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Fright Nights unveils new haunts at the Fairgrounds, a groundbreaking color photographer exhibits in Fort Lauderdale, and the Maltz Jupiter Theatre opens its second space. Plus, Lyle Lovett and more in your week ahead.

WEDNESDAY

What: Heritage Lecture Series: Surfing Delray

Where: Historic St. Paul’s Parish Hall, 188 S. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach

When: 6 p.m.

Cost: $10

Contact: 561/274-9578, delraybeachhistory.org

As veteran surfers know, Delray Beach is legendary for its waves. “Delray has one of the deepest and richest surfing histories,” local surf historian Tom Warnke told our sister publication, Delray, in 2022.  The city was even home to a pop-up surfing museum for a time. At this special lecture, Warnke, the grand poobah of surfing in Delray, will explore the city’s rich history of wipeouts and broken records dating back to 1919.  A member of the Surfing Hall of Fame, Warnke’s lecture will also explore the city’s legal fight to save surfing, the sport’s Olympic debut, and the connection between surfing and environmentalism.

FRIDAY

What: Opening night of Fright Nights

Where: South Florida Fairgrounds, 9067 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach

When: 6 p.m. to midnight

Cost: $35-$45

Contact: myfrightnights.com

The gleefully twisted minds behind Fright Nights appear to have outdone themselves once again this year. The award-winning haunted attraction is unveiling four elaborate walk-throughs, each of them propelled by an intricate narrative: Autumn of Terror, a Halloween-set apocalypse in which the “thinning veil” of All Hallow’s Eve welcomes unwanted cameos from all manner of malevolent beings; “Nightmare in Yamato,” in which a gifted girl is chosen to defend her land against a demonic army in shogun-era Japan; “The Ritual,” in which a devilish cult occupies a mansion where wealthy party guests were slaughtered a decade earlier; and “Nuclear Beats,” in which the rave to end all raves goes, well, nuclear after the sludge from a nearby power plant leaks into its walls. Each of these haunts sounds like a movie in and of itself: Try to take in every detail, when you’re not screaming in terror. Fright Nights runs through Oct. 26.

SATURDAY

The Hammock, Provincetown, Massachusetts, 1982, by Joel Meyerowitz

What: Opening day of “Joel Meyerowitz: Temporal Aspects”

Where: NSU Art Museum, 1 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale

When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Cost: $10-$16

Contact: 954/525-5500, nsuartmuseum.org

From empty pools to smoldering wreckage to interior hallways to box office windows, photographer Joel Meyerowitz’s muses are eclectic and legion. A street, portrait and landscape photographer for more than 60 years, Meyerowitz was a seminal figure in the artistic value of color photography, embracing its vivid potential in 1962, at a time when photographer-artists worked a mostly monochrome profession. Later, Meyerowitz lived in New York City during the 9-11 attacks, and was the only photographer allowed unrestricted access to the Ground Zero site in its aftermath. “Temporal Aspects” features a curated sample of the more than 1,800 works from his archive recently acquired by NSU Art Museum. The exhibition runs through March 16.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tHKa9t9yU0

What: Lyle Lovett and His Large Band

Where: Pompano Beach Amphitheatre, 1806 N.E. Sixth St., Pompano Beach

When: 8 p.m.

Cost: $39.50-$120

Contact: 561/223-7231, pompanobeacharts.org

With a rich career of nearly 45 years at the folky crossroads of country, rock and Americana, and a voice rapturously ragged by time and the road, Lyle Lovett is a fount of passion, wit and heartache—a singularly compelling presence even when he’s alone onstage with an acoustic guitar. But it’s a unique treat indeed to experience his “Large Band” tours, in which a vast ensemble of ace musicians and backup singers flesh out his material with plenty of strings attached. For this tour, the four-time Grammy winner is joined by no fewer than 14 of his friends on instruments including violin, cello, saxophone, trombone, piano and drums—enough color and dynamism to add a jazz element to Lovett’s diverse musical gumbo.

SUNDAY

A rendering of the Maltz’s new Island Theatre

What: Opening night of “Becoming Dr. Ruth”

Where: Maltz Jupiter Theatre, 1001 E. Indiantown Road, Jupiter

When: 7:30 p.m.

Cost: $65

Contact: 561/575-2223, jupitertheatre.org

For the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, the desire for a second, black-box style space had been brewing for years, if not a decade, and this weekend sees the realization of that dream: the first production in the Island Theatre, a 198-seat theatre adjacent to the main stage, an ideal house for smaller-scaled, intimate and niche experiences. Its maiden production is a timely one. When it scheduled the play “Becoming Dr. Ruth,” the Maltz team couldn’t have known that Dr. Ruth Westheimer, arguably the world’s most eminent sex therapist, would die this past summer. But her passing lends an added poignancy to this solo dramedy by Mark St. Germain. Expect a tour de force performance and a narrative that spans the title character’s escape from Nazi Germany through her enlistment as a sniper in an elite Israeli paramilitary organization, and her attempts to assimilate into the United States as a single mother. “Becoming Dr. Ruth” runs through Oct. 20.


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John Thomason

Author John Thomason

As the A&E editor of bocamag.com, I offer reviews, previews, interviews, news reports and musings on all things arty and entertainment-y in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

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