Cole Hauser a.k.a. "Rip Wheeler" on Yellowstone, and Taylor Sheridan, the show's co-creator, executive producer, and director of the series, will meet fans and sign autographs at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo.
The event will take place from 4:30-6:30 pm only on Friday, February 3. Location is the 6666 Ranch booth near the south end of Aisle 700 in the Amon G. Carter, Jr. Exhibits Hall.
According to a February 2 announcement from FWSSR, "fans will have the opportunity to snag an autograph as well as purchase some distinctive Yellowstone and 6666 Ranch merchandise while also enjoying all the features the Stock Show offers."
The event is free to attend (with paid Stock Show admission) and open to the public.
It's the second year in a row for Hauser to appear at FWSSR; in 2022, he and fellow cast mates drew huge crowds.
Sheridan, a Paschal High School graduate, is no stranger to Fort Worth; he lives in a ranch near Weatherford and filmed 1883, the prequel to Yellowstone, in and around Fort Worth. Currently, another spinoff, 1883: The Bass Reeves Story, is filming in North Texas.
The Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo is winding up its 2023 run on Saturday, February 4.
helping hands
Dallas-Fort Worth continues to prove it's home to some of the best businesses in the state. Two local employers in fact - Texas Oncology and Fidelity Investments - have moved into highly coveted top-10 spots on Forbes' 2023 list of "America’s Best Employers By State".
The prestigious list is a collaboration between Forbes and Statista to survey the satisfaction levels of tens of thousands of workers employed by national companies.
Dallas-based Texas Oncology - the largest cancer treatment and research providers in the state - earned a rank of No. 6. Forbes says there are more than 4,700 workers employed by the oncology network.
On its career website, nurse leader Nicole Forkner, BSN, RN, OCN said Texas Oncology has been her "home away from home" for nearly two decades.
"So many of our patients have left a lasting memory with me. Not only are we healing their heart, mind, and soul, but they are healing ours too," Forkner said. "The guidance we have received from our amazing Texas Oncology leadership team has led us through hurricanes, ice storms, new initiatives, software changes, and the COVID-19 pandemic."
Fidelity Investments made major gains in 2023. Though the company might be based in Boston, Massachusetts, its big presence in Westlake (coupled with a great work environment and advancement opportunities) propels it to the top year after year. The financial services corporation climbed to No. 9 in Texas this year, after ranking No. 22 in Forbes' 2022 list. There are about 61,000 people employed by Fidelity, according to the report.
Forbes explains that those on the list "aren’t the best large or midsize employers nationally, but a deeper look at which companies are closer-to-home options for every American worker."
Forbes and Statista determined their rankings by surveying 70,000 Americans working at employers in the U.S. with at least 500 employees each. The final list features 1,392 highly recommended employers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Nearly 270 employers ranked highly in multiple states.
Here are the 30 best large employers in Texas, as determined by Forbes and Statista:
Dallas-Fort Worth:
Austin:
San Antonio:
Houston area:
Throughout Texas:
Vegan News
A DFW restaurant that's earned national acclaim has opened in Denton: El Rincón del Maiz, previously of Garland, is now located at 1431 E. McKinney St. in Denton where it's winning over locals with its Tex-Mex classics and vegan dishes.
Now in a small center east of Denton Square, the family-owned restaurant from husband-and-wife Carlos Guillez and Michell Torres, and their son Gerardo Guillen, first opened in a former Sonic Drive-In November 2021.
They quickly drew praise including making a 2022 list by Bon Appétit of the Best New Restaurants in America (which strangely identified them as "the Saporito family"), as well as winning the 2023 CultureMap Tastemaker Award for Best Neighborhood Restaurant.
"We were so encouraged," Carlos says. "We'd decided to open because my wife was such a good chef that everybody would tell her, 'You need to open a restaurant.'"
But they discovered that the majority of their clientele were coming from outside Garland.
"Pretty much all of our customers were from areas north of Dallas, and some were driving 30 to 45 minutes," Gerardo says. "People kept saying, 'You need to move north.'"
They almost ended up in McKinney but negotiations were taking too long, and then the Denton spot opened. It's only a half mile from the Square, and has enviable proximity to TWU, UNT, the Denton County courthouse, and the Denton sheriff's office, all representing a built-in audience for their award-winning food.
Their recipes come from south Mexico including dishes like panucho — refried tortillas topped with black beans, choice of protein, coleslaw, and red onion; and enomoladas — corn tortillas with chicken, mole, red onion, and sesame seed.
A longtime home cook, Torres is also vegan. When she crafted the standard Mexican menu, she created an entire vegan menu, as well, using plant-based items like jackfruit and cauliflower to substitute for meat items, served on eye-catching tinted tortillas in flavors such as cilantro, beet, chipotle, and chocolate.
Since moving to Denton, they've added new dishes such as vegan pozole; vegan menudo made with mushroom; and vegan huevos con chorizo, featuring scrambled tofu, a vegan version of chorizo, and black beans, with choice of fried plantains or spicy potatoes.
These days, they're reveling in packed crowds on weekends, and they still haven't even gotten their liquor license yet (it's pending).
And here's one sweet irony: "We've seen customers from Garland coming to Denton," Gerardo says.
