FUN
SoMa 501 Little Rock, Inc.’s 15th SoMardi Gras Parade, Street Festival and Beard Contest, 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday on Main Street between 12th and 17th streets, the New Orleans-style parade, with a “Disco Inferno” theme, kicks off at at noon, rain or shine, starting at 22nd and Main, proceeding north on Main to 12th Street, featuring around 50 floats and groups. The Beard and Mustache Contest starts at 1 p.m., directly following the parade, at Bernice Garden, 14th and Main, with prizes for Best Natural Beard Under 6 Inches, Best Natural Beard Over 6 Inches, Best Groomed Beard, Best Mustache, Most Original Beard, Best Partial Beard and, for women and kids, Best DIY Crafted Beard. And while all this is going on, a street festival, between 12th and 17th on Main, features live music, street vendors and food trucks. A Kid Zone will feature a science-based bead-making sponsored by Science en Vivo “and other family-friendly activities.” somalittlerock.com/somardigras.
The weekend kicks off with a VIP pre-party, 6-9 p.m. Friday at Rock Town Distillery, 1201 Main St., Little Rock. The party is in partnership with the Little Rock Marathon, which is putting on a 7 a.m. Saturday 5K, 10K and Kids Race and the actual marathon and half marathon on Sunday. Be aware of traffic issues and blocked streets throughout the route — check out that route and other marathon details at littlerockmarathon.com
MUSIC
The Escher Quartet — Adam Barnett-Hart and Brendan Speltz, violins; Pierre Lapointe, viola; and Brook Speltz, cello — plays works by Felix Mendelssohn Béla Bartók and Antonín Dvorák at 7:30 p.m. today Thursday at Little Rock’s Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 310 W. 17th St., under the auspices of the Chamber Music Society of Little Rock. chambermusicLR.com.
THEATER
Wildwood Park for the Arts and Praeclara stage the musical “Peter Pan,” 7:30 p.m. Friday and March 7, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and March 8 and 2 p.m. Sunday and March 9 in the Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theatre at the park, 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock. Blythe Keating plays the title role of the boy who never grew up, with Ty Vols as his island adversary, Captain Hook. (501) 821-7275; wildwoodpark.org.
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Theatre Arts program stages the musical “The Theory of Relativity” 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday March 5-8, 2:30 p.m. March 9 in Haislip Theatre, Center for Performing Arts, on the south side of the UA Little Rock campus, 2801 S. University Ave. Admission is free but it’s necessary to reserve seats in advance — visit tix.com/ticket-sales/ualrtheatre/5517.
And an 83-year-old Cinderella teaches her unusual family that it’s never too late to find Prince Charming in “Social Security” by Andrew Bergman, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and 12:45 and 6:45 p.m. Sunday through March 8 at at Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, 6323 Colonel Glenn Road, Little Rock. (501) 562-3131; murrysdp.com.
ART AND EXHIBITS
“Crimson Moon,” pieces from the jewelry collection of Leesa Renshaw, is on display at ESSE Museum and Store, 1510 Main St., Little Rock. See Renshaw’s acquisitions, spanning several centuries and the world, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday, through June 1. (501) 916-9022; essepursemuseum.com.
“Wood Works: Assembled from the Permanent Collection,” artwork made from wood from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s permanent collection, is on display through May 16 in the Ann Maners and Alex Pappas Gallery in the Windgate Center of Art + Design at UA Little Rock, 2801 S. University Ave. Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday.
“Lighter than the childhood home,” 2D and 3D sculpture and works in metal, fiber and wood by German artist Iris Eichenberg,” is on display, through March 9 in the Windgate Center’s Brad Cushman Gallery. Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday.
“Ordinary to Extraordinary,” works by the 6 Bridges Watercolor Group, is on display, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday through March 14 at the Argenta Library Gallery, 420 Main St., North Little Rock. (501) 687-1061.
And “Commanding the Screen: The American Presidency in Film and Television,” material from more than 30 movies and television shows portraying fictional and real-life U.S. presidents, is up through March 23 at the Clinton Presidential Center, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock. clintonpresidentialcenter.org/exhibits.