Top 5 events in St. Louis this week: March 2–5

Spring exhibits at The Sheldon, "Zorba" at the Marcelle, New Dance Horizons at the Touhill, and more

March 2, 2017

1:33 PM

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Photograph by Jennifer Colten

100 Boots: Rae Armantrout and Evie Shockley | March 3

Armantrout, who's written 13 books—and won the Pulitzer Prize—is categorized as a Language poet, though as Dan Chiasson wrote in The New Yorker, early in her career, Armantrout's work moved beyond that genre's theory and semantic play toward "the mapping of a single individual’s extraordinary mind and uniquely broken heart." Shockley, who's also brought home her share of awards (including the Holmes National Poetry Prize), teaches at Rutgers Universrity and is a prolific poet and essayist as well. Her latest is the new black (Wesleyan University Press, 2011), which won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in Poetry. WORK/PLAY will print free broadsides for each poet, and Left Bank Books will host a book table offering the poets' work. (For more background on 100 Boots, go here.) Free. 7 p.m. Pulitzer Arts Foundation, 3716 Washington, pulitzerarts.org.

Jonathan Richman | March 3

Maybe you discovered him way back in the days when he was the front man for The Modern Lovers, circa "Roadrunner." Maybe you first encountered him as The Singing Narrator, in There's Something About Mary. Or maybe you first encountered the quirky charms of Richman's music with last year's Ishkode! Ishkode! However you discovered his ouvre—which is extensive—know this: He's a legend and showman, and this weekend he'll be joined by drummer Tommy Larkins. $15. 8 p.m. Off Broadway, 3508 Lemp, offbroadwaystl.com.

Higher Ground: Honoring Washington Park Cemetery, Its People and Place | March 3–August 26

When The Sheldon's spring exhibits open this Friday, the centerpiece will be Higher Ground, a multimedia exhibit in both the Photography Gallery and the Benoudy Gallery of Architecture. The show, which takes its name from the Stevie Wonder song of the same name, is a multi-genre, multi-artist examination of Washington Park, an African-American cemetery in North County. Photographer Jennifer Colton, who's been photographing Washington Park for two decades, presents 50 color photographs, many in large format; historian Denise Ward-Brown's videos and oral histories will be shown on three monitors throughout the gallery; and artist Dail Chambers, whose grandmother is buried in the cemetery and who's been making work around the site for years, will show an installation and animated film. Established in 1920, Washington Park was once the region's largest African-American cemetery and is the final resting place of Oscar Minor Waring, the first African-American high school principal, as well as Dr. Miles Davis Sr., father to the jazz musician. Over the years, the cemetery was carved up and battered by highway and airport expansion, among other things, and many descendants—Chambers included—are unable to access the headstones of their loved ones. Curators have organized several programs, including a gallery talk and panel discussion; they are also inviting St. Louisans with relatives interred at the cemetery to contact the galleries to contribute photos to a "memory wall." Free. Opening reception 5–7 p.m. March 3. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington, thesheldon.org.

Zorba | March 3–25

If New Line Theatre is producing a musical, you know it's not the usual, staid stuff. In this case, it's a show that flowed from the pen of Kander & Ebb, the writing pair that brought Kiss of the Spider Woman to Broadway. Zorba is based on the book and film of the same name, as well as the letters of the real man who inspired both. Though the show was initially considered too dramatic and dark for Broadway (it includes plenty of death and star-crossed love), it's gone on to have several successful revivals, including the 2015 New York City Center Encores! production, starring John Turturro. $15 students and seniors, $20 general admission. 8 p.m. New Line Theatre, Marcelle Theater, 3310 Samuel Shepard, newlinetheatre.com.

Dance St. Louis: New Dance Horizons V: Women Who Inspire | March 3 & 4

For the past five years, Dance St. Louis has flown renowned choreographers to St. Louis to work with local dance companies. Then, we get to see the results of their work in a series of world premieres. For this year's production, the theme is "Women Who Inspire," including medieval abbess and composer Hildegard of Bingen, artist Louise Bourgeois, Chilean poet and Nobel Prize winner Gabriela Mistral, and contemporary author (and Wash. U. alum) Susannah Cahalan, author of Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness. Choreographers include Amy Seiwert, Wendy Rein, Ryan T. Smith, and Stephanie Martinez; they'll work with local companies St. Louis Ballet, Big Muddy Dance Co., and MADCO. For a sense of how the whole process works—and what you might see on stage—check out our story on choreographer Robert Moses, who came to town last year to work with Big Muddy for New Dance Horizons. $20. 8 p.m. Fri 2 & 8 p.m. Sat. Touhill Performing Arts Center, 1 University, dancestlouis.org.

And don't miss these other events happening around the St. Louis area this weekend:

Top 5 Family-Friendly Events

Missouri Valley Conference Basketball Tournament

Rain: A Tribute to The Beatles at the Fox Theatre

All-Bach at Powell Hall

To Kill a Mockingbird at The Repertory Theatre

Learning to See: Renaissance and Baroque Masterworks from the Phoebe Dent Weil and Mark S. Weil Collection at the Saint Louis Art Museum

Degas, Impressionism, and the Paris Millinery Trade at Saint Louis Art Museum

Morpho Mardi Gras at the Butterfly House

Orchid Show at the Missouri Botanical Garden

Slurp! Honoring the Ramen Bowl at Craft Alliance

Lee Brice at Chaifetz Arena