Sacramento arts roundup: Have a date night with B Street or learn about the arts

Whether you are interested in music, theatre, art, or books, it’s time to march into spring with some local arts opportunities.

On March 3, Carmen Machado will be featured in a UC Davis Zoom event. Machado is the author of the memoir “In the Dream House” and the short story collection “Her Body and Other Parties.” Machado is the winner of the Bard Fiction Prize, the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction, the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction, the Brooklyn Public Library Literature Prize, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize. She will read from “In the Dream House,” and a Q&A will follow. More information is available on the Manetti Shrem Museum website.

March 4, the B Street Theatre presents its Re-Imagine series on Zoom, this month as a concert featuring The Ladies of Blue Prynt. The Re-Imagine series aims to amplify voices of Black artists and other people of color. Register on the B Street Theatre’s website.

March 5, the B Street Theatre will virtually host its series Six Feet Apart, featuring Michael Massé, one of its most popular performers. Register online and learn more about making it a dinner date with food from Magpie Café in midtown on the B Street Theatre website.

March 5-7 the Sacramento Theater Company will stream multiple performances of “We’ve Got Magic to Do,” directed by Natasha Hause. This show is billed as a cabaret spectacle celebrating Bob Fosse’s legacy. For streaming options and times and to buy tickets, visit sactheatre.org.

On March 6, Crocker Art Museum will host Art on the Spectrum from Home. This free program requires advance registration and is designed for families with children on the autism spectrum. It features music therapy from Music to Grow On and an artful story time from the Sacramento Public Library. To register, go to crockerart.org.

On March 11 and 18, Art History: Family Ties - Mothers and Daughters will take place via Zoom through the Crocker. This program for ages 18 and up will explore the role of family connections in the work of the Saar and Velarde/Hardin families, but especially the matriarchs. The program will be presented by Laurie Seban, a Northern California native with a master’s in art history from UC Davis. She teaches Native American art at Sacramento State. For more information go see crockerart.org.

March 11 the Crocker will also host “Equity in Museums” on Zoom. This event looks at the realities of racial and social inequity within museums and cultural institutions. The Crocker has made a commitment to examine these issues internally and in their relationship to the community. This series will open the conversation to the wider public, and features new panelists each month. This month the artists featured are Taylor Pannell and Jupiter Lockett.

More information and registration for this event is available at crockerart.org.

March 11-14 Sacramento Theatre Company will host its New Works Play Festival, “Sacramento Voices: Diverse and Unheard.” They will present 10 new works by local writers, with a Q&A after the readings. Those interested can get tickets for $25 per event or get an all-access festival pass for $100. To see the schedule and sign up for this online experience, go to sactheatre.org.

On March 12, the B Street Theatre will virtually host its series Six Feet Apart, featuring Calvin Arsenia. B Street describes Arsenia as “Jeff Buckley meets Nina Simone with the soul of Sam Cooke, and the sparkle of Bjork on a harp.” Register online and learn more about making it a dinner date with Magpie Café in Midtown on the B Street Theatre website.

March 13 the Mondavi Center HomeStage series will feature Jeremy Rourke, presenting “The Exploded View from My Time Machine.” The program combines cinema with original music and experimental animation. To learn more and register for this event go to the Mondavi Center’s website.

March 14 the B Street Theatre will host New Play Brunch online with a reading of “10 Balconies,” a series of short plays by B Street member Dana Brooke. It’s the story of five balcony encounters during a time when people have limited access to the outside world. To register and learn more about how to enjoy B Street’s partnership with Solomon’s Delicatessen, go to bstreettheatre.org.

On March 19 the Mondavi Center HomeStage program will be Ballet Folklórico de México de Amalia Hernández. The online performance will include never-released footage from a 2017 performance at Palacio de Bellas Artes, one of Mexico City’s historic venues. The performance was to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Amalia Hernández’ birth. It features Mexican ballet dancer Elisa Carrillo and the Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional. To register for this event visit mondaviarts.org.

On March 19, the B Street Theatre will virtually host its series Six Feet Apart, featuring The Gold Souls. The Gold Souls combine funk, soul and blues. Register online and learn more about making it a dinner date with Magpie Café in Midtown on the B Street Theatre website.

March 21 the Crocker will open a new exhibition, “The Edge of Elegance: Porcelains by Elsa Rady.” It is the artist’s first solo show in more than a decade. The exhibit will be open until Nov. 1. The Estate of Elsa Redy recently gifted nearly 80 of her works to the Crocker Ceramics Collection. Crocker Executive Director Lial A. Jones said in a news release, “We are so pleased to present the work of Elsa Rady, an artist of extraordinary vision and skill, and to add more of her exquisite, enduring vessels to our collection, especially later works made in a visually arresting style associated with the artist. The exhibition is both an introduction to Rady and a focused look at the evolution of her work from arts and crafts to more minimalist, designed vessels.”

On March 25 the Crocker will host its Official Rogue Book Club via Zoom. This month’s book is “There, There,” the debut novel by Cheyenne and Arapaho author Tommy Orange. The book received multiple awards. It is the story of 12 Native Americans living in Oakland whose paths cross during the Big Oakland Powwow. Tommy Orange is a graduate of the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, a 2014 MacDowell Fellow, and 2016 Writing by Writers Fellow. He is a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes of Oklahoma. To learn more about the book and author or to register, see crockerart.org.

The Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera has a new concert available on demand, “Romancing the Opera.” The concert features music from “The Marriage of Figaro,” “Traviata,” “Carmen” and more. This concert is available for free to current subscribers and ticket holders, or for a $25 or more donation. For more information and to donate, go to sacphilopera.org.