Matinee (noun):a musical or dramatic performance or social or public event held in the daytime and especially the afternoon

• The Saturday matinee was so crowded that we had to sit in the second row.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/matinee

In the article “City Limits” by Colson Whitehead it states “It saw the bewilderment on your face as you stepped out of the stolen matinee incredulous that there was still daylight after such a long movie.” This was located on the third page, on the third paragraph last sentence.

I encounter this word and I actually had no idea what it meant. The word means that it’s a performance a musical or dramatic performance. It can be any performance but it specializes in either musical or dramatically performances only. So for somebody who doesn’t understand the word its a musical or dramatic performance that people either perform in public in the streets or actually act out and get paid for.Knowing what the word means I understand the word more. Rereading the sentence I still don’t understand what the author is trying to say but I do understand the word more clearly.