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Here's a vibrant array of modern dance showcases by professional local, state, national, and international artists in the heart of Austin over one kinetic weekend. During the three-day festival, take a master class, watch dance on film, participate in a community pop-up dance, listen to artist interviews, and check out the next generation of dancers in the Youth Edition Concert.

Salvage Vanguard Theater presents Sharon Bridgforth's lyrical drama, set in Los Angeles in the 1940s-1970s, that offers a glimpse of a black gurl's coming-of-age, through ancestral passages and her family history. Directed by Florinda Bryant.

The progressive vocal powerhouses of OOO present their third annual Fresh Squeezed Ounce concert in the intimate surroundings of the Museum of Human Achievement, with this year’s winning crop of micro-operas performed – beautifully – in English, featuring intriguing characters, unexpected stories, varied styles and colors. We nigh on raved about the goodness of last year's Fresh Squeezed Ounce and gladly recommend that you join director Julie Fiore and her company of glory for this showcase of new works. Note: Some of this material is, ah, definitely not for the kiddos, capisce? Bonus: Beverages from Tito's, Live Oak, and Whitestone.

How do we know this is gonna be a good show? Because that Tim Kerr has curated this cool display of artwork by himself, Hi-Dutch, Yusuke Hanai, James McMillan, and Michael Sieben.

"Indian-Americans Shape the Nation," a traveling exhibition created by the Smithsonian Institution, makes an artifact-rich stop at the Asian American Resource Center – with a vibrant collection of photographs, art, and interactive learning stations.

Continuing their “Dal Segno” season, the Austin Chamber Music Center exposes the horoscope signs of quintessential chamber music composers, combining stories of their personalities with works that exude their most expressive traits. Ardent Aries features works by Haydn, J.S. Bach, and Rachmaninov, performed by Sandy Yamamoto, Amy Levine-Tsang, and Michelle Schumann.

Question: What could be more compelling than readings from this debut novel when the author is the creator and host of Literary Death Match and the founding editor of Opium Magazine? Answer: When the man joining Zuniga is original Salvage Vanguard Theater founder (and nascent filmmaker) Jason Neulander, who knows how to put words through a mic for best impact, tell you what.

David Lamplugh, Jeffrey Primeaux, and Valérie Chaussonnet show their drawings, paintings, and sculpture inspired by Japonism, the historical French art movement itself inspired by the aesthetics of Ukiyo-e. Hell, we'd recommend solo shows from each of these artists; this three-in-one deal is unmissable!

Whimsy and wonder, indeed: If anyone can evoke those feelings in a show of new paintings, it's gonna be that Lauren Briere with her sci-fi-inflected "Robots & Rowboats" series.

The irrepressible and relentlessly versiform event begins its 26th annual inundation of our rapidly embiggening river city. Poets from all over Texas; from all over the United States; hell, from all over the world: massing in the ATX, regaling one another and passersby and gathered crowds with their crafted harangues and lyrical elegies, hawking multiple copies of their latest broadsheets and chapbooks, drinking too much coffee and chai in so many cafes throughout this vibrant urban conflagration we call home. See website for more.

You want to be part of a climactic event that sends the vers-libre energy of this weekend's AIPF to its quivering maximum? Then here's your deal, citizen, as the top 10 slam poets in Austin take the mic to vie for five spots in Austin's nationally ranked slam team. Note: Any exclamation points missing from this blurb will certainly be used at the Paramount tonight.

And this is an exhibition of work by AISD art teachers, featuring a variety of media that includes painting, sculpture, printmaking, and photography.

And here's the 42nd annual exhibition from Austin Community College.

In this colorful exhibit, Orna Feinstein continues her fascination and exploration of trees and their interior geometry using a variety of mediums and processes – her signature dynamic layering of monoprints and cut paper, yes, but also paint, concrete, and plaster.

Behold this new series of large paintings by Dawn Okoro, exploring the black punk spirit. You already knew black is beautiful; with this exhibition, black may be even more beautiful – and punk AF. And here's what our reviewer thinks of the show.

A retrospective of Texas artist Catherine Lee's work in diverse media will be anchored by her monumental sculpture Hebrides #6: Clach An Trushal, on loan from the Contemporary Austin.

"What happens when you cede creative control and ownership to a group you are also a part of?" The artists ride a tender balance between ego and surrender – as evidenced in these new collaborations among Bill Ivey, Wendy Rhode, Vincent Paul Martinez, Jr., Yamin Li, G. Matt Nicholson, Leah Smith, Paul Baker, and Amanda Jones.

Austin-based Anuradha Naimpally presents an intergenerational performance featuring the compelling stories and movements of Asian teen refugees and seniors.

That excellent gallery on 12th Street features a new show of works by Faustinus Deraet, Ginger Geyer, and Barbara Pence, an arrangement of photographs, paintings, and sculpture that explores the often overlooked language of the ordinary – with extraordinary results.

It's the second solo exhibition for the Texas-born-and-bred Nick Schnitzer at this excellent gallery, with a new series of work combining craft, science, and storytelling that appeals to our most basic sense of survival. Climate change? Noted, illustrated, made vividly manifest in the construction of this show.

A life flavored by the funky borough of Queens and the seaside megalopolis of Miami ultimately lands this relentless comedy festival warrior DaSilva on the storied boards of the Velv this weekend, with Austin's Brendan K. O'Grady opening. (Well, ah, maybe not "ultimately;" we reckon the fellow's got much bigger things in store.)

The crux of Jill Wilkinson’s work is drawing: Drawing from trees, drawing from the memory of trees, drawing from the muscle memory, drawing the void, drawing from the drawing. Now witness a fine selection of those original drawings – and the monoprints created from them.

Spencer Fidler’s practice is to collect plants from his property in Las Cruces, N.M., and draw them daily at four times their scale. Read our review right here, then see what such devoted work means for your floratropic eyes, in this new show at Flatbed.

Listen: When a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force gets unexpectedly pregnant, her superiors reassign her, post-maternity leave, from flying F-16s to the "chair force," as a reluctant drone pilot. Street Corner Arts presents George Brant's compelling drama, starring Sarah Danko, directed by Benjamin Summers. Our reviewer, a military brat himself, had this reaction to the show.

This exhibition reveals the story of where American entertainment all began, featuring photographs, manuscripts, and other documents and artifacts related to Harry Houdini, Mae West, W.C. Fields, Bert Williams, George M. Cohan, Burns & Allen, Tony Pastor, the Nicholas Brothers, Barbette, and others. Step right up, citizen, as our own Robert Faires tells you more about it right here!

From Lauren Gunderson, the writer who brought us Exit, Pursued by a Bear, comes this quirky and heartwarming ode to life, love, and human connection. Simone Alexander directs Mia King and Kenah Benefield for Capital T Theatre. And this is what our reviewer thought of the show.

New sculptural works by Andrea de Leon and Terra Goolsby use a variety of media including porcelain, glass, and metal to examine the phenomena of fetishism and object relations.

The company's string ensemble accompanies pianist Anton Nel in this fifth and final concert of La Follia's all-Bach season.

Yes, in fact, it is the perfect time for the return of this Landmarks Bike Tour! The hour-and-a-half, two-mile adventure begins at the headquarters of UT's Orange Bike Project and meanders through campus with a guide to explore all the incredible Landmarks public art installations along the way.

Dwain Kelley’s sculptural assemblages explore a palette of old wood, metal, gold leaf, cloth, glass, rocks, and other materials toward the unearthing of another time.

The sixth show by Tom Molloy in this elegant space is an exhibition of new drawings and found photographs that explore race – the social construct central to much of the injustice and inequality in America. Bonus: Mariah Robertson in the Project Room.

This is a group show of MASS members who've each invited a plus-one to show alongside or collaborate. So, who are the lucky additions? Who are the exhibition partners chosen by artists Ida Behjat, Andrea Calo, Ted Carey, Michelle Devereux, Erin Gentry, Jules Jones, Drew Liverman, Rick Mansfield, and Scott Proctor?

Amassed over the last 35 years, the museum’s newest exhibition explores the plurality of resistance, highlighting varied lineages of Latinx and Latin-American resistance. Here's our full review of the show. Bonus: The concurrent "Desert Triangle Print Carpeta" exhibition features the work of 30 printmakers.

Here's the first solo show from the NYC-based artist whose systematic abstractions bring steady patterning to a complex spectrum of colors. But, ah, what did our reviewer think of these works?

Bonnie Cullum and her diverse army of creatives present this immersive theatrical scavenger hunt that encompasses the entire Vortex compound with thematic games, riddles, music, dance, and mystery, featuring Tarot Major Arcana characters among your guides and gurus and puckish performers. Read more about it in this preview.

Here's a new show by Vladimir Mejia who works in installation, sculpture, photography, performance art, and more, to explore politics, race relations, generational divides, and the ever-evolving relationship between people and technology. Our reviewer tells you about more it right here.

This is a new adaptation of the beloved, Oscar-winning film – and it's one of Austin Playhouse's biggest productions to date, in which a fine cast is directed by Don Toner and Lara Toner Haddock. And – did our reviewer love this show?

You may have seen him in the background on Last Comic Standing or acting on IFC’s Comedy Bang Bang. You might have caught him rocking the crowds at several of this country's popular comedy fests and looking (if the image alongside this blurb is any indication) like the second coming of Sam Kinnison. And now? Now Torres is here, citizen! Suggestion: Avail yourself of the opportunity.

Here's a graphic tribute to the annual and much-beloved event that highlighted Austin’s cultural uniqueness from 1962-1998.

This is the workshop Hannah Kenah led for Rude Mechs while they were creating their Field Guide. Together, you'll write, you’ll share – and there'll be a mic and a stool. Sign up now for this one-day class that's low-pressure, high-fun, and makes the last Sunday in September worth waking up for.

Here's a show exploring the conceptual origins of Ellsworth Kelly's last great work, the 2,715-square-foot freestanding building called Austin – a monumental structure with colored glass windows, a totemic wood sculpture, and 14 black-and-white stone panels in marble and granite – the opening of which coincides with this Carter E. Foster-curated exhibition.

Rodney McMillian's social critique of American histories, injustices, and structures of power explores the changing symbol of the White House and the concept of civic death.

This is a new play by Austin playwright Patrick Shaw that blends personal narrative with a historical account of the patron saint of France, a staged version of the past where recorded history and personal memory turn against one another. Directed by Elizabeth Doss, Lisa Laratta, and Patrick Shaw for paper chairs. Bonus: Original music by Peter Stopschinski.

Theatre En Bloc presents the world premiere of Kyle John Schmidt's offbeat comedy about safety, love, and guns in a world that's up in arms. "Six women. One office. Lots of feelings." With Amber Quick, Babs George, Liz Beckham, Susan Myburgh, Elise Ogden, and Regan Goins. And, as our reviewer will tell you, this dark shit is hilarious.

Is the shopping mall a sort of modern temple? Can parking-lot navigation be a form of meditation? Sparked by Julie Libersat's current "Paved Paradise" show at W&TW, here's a conversation about suburban architecture – with that same Libersat, Scott Gleason, R. Eric McMaster, and Adetty Perez de Miles.

Here's a kinetic celebration of the career of Yacov Sharir, the founder of the American Deaf Dance Company and Sharir Dance Company. Directed by Charles O. Anderson and Andrea Beckham for UT's Department of Theatre and Dance.

This is a solo show with the Austin-based painter who's shown nationally since 1993 and is a veteran of more than 50 one-man exhibitions. This newest phase of work focuses on the horizon and the soft transitions that occur above and below.

Using the shopping mall and the parking lot as formal and conceptual frameworks, Julie Libersat's interactive video installation explores a suburban vernacular that presents consumption as a modern form of worship.