1 Celebrate Santa Fe Playhouse’s centennial season.

What is love? This question is an integral piece of the plot in The Effect, opening at Santa Fe Playhouse. Written by British playwright Lucy Prebble and directed by artistic director Robyn Rikoon, the story focuses on Connie and Tristan, who meet during a medical trial and quickly fall for each other. “Tristan and Connie are drawn together like magnets,” says Rikoon. “They spend every waking moment together.”

But is it love? Or is their connection a side effect of the drug they’re taking? “The audience will see the characters being treated like lab rats,” she says. “That’s really important, this losing control of your physical self. You’re left with physiological focus.” Tristan, played by Juan-Andres Apodaca, and Connie, played by Alexandra Renzo, take the audience on a ride through their unique love story.

The Effect, which runs through April 3, kicks off the Santa Fe Playhouse’s centennial season that includes Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance (April 23–May 15), Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins’s Everybody (June 18–July 10), the Centennial Santa Fe Fiesta Melodrama (August 27–September 18), Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop (September 24–October 16), and A Year with Frog and Toad (December 3–25) based on the books by Arnold Lobel.

Albuquerque's Dust City Opera includes (from left) Clara Byom, Scott Brewer, Travis Rourk, Chris Livingston, Paul Hunton, and Dave Purcell. Photograph courtesy of Dust City Opera.

2 Catch Dust City Opera.

Albuquerque-based rock ensemble Dust City Opera kicks off their Alien Summer 2022 Tour in their hometown at the historic Lobo Theater on Friday at 8 p.m. Dust City Opera frontman Paul Hunton says their sophomore album, Alien Summer, lives up to the complexity of opera itself. “This album’s a little heavier and more dramatic,” Hunton says. “It’s got faster songs, more complex arrangements, higher vocals, more graphic storytelling, and cinematic elements.” The band really digs into their instruments in these tracks. Hunton says “Love of Mine” is a favorite track. “It combines a Western feel with a supernatural horror theme and moves from despair to transcendence.”

Eliza Gilkyson sings songs from her newest album, "Songs From the River Wing," at the Lensic Performing Arts Center, in Santa Fe. Photograph courtesy of Eliza Gilkyson. Todd Wolfson

3 Hear folk songs new and old. 

Folk songstress Eliza Gilkyson calls her newest album, Songs From the River Wing, a love letter to the Old West. She composed the tunes from her home in Taos and took inspiration from her father, Terry Gilkyson, a fellow folk singer, whose band The Easy Riders created tunes like the ones Eliza features on her new album. She’s performing at the Lensic Performing Arts Center, in Santa Fe, on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. The concert celebrates her new album, which includes some vintage classics as well as her original tunes. Proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test are required for entry.

Carrie Tingley Hospital, in Truth or Consequences. Photograph by Palace of the Governors Photo Archive.

4 Soak up hot springs history.

Head to the New Mexico History Museum on Friday for the opening reception of Curative Powers: New Mexico’s Hot Springs. The exhibit highlights well-known hot springs, as well as a few more off the beaten path, in more than 90 photographs taken between the late 19th century and the 1980s. Read more about the exhibit, which runs through September 4, in our April issue, hitting stands and mailboxes this week.

Debbie Long's "Light Ships" opens at the Harwood Museum. Photograph courtesy of Debbie Long.

5 Sail away on a “light ship.”

Artist Debbie Long works with glass and light to create immersive experiences. Her new exhibition, Light Ships, opens at the Harwood Museum of Art on Friday. It includes one of her “light ships,” built using handmade glass housed in a vintage RV, as well as a light installation inside the museum.

Long employs natural light in her works, where it shines through small handmade glass shapes she fires at her home in El Prado. Every glass piece is unique, as the forms she pours the liquid glass into break when she removes the solid shapes. Her work helps viewers connect with nature and see the way light changes over time. Read more about Long in our March issue and view the exhibit through October 22.