Through 1/10 Ancient Nubia Before the pharaohs stole the show, Nubia was making history. Travel back thousands of years to discover the art, artifacts and extraordinary legacy of one of Africa’s most powerful ancient civilizations. ncartmuseum.org
10/22 Freeman Vines Film and Talk If those guitars could talk… they would tell you to string together film, conversation and history via the Gregg Museum’s screening and discussion exploring the NC artist and guitar maker’s handmade instruments. gregg.arts.ncsu.edu
10/22 Outdoor Movie Night Working 9 to 5? Clock out and kick back as Gateway Plaza screens the Dolly Parton classic under the stars—with pizza, popcorn and drinks from Fiction Kitchen. @gatewayplazaraleigh
10/22 Outdoor Movie Series Twelve kids and one dad make for a whole lot of chaos. Village District brings Cheaper by the Dozen to the big screen for a nostalgic movie night. shopvillagedistrict.com
10/22 Thriller Thursdays Double, double, toil and trouble mwahahaha! Binge Practical Magic and The Craft on the big screen they deserve, plus bewitching cocktails and bites from Centro that will leave you feeling magical. bittersocialraleigh.com
10/23 Boos & Booze Find your new ~boo~ at Sir Walter Coffee’s Halloween-themed singles night—complete with wickedly good cocktails and thrilling conversations. @sirwaltercoffee
10/23 Breaking Benjamin The early aughts called… crank up the hard-rock hits that defined an eyeliner-heavy, angst-filled era. Rock on! livenation.com
10/23 Kooky Spooky Halloween Party Calling all little monsters—and their grown-up ghouls. Marbles gets kooky-spooky with mad-scientist experiments, creepy crafts and a fa-boo-lous costume parade. marbleskidsmuseum.org
10/23 Tales of Woe No sunshine and rainbows here. The museum uncovers the science behind your darkest fears with interactive science stations, music, games, local entertainment and special activities. naturalsciences.org
10/23 Steve Lacy Oh, yeah? Woozy guitar riffs and effortlessly cool sounds will have you seeing “dark red.” redhatamphitheater.com
10/23–24 The Music of John Williams May the orchestra be with you. Launch yourself into another galaxy with Williams’ legendary scores from Star Wars, E.T. and more—no Millennium Falcon required. ncsymphony.org
10/23–25 Ron Fuches A warm hug and a masterful roast sesh roll into one joyful yet disarming stand-up. goodnightscomedy.com
10/24 Delta Rae There’s no place like home. Durham-born Delta Rae returns to its NC roots for a night at The Ritz, bringing home the band’s signature harmonies and Southern folk-rock sound. livenation.com
10/24 Making Strides of the Triangle Think pink and walk with purpose. Join the American Cancer Society at Durham Bulls Athletic Park for a 5k uniting survivors, supporters and families in the fight against breast cancer. secure.acsevents.org
10/24 Person Street Block Party Ain’t no party like a Person Street party. Celebrate and remember the queen (Dolly Parton) with a stacked lineup of music, art, food, dancing, a pop-up market and more. @edgeofurge
10/24–25 Chapel Hill Biscuit Festival You ~butter~ believe it. The inaugural Chapel Hill Biscuit Festival serves up a weekend of Southern comfort—all benefiting SECU Family House. secufh.org
10/24–25 Raleigh Greek Festival Opa! Greece is closer than ever as the signature Greek fest returns home to Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church with traditional music, dancing and a weekend-long celebration of Greek culture. raleighgreekfestival.com
10/25 Day of the Dead Festival Knock ’em dead. City Plaza bursts with color for Día de los Muertos, honoring Mexican and Latin American heritage through altars, music, Aztec dancers and the Catrina parade. revistalatinanc.com
10/25 NC Vintage Market Old is new and new is so old. Give your wardrobe a little secondhand love while browsing vintage clothing, jewelry, decor and one-of-a-kind treasures at Haven Farm in Knightdale. @ncvintagemarket
10/25 Ooky Spooky Cocktail Class Witch, please. Sip your way through three spell-binding cocktails—an extra Bloody Mary to a Ghosted S’mores Martini—paired with seasonal bites and skyline news. thewillardraleigh.com
10/25 Vince Staples When sparks fly, take to The Ritz for signature West Coast cool vibes made for anything but sitting still. livenation.com
10/27 Canes vs. Bruins It’s Bear-hunting season. lenovocenter.com
10/27 MRA Real Estate Forum What’s next for Midtown? Get the inside scoop on Raleigh’s changing skyline as local real estate leaders unpack neighborhood developments, housing trends and projects shaping the city’s future. midtownraleighalliance.org
10/28 History at High Noon Losing your head is one thing. Spending eternity looking for it? That’s just bad luck. Uncover the chilling legend of the Maco Light and its headless railroad conductor during this virtual dive into one of North Carolina’s spookist ghost stories. ncmuseumofhistory.org
8/27 Jazz in the Square Ya like jazz? Then come out to Downtown Raleigh Alliance’s sixth season of the free concert series at Moore Square, with this week’s performance by Jasmine J. Best & The Jazz Xperiment providing the tunes and good vibes. @downtownraleighalliance
8/27 Raleigh Stroll Club You know hot girl walks—now enter Hot Dad Walk. The Raleigh Stroll Club is hosting a special dad club edition at Gussie’s, a no-kids evening full of burgers, brews and brotherhood. @raleighstrollclub
8/28 Billy and the Jets Two icons—one stage. Follow the yellow brick road to Lincoln Theatre where “Piano Man” meets “Rocket Man” for a flashy crossover tribute. lincolntheatre.com
8/28 Dog Days of Summer Show Cheeni RTP some much-needed support during the slowest season of the year with a community market featuring local vendors, tasting bites from area chefs, drinks and more. resy.com
8/28 Movies on the Bloc “Fist my bump.” Bring a chair or blanket to 321 Coffee for a night of sci-fi, stars and bad alien one-liners via Project Hail Mary. @drink321coffee
8/28 Pizza-Making Class Friday night pizza party, anyone?! Join Veloce for hands-on pizza making, bruschetta and charcuterie, and beer and wine. @veloce_italian_market
8/28–30 Usama Siddiquee Watch on as the Funny AF finalist releases his high-energy rapid-fire remarks for three nights at Goodnights. Expect to hear about life, love, religion—and how to get the boot on America’s Got Talent. goodnightscomedy.com
8/28–9/20 Hairspray Tracy Turnblad bends the boards in this family-friendly musical where an overnight rise to fame helps the sudden celeb spark change almost as big as her hair. raleighlittletheatre.com
8/29 The Annelle Staal Trio Up-and-coming empress Annelle Staal takes the stage as part of Botanical’s Garden Grooves jazz series to present a distinct, elevated indie dance/concept house sound featuring dueling drum machines, expert guitar work and silky vocals. @annellestaal
8/29 Chance the Rapper He’s got the city doing front flips at Red Hat Amp. Wish a happy 10th birthday to Chance’s iconic album Coloring Book as the rapper celebrates the pivotal culture moment on an anniversary tour. livenation.com
8/29 End Of Summer Prom Night Dress to impress to relive the best night of your life—or the occasion you never got to experience—sans the high school drama. Throwback hits, cocktails and portraits seal the deal, with a percentage of beer sales donated to The Prom Shoppe at Apex UMC. wolfeandporter.com
8/29 The GRL Market Who run the world? Grls! Women-owned brands take over Waverly Place in Cary for a stint of shopping community and girly fun. Beyoncé would be proud. waverlycary.com
8/29 Intro to Gardening in the South Start—or continue–your Southern gardening journey with a morning lecture guiding you through the state’s hot summers, diverse soil types and unique pest problems. jcra.ncsu.edu
8/29 Teen Vendor Market House of Many Porches Market hosts a band of aspiring artisans, small business owners and teen creatives—all set to sell you your next favorite thing. dixpark.org
8/29–30 NC Vintage Bazaar What’s old is new again! Shop vintage clothes, DVDs, music, jewelry and more from resellers hailing from across the Southeast at North Carolina’s largest vintage event. ncvintagebazaar.com
8/30 Cocktails & Cuisine Pinkies up! The Willard’s next interactive cocktail class dives into bourbon for beginners: Explore the history behind some of bourbon’s most iconic cocktails while pros guide you through crafting three timeless favorites. thewillardraleigh.com
8/30 Kindled for Good Built on the idea that “a shared meal can do more than feed people,” Landon Estate chef/owner Blake Gotliffe’s new culinary series welcomes Crawford Hospitality chefs Conor Delaney, Aaron Salita and Suzanne Downs for a collaborative dinner centered around live fire and summer at its peak–with proceeds benefiting the Autism Society of North Carolina. eventbrite.com
8/31 Kehlani “Nights like this” shouldn’t be missed. Pull up to Walnut Creek to see the two-time Grammy Award-winning R&B powerhouse belt it out on stage. livenation.com
8/31–9/6 Veolia Pickleball National Championships This is kind of a big ~dill~. Kicking off the 2026–27 PPA Tour season, the weeklong celebration at Cary Tennis Park will feature pro pickleballers going head to head—in addition to live music, entertainment, fan-friendly activations, pro-led camps and clinics, and more. tixr.com
9/1 NCModernist Movie Series Barren never looked so beautiful. Desert modernism meets Hollywood theatricality during the documentary screening of Desert Cool, featuring Palm Springs designer Arthur Elrod. therialto.com
9/1 Perception vs. Palate Think you know your grapes? Read between the vines on a blind wine date to discover your personal preferences—without worrying if they’re posh enough. Pinkies up! vitishouse.com
9/2 Kash’d Out Good karma is in store at the Florida-based reggae-rock band’s Raleigh tour stop—with bonus sounds from RDGLDGRN. pourhouseraleigh.com
9/2 NCRLA Chef Showdown Fork over the finale. The state’s top chefs, pastry chefs, mixologists and distilleries come together for a night of flavorful competition at Bay 7, where guests get to sip and snack their way through the finalists’ offerings to help crown the People’s Choice Awards. portal.ncrla.org
New short film turns Raleigh streets into a love story.
For creatives, “write what you know” is gospel—and filmmaker/producer Darryl Jones puts it to use in his newest short film, Tandem. The project is both a love letter to his wife and Triangle native Hillary—and to Raleigh itself. And as the name implies, cycling takes center stage—a symbol, Jones says, of spontaneity and possibility.
The film follows a lovestruck couple riding along the Cap City’s suburban streets and tree-lined hills. The setting isn’t just cinematography—it’s part of the journey. As protagonists B.W. and Kittie pedal from DTR toward the quieter suburbs, their relationship evolves in step.
You’ll see nods to Jones’ own story. A Wilmington native, he first landed in Raleigh as an NC State undergrad, then moved to Cali with his then-girlfriend—now wife—before circling back to the Triangle in 2023.
Brandon McCarrell
The film opens in Oakwood, where Jones and Hillary first lived together, before rolling into her formative neighborhood Oak Park. From there, it moves into some of Raleigh’s greenest terrain. Scenes shot at NCMA’s outdoor park and Umstead State Park carry particular weight for the creative. “The more Raleigh gets developed, the more important a place like Umstead becomes,” he emphasizes. “So that’s where we end the movie.”
Pivoting from his earlier short films, which leaned on casts, Tandem centers on a single connection. “With a lot of characters, there’s sometimes not enough time for arcs, changes and journeys,” he explains. “I wanted to do something that was very fundamental—like two people who meet, and by the end of the movie, they’ve fallen in love.”
Jones’ passion for place doesn’t end on-screen—it extends behind the camera to his team, most of whom call the Triangle home. Rebuilding his local network after his move back, he says, meant hitting reset—but not for long. He recruited half the crew through one of the New Carolinas Film Collective’s happy hours, co-hosted in Durham by one of Tandem’s producers Blake Kinsey.
“Regional filmmaking is the future of the industry, especially on the independent side,” says the filmmaker. “And I think more important than anything else is for NC—and the Triangle in particular—to develop its own identity. That means telling stories about NC, about all people from NC.”
Tandem is already making waves with its debut at the Carrboro Film Festival—and screens next at the Rialto Feb. 6—a chance to see the City of Oaks from a different vantage point on the big screen. therialto.com
Meet the Raleigh-based screenwriter behind the coming-of-age film debuting at The Rialto May 18.
“I would appreciate it if your dialogue and references to popular culture in the script were more in touch with my generation,” NCSU grad and writer Mariana Fabian critiqued of Amazon Prime show TheWilds in a 2021 Technician article. Now, four years later, Fabian is taking bounds toward a more accurate portrayal with her screenwriter debut in coming-of-age film GrowingPains, premiering in Raleigh at The Rialto May 18.
After LA-based director Catherine Argyrople came across the Techniciancritique, she and Fabian connected to capture the “tumultuous transitions” of maturing on film, seen through two childhood best friends whose stories are loosely based on Fabian and Argyrople’s experiences growing up queer in a Hispanic household and the aftermath of surviving cancer, respectively.
And the May 18 premiere is more than just a screening—a moderated panel of Triangle supporters of the LGBTQ+ community—including the LBGT Center of Raleigh, Wake Forest Pride, and Hope for Teens—are slated to lead a discussion on queer advocacy. See how Fabian and Argyrople flip the script on the dialogue of women and queer communities in real time ahead of the premiere and dive into our chat with the filmmakers below.
Tell us about the inspiration behind Growing Pains. Argyrople: As a childhood cancer survivor, I had never really seen representation in the media about the aftermath of surviving a traumatic illness and how it impacts your life, so I wanted to touch on the mental health aspect… I was also passionate about telling authentic stories about women, and that’s what led me to Mari. There are a lot of stories in film and TV about women that feel very inauthentic and are from male perspectives. So my mission with my production company, and as a filmmaker, is to uplift women both in front and behind the camera.
Fabian: I started thinking about female stories when I started my film degree at NC State. I took a class called Women in Film—shoutout NCSU Professor Marsha Gordon—and I really enjoyed thinking about how women are not only represented in film, but how directing, writing and editing affects that. And that goes hand in hand with what the film is trying to do. And in terms of my story and coming out in a traditional Hispanic household, facing racism and homophobia was difficult, but this was kind of the perfect outlet for that.
Tell us more about the panel. F: I’m really just passionate about queer rights and advocacy, especially queer youth, which has been under attack in NC for a long time, like with the Bathroom Bill. I don’t think queer advocacy has to be heavy all the time. There’s so much policy, but having a party instead, that’s epic—just getting the community together and helping people feel seen and heard.
What other films and shows did you draw inspo from and recommend to each other? A: Ladybird, for both of us, was a big one—it’s raw and it doesn’t really shy away maternal relationships.
F: Real Women Have Curves, which has America Ferrera in it. She wants to go to college, but she has to battle against the views of her traditional parents.
How did you tackle creative differences? F: I think one of the most rewarding parts of the process is having to handle moments of creative differences. It just started with open communication, and if I was saying something about a line, Catherine wouldn’t take it very personally. Differences are what make us great artists and who we are. catherineargyrople.com; etix.com
Raleigh-based production company behind new survival-at-sea thriller
“On a blustery day, four friends embarked on a fishing trip. A harrowing two days later, only one man returned. This is his story.” … In 2009, Nick Schuyler’s life changed forever when he became the sole survivor of a boating trip gone wrong in the Gulf of Mexico, which claimed the lives of his best friend Will Bleakley, along with NFL players Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith (the latter of whom was also a former NC State football star).
In the wake of the tragedy, Schuyler worked with Rick French, chairman & CEO of Raleigh-based agency French/West/Vaughan, to document his story while honoring his late friends via his inspiring yet heartwrenching nonfiction survival tale Not Without Hope—which went on to earn a spot on The New York Times bestselling list and resulted in Schuyler’s appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and HBO’s Real Sports. And while the book debuted in 2010, the upcoming film has been 13 years in the making—due to delays caused by unforeseen circumstances and the pandemic.
“Making a film like this, especially a water-based tragedy, is about as difficult as you can imagine,” explains French. “The water was cold. It was a very immersive experience, and that’s what people in the theater are going to experience—they are going to be thrust into that environment with the guys who are trying to survive. … We will be pulling that theatergoer into the water.”
French’s film production company, Prix Productions, is behind creation efforts for the film, which recently wrapped shooting on-location in Malta and is targeted for an early fall 2024 debut (also coinciding with the start of the NFL season). An array of acclaimed Hollywood actors are involved in the project, including Zachary Levi (you might know him from Shazam!) starring as Nick, plus Quentin Plair (a former UNC football player from the Butch Davis era), Marshall Cook, Josh Duhamel (of Safe Haven fame), Terrence Terrell and JoBeth Williams—with critically acclaimed director Joe Carnahan at the helm.
“They gave us everything they had,” says French of the principal actors. “It was a grueling experience—to be in that tank in the middle of the night in cold water with no bodysuits. They were facing the elements for weeks on end recreating these sequences. I cannot imagine the physical toll it took on all of them.”
An edge-of-your-seat thriller, Not Without Hope is a film for everyone—from sports fans to those who enjoy buddy movies, says French. “And in a story like this, Mother Nature is always going to win… but these guys fought heroically to try and stay alive against the worst storm to hit the Gulf of Mexico in 25 years,” he adds.
In addition to the feature film, keep your eyes on the horizon for a documentary based on the same story, Four Down, set for release in 2024. The filmmakers are shooting to premiere the docu—directed by Oscar-nominated Steven Cantor and produced by French and Dwayne Johnson and his production company, Seven Bucks Productions—at Sundance Film Festival.
“Our intent is to honor the memory of Nick’s friends,” says French of the in-the-works major motion picture. “We want the last thing for people to know about them not to be how they died—but how they lived and worked together to try and keep each other alive.” Indeed, hope is not lost.
