Things to Do in San Antonio

Before rushing into full-fledged competition, players at Oak Hills Lanes hone their craft with pay-as-you-go practice shots. By detecting which pins need to topple, pinsetters enable patrons to score tricky spares as they rehearse for real games or when they must knock down a neighbor's tacky lawn ornaments. Once they've warmed their throwing arms, they face off against comrades during open hours. In addition to bites such as pizza and burgers, the snack bar's cooks sling tacos, enchiladas, and even pancakes. Such noshes fuel bowlers of all ages and skill levels at various fall leagues, but soda and ice cream serve as the main power source during all-inclusive parties.

Now in its 38th anniversary season, the Great Canadian Theatre Company is recognized as the oldest independent theatre company in Ottawa. The troupe brings the thought-provoking works of up-and-coming Canadian artists to the intimate 262-seat house of the Irving Greenberg Theatre, which is powered by green technology and conduits that drain the peaking emotional energy from their audiences.

When Ken Bradley, Cathy Grant, and Damian Gillen created The Company Theatre in 1993, they had one mission: to offer an live entertainment alternative to television or movies. Their lively adaptations of classic literature and popular stories have toured to theatres, schools, and churches all over Texas. No staging is too unconventional for the The Company Theatre: the troupe presents a condensed version of the complete works of Shakespeare with three fast-talking actors, and performs their production of “Charlotte’s Web” at an operating farm.

Located steps from the historic Alamo site, the Alamo IMAX Theatre Rivercenter transforms history and science topics into adventurous films projected on a screen that stretches more than six stories high. The theater comes equipped with 12,000 watts of digital surround sound blasted from 44 laser-focused speaker drivers spread around the room, as reels of i5/70 film offer images 10 times the size of 35mm film and more than twice the size of microfiche. Audience members recline in comfortable seats and immerse themselves in classic IMAX films such as Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West and first-release movies such as The Dark Knight Rises.

An Egyptian art-deco style anchors the Cameo Theatre, luring wandering eyes with polychrome accents, gilt columns, and a sphinx that permits entry only after guests solve a riddle. A surviving artifact of the 1940s, the theater first opened as a home for vaudeville acts and movies but has since filled its stage with a diverse roster of legendary performers from B.B. King to Metallica, and it now regularly hosts theatrical productions.