ON THE ROAD AGAIN: On Monday, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra begins its two-week European tour. The traveling party includes 110 musicians and 16 management types. It’s a pretty expensive undertaking. So, you might be asking – why do it? “It helps make the orchestra a better musical muscle,” DSO president and CEO Jonathan Martin tells dallasnews.com. “Touring creates an agility and an esprit de corps. It’s a sort of combat training. It battle-hardens an orchestra. The ability to function at a high level in strange halls and strange cities invariably makes it a better orchestra.” Scott Cantrell is tagging along; we’ll be sure to check in on his reports from the road.

NEW AT NOUVEAU: Nouveau 47 has opened its third season by staging She Creatures, in which mythical creatures guide Pandora on a journey of self-discovery. The play was written by Austin’s Sarah Saltwick, who’s a graduate student at UT-Austin. And though she hopes to go on to write more plays, she also has made it a goal to educate people about theater. “I have a few friends who come to theater and think they’re doing it wrong, that they don’t have the right credentials to enjoy it,” she tells theaterjones.com. “I’d like to tell those people that it’s not about viewing it a certain way, it’s about what you see and what you imagine that’s important.”

KILMER RETURNS: Back in November, I had a chat with Val Kilmer about his decade-long obsession with creating a one-man Mark Twain show. He was in town for the Dallas Film Society’s Art of Film fundraiser, but he said while here he was also scouting possible locations to hold workshop performances. He hoped to come back for those in the spring. And it turns out he’s sticking to that schedule. He’ll perform Citizen Twain April 18-20 at the Wyly Theatre. Tickets will be available on his website.