Here’s a roundup of some culture and civic events in the borderland in the coming week.
Viva! El Paso Takes Center Stage
The 2024 season of Viva! El Paso opens at 8 p.m. Friday, June 21, and Saturday, June 22, at McKelligon Canyon Amphitheater. Performances are Friday and Saturday through Aug. 3. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
The musical performance tells the history of the region, with the latest iteration featuring music by Cody Ritchey and Jim Ward. This year’s production team includes Jaime Carrasco as director, Desiray Anchondo as vocal director and choreographers Barbi Valdiviez, Enrique Valadez and Crystal Salas.
The 2024 season of Viva! El Paso opens at 8 p.m. Friday, June 21, at McKelligon Canyon. Performances are Friday and Saturday through Aug. 3.
Viva! El Paso was created in 1978 by Hector Serrano, who staged and directed the production that’s been described as a pageant, historical drama and outdoor musical. The production has changed over the years, most notably after the pandemic when it was taken over by EPIC Arts, the El Paso Community Foundation, Destination El Paso and El Paso Live.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for children, military and groups, and are available at the door, at the Plaza Theatre Box Office Downtown or via ticketmaster.com.
Information: Viva! El Paso on Instagram or Facebook
“Neighborhoods & Shared Memories: Rio Grande to Franklin Heights” is on exhibit at the El Paso Museum of History June 20, 2024, to May 2025. (Image courtesy El Paso Museum of History)
History Museum Opens Franklin Heights Exhibit
The El Paso Museum of History is hosting an opening reception for its latest exhibit, “Neighborhoods & Shared Memories: Rio Grande to Franklin Heights,” from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, June 20, at the museum, 510 N. Santa Fe St.
The exhibit highlights the development of Central El Paso neighborhoods from the 1910s through the 1930s and looks at architecture, places of worship, education, working-class histories and waves of gentrification. Notable residents such as violinist and orchestra director Abraham Chavez Jr., artist and author Tom Lea and the late state Sen. William Ward Turney will be featured.
The exhibition is part of the “Neighborhoods & Shared Memories” series that spotlights historic neighborhoods throughout El Paso. “Rio Grande to Franklin Heights” will be on view through May 2025. Information: El Paso Museum of History.
El Paso Community College students Adrian Almaraz, John Levick, Thomas Perez, April Rodriguez, Steven Stringfellow, and Alana Lynn Gonzalez Martinez star in the production of “Beyond Therapy” at the EPCC Transmountain Forum Theatre in June 2024. (Courtesy EPCC)
EPCC Theater to Present ‘Beyond Therapy’
El Paso Community College students will present “Beyond Therapy,” a comedy by Christopher Durang, throughout June at the EPCC Transmountain Forum Theatre, 9570 Gateway North Blvd.
The comedy deals with “the intricacies and ridiculousness of relationships,” states an EPCC news release. The main characters are a man and woman from Manhattan looking for love with the help of their psychiatrists by placing ads in a newspaper.
Showtimes for the summer theater production are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, June 21-22 and 28-29, and 2 p.m. Sunday, June 23 and 30. Admission is free with one non-perishable food item per person. Donations will benefit the EPCC Tejano Mercado Food Pantry. Information: EPCC Box Office, 915-831-5056.
Pridefest 2024 Sun City Pride Concert & Festival
Sun City Pride will hold a Pridefest concert and festival from 1 p.m. to midnight on Saturday, June 22, at Ascarate Park, 6900 Delta Drive. The event will feature three performance stages with DJs and bandas, food trucks, vendors, and an Ultra Fun Zone. Ascarate Park entry fee is $5 per car. Admission to the event starts at $30 per person.
Other Pride Month events include a movie night with El Paso author Benjamin Alire Sáenz at 8:30 p.m. Friday, June 21, at Chapoteo Water Park, 1225 Giles Road. The movie “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” based on his young adult novel will be shown. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Free admission, but capacity is limited to 150 people. The water park will not be open during that time.
Information: Sun City Pride and El Paso Water Parks.
Other Events:
The FC Juárez Bravos will face Club América in a friendly match at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 23, at Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets start at $20.
Starr Western Wear’s Rodeo El Paso is at 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 21, and Saturday, June 22, and 2 p.m. Sunday, June 23, at the El Paso County Coliseum, 4100 E. Paisano Drive. Tickets start at $15.
The Anime El Paso Festival is 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, June 22, and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, June 22, at the Judson F. Williams Convention Center Downtown. Ticket prices vary.
Juneteenth Jam Aboard the Streetcar, with music by Abeni Janae, is at 6 p.m. Saturday, June 22. Boarding starts at the Judson F. Williams Convention Center stop on Santa Fe Street. Free admission.
Art Soup Collective, a new gallery featuring the work of local artists, will hold an art show and opening reception from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday, June 20, at the gallery in Placita Santa Fe, 5024 Doniphan, Suite 6.
The post Discover El Paso’s cultural highlights this week: Viva! El Paso, history exhibits, more appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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