Catastrophic Theatre launches its 2025–2026 season with Samuel Beckett’s apocalyptic tragicomedy and the return of director Jason Nodler and actor Greg Dean (who plays Hamm, one of the leads) from its 1995 and 2012 stagings. Pro tip: Go on a Friday and enjoy a free beer with the performance.

3400 Main St

At a respectable 59 years old, does the Original Greek Festival really need an introduction? OK, OK, this one is for the newly minted Houstonians: Every year, Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church hosts a three-day celebration of Greek history, religion, and culture, featuring music, dancing, a shop filled with stalls selling everything from jewelry to olive trees, and plenty of delicious food and wine.

3511 Yoakum Blvd

The Menil Collection’s Drawing Institute presents a multimedia exploration of how drawing, television, and video art interacted with and influenced one another between the late 1950s and the 1980s. As televisions became increasingly commonplace in homes, artists began to view them as creative tools in their own right, experimenting with ways in which the new technology could lead to new forms of media.

1412 W Main St

If you’re a little squeamish about haunted houses but still want to enjoy a fully immersive, sensory theater experience, Midnight High: A Night at the Oxhead places you in a western setting instead. For 90 minutes, audience members can walk around and interact with the cast, unraveling the Oxhead Saloon’s many mysteries along the way.

3400 Main St

The central thesis of Vermont-based Bread and Puppet Theater is right there in its name: For the past 62 years, they’ve spread the message that the arts provide people with just as much nourishment as food. And they are, of course, correct. Head to the Rothko Chapel for an evening of satirical puppetry, theater, and brass band music, followed by fellowship and homemade sourdough rye with aioli.

3900 Yupon St at Sul Ross St

Pulitzer-winning author and Stanford creative writing professor Adam Johnson will give a reading of The Wayfinder, his latest novel about the precolonized Polynesian Tu’i Tonga Empire and the girl who must travel across the sea to save it from starvation. Former Houston Chronicle book editor Maggie Galehouse will follow up the reading with a Q&A with Johnson and a book signing. (Don’t worry if you forgot your book at home. You can buy copies of The Wayfinder on-site.)

501 Texas Ave

One of Hopera’s first performances in its 2025–2026 season combines dinner and a show at Kenny & Ziggy’s legendary deli. Expect a special buffet full of Eastern European delights and succulent performances by Brennan Blankenship and Davia Bouley.

1743 Post Oak Blvd

Renowned medieval and religious scholar Brian Catlos is beloved for his immersive lecturing style, which involves audience participation and the creative use of an entire room. Along with Archaeology Now and the Consulado General de España en Houston, Catlos will educate attendees on how the three Abrahamic faiths—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—shaped Spain’s history and culture during the medieval period, specifically in the often-overlooked Southern region of Al-Andalus.

Rice University, Entrance #8, intersection of university st and stockton st