Sunday, Feb. 5

Friends of the Somerville Public Library winter book sale from 1 to 4 p.m. at Somerville Public Library, 79 Highland Ave., on Central Hill. Free. Everything is $1. Information is here.

The Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ “Cosmic Relief!” at 3 p.m. at Harvard University’s Farkas Hall, 12 Holyoke St., Harvard Square (and continuing through March 5). $47. These pun-filled musicals have been put on since 1844, long enough to include everyone from FDR to Rashida Jones in the organization. This one is about a disgraced FBI agent faking a moon landing amid a Communist panic – or something like that. Information is here.

Monday, Feb. 6

Eleanor Shearer reads from “River Sing Me Home” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square. Free. This book, named one of the year’s “most anticipated” by Goodreads, BookRiot and more, follows a woman fleeing a Barbados slave plantation in 1834 in search of her children. Well-fitting masks are required. Information is here.

Tuesday, Feb. 7

The Parker Quartet (via its website)

The Parker Quartet presents The Beethoven Project from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Free. A performance by the Grammy-winning quartet, whose members are professors at Harvard. Information is here.

Ibram X. Kendi and Nic Stone talk about “How to Be a (Young) Antiracist,” at 7 p.m. at Temple Beth Shalom, 8 Tremont St., The Port. $40 with book. The Boston University professor and “Dear Martin” novelist tour behind the young-adult adaption of Kendi’s New York Times bestselling book. Information is here.

Smut Slam from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at The Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. $10 suggested for this 18-plus show. Real-life, first-person sex stories from eight to 10 tellers drawn at random, competing for the best five-minute tale of debauchery before a panel of local celebrities. They can’t use notes, props or hate speech – but pretty much anything else goes. “Stories are often funny and/or epic wins, but we want to encourage people to consider sharing their sad, disturbing, poignant, serious, simple and/or ’fail’ experiences too,” organizers say. Lucas Brooks hosts. Information is here.

Wednesday, Feb. 8

A conversation on Native American sovereignty from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Free, but reservations are required. Indigenous artist and author Larry Spotted Crow Mann speaks. Information is here.

Books and Brews from 6:15 to 7:30 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square, Somerville. Free, but 21-plus. A collaboration with the Somerville Public Library that this month explores “Beautiful Country” by Qian Julie Wang. Information is here.

Cinema Strange from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Somerville Public Library, 79 Highland Ave., in the Winter Hill neighborhood. Free. Somerville High School junior Chris Hopkin curates bizarre and beautiful cinema, this month “Paprika” (2006), an R-rated animated science fiction psychological thriller in which a research psychologist has to stop a “dream terrorist” from using stolen technology. Information is here.

Ian F. Svenonius reads from “Against the Written Word: Toward a Universal Illiteracy” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square. Free. Nineteen works by the rock musician in the form of essays, screenplays, lectures, sci-fi stories and manifestos that explore everything from “tourism as the neoliberal mode of military occupation” to songwriting as mind control, with the conceit this will be “a tremendous bestseller and simultaneously the last book that anyone will read.” Well-fitting masks are required. Information is here.

Thursday, Feb. 9

Isabelle Gotuaco’s “Mythology II” is part of Gallery 263’s “Bittersweet” art exhibition.

“Bittersweet” art exhibition from 4 to 7 p.m. at Gallery 263, 263 Pearl St., Cambridgeport. Free. A national group exhibition juried by photographer and photo editor Vanessa Leroy presents work that considers wellness and self-care in an ever-evolving world. It stays up through March 11. There’s a reception Friday. Information is here.

MIT Museum After Dark from 6 to 9 p.m. at The MIT Museum, 314 Main St., Kendall Square. General admission is $20 for this 21-plus event. The monthly event adds demonstrations, tastings and interactive play to access to galleries, live music, a cash bar and food and drink, this time with a theme of “Magnetic Attractions” – exploring the meaning of true north, building a mini electromagnetic motor, investigating magnetism in slow-motion and seeing what other magnetic connections await. Information is here.

Poets José Angel Araguz, Paul Hlava Ceballos and Levi Rubeck read at 7 p.m. at the Grolier Poetry Book Shop on 6 Plympton St., Harvard Square. $5. Masks are required for the duration of the event. The readers are introduced by Star Freeman and Lily Hauser. Proof of vaccination is asked at the door. Information is here.

“The Strange Child” opera viewing party at 7:30 at Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St., Inman Square. Free. The basis for this kid-friendly opera is a 19th-century fairy tale by E.T.A. Hoffmann, author of the original “Nutcracker,” about a mysterious sprite who befriends two siblings in a forest while being hunted by an archenemy. The screening is from Pittsburgh’s Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, which premiered the opera in June 2022. Information is here.

“Heathers, the Musical” from 8 to 11 p.m. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Stratton Student Center, 84 Massachusetts Ave. (and continuing through Saturday). $15. Outcast Veronica Sawyer infiltrates the ruling clique of Westerburg High School, potentially losing her identity while dealing with her anarchically murderous boyfriend, J.D. Dark comedy like the 1988 movie, now with more rhymes from the MIT Musical Theatre Guild. Information is here.

Friday, Feb. 10

“Bittersweet” art exhibition reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at Gallery 263, 263 Pearl St., Cambridgeport. Free. The 26 artists and their juror, Vanessa Leroy, get an opening reception for an exhibition up through March 11. Information is here.

Shit-Faced Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” from 7 to 8 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville (and recurring Saturday). $30. Last time the troupe played, it was the tale of Romeo and Juliet – now it’s a pair of romances that follow some solders’ arrival in town, one manipulated into seeming tragedy. There’s a spin to this version beyond it being truncated down to an hour of run time: One actor is selected at random every night to drink for the four hours before showtime, leaving the remaining sober cast to fight their way through the show while incorporating, rectifying, justifying and generally improvising around the drunkenness. Versions of this show have been running since 2010 using various Shakespearean works. Masks are required. Information is here.

“The Jazz+Soul Connection” at 8 p.m. at the Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second St., East Cambridge. $39. The Cambridge Jazz Foundation presents the Ron Savage Trio with guests Farayi Malek, Bill Pierce and Bobby Broom performing the works of Billie Holiday, Donny Hathway, Cannonball Adderley and Diana Washington. Information is here.

Maggie Cee in “Ladies at a Gay Girls’ Bar, 1938-1969.” (Photo: Dance Complex)

“Ladies at a Gay Girls’ Bar, 1938-1969” dance from 8 to 9:15 p.m. at The Dance Complex, 536 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square (and continuing through Sunday). $22.85. Maggie Cee explores her years as a teenage gay-rights activist, her own identity and femme history in a solo dance and theater performance. Information is here.

Miss Lamplighter’s “Love’s A Drag” Drag Show from 8 to 10:30 p.m. at Lamplighter CX, 110 N. First St., North Point. $22 for a 21-plus show. Five queens in a Valentine’s Day edition of the series. Information is here.

“Heathers, the Musical” (continued) from 8 to 11 p.m. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Stratton Student Center, 84 Massachusetts Ave. (and continuing through Saturday). $15. Information is here.

Crush tribute to Dave Matthews at 8:30 p.m. at The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Harvard Square. A couple of weeks ago it was a Radiohead tribute band playing; now it’s Boston-based band Crush, prepared to deliver the DMB experience of the “Big 3” albums “Under the Table and Dreaming,” “Crash” and “Before These Crowded Streets.” Information is here.

ImprovBoston comedy from 9:30 to 11 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville. $25 for a 21-plus show. Comics take audience suggestions to craft scenes on the spot. Information is here.

Saturday, Feb. 11

“Bittersweet” art exhibition (continued) from 1 to 4 p.m. at Gallery 263, 263 Pearl St., Cambridgeport (and up through March 11). Free. Information is here.

Breakeasy breakdancing competition from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Harvard’s Lowell Lecture Hall, 17 Kirkland St., Harvard Square. $10. Stop in to watch some amazing, athletic dance in a contest run by the Harvard Breakers. Information is here.

I ♥ Science Festival from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St., in the Baldwin neighborhood near Harvard Square. Free with $15 admission. This festival lets museum goers meet amateur and professional scientists who study and collect mushrooms, shells, insects and minerals; talk with experts who create chocolate and grow carnivorous plants; try finding bugs or exploring sand; design an imaginary insect or craft a button; watch a live ice sculpture demonstration; and buy hot cocoa and chocolate bars from Goodnow Farms. Information is here.

“Heathers, the Musical” (continued) from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Stratton Student Center, 84 Massachusetts Ave. $15. Information is here.

Shit-Faced Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” (continued) from 7 to 8 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville. $30. Masks are required. Information is here.

Bitch. (Photo: Arts at the Armory)

“Bitchcraft” at 7 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. $23. Performance artist and musician Bitch tells the story of her life and reclamation of the word “bitch” in this one-woman play – accompanying the album of the same name out this year on the Kill Rock Stars label – with violins, synths and vocals. Comedian Tooky Kavanagh opens. Information is here.

Reproductive Justice Salon abortion fundraiser at 7 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. Free, but accepting donations up to $100 per person. Short presentations about reproductive justice, from where to find abortion pills and how they work to issues around pregnancy for trans men. Information is here.

Magic Dyke: Boyfriend Overload drag king show at 8 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square. General admission is $14. Jump fast to get seats at this queer visual buffet of beefcakes, bromance and boytoys, a “celebration of bodies, gender, smut and sleaze.” (A first night of this Slaughterhouse Society revue is already sold out.) Information is here.

“Ladies at a Gay Girls’ Bar, 1938-1969” dance (continued) from 8 to 9:15 p.m. at The Dance Complex, 536 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. $22.85. Information is here.

Conspiracy Live! comedy show from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville. $15 for an 18-plus show. The sketch comedians turn to an “Improv Apocalypse” show using audience suggestions to set the scene. Information is here.

Sunday, Feb. 12

Dead Low (via Instagram)

Hassle Flea from 12:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Cambridge Community Center, 5 Callender St., Riverside. Admission is $1. A flea market featuring handmade artwork, prints, patches, records, tees, pins, ceramics, jewelry, zines, body care, tea, fiber art, vintage clothing, accessories, books as well as tarot readings, haircuts, live drawings and performances from the bands Adult Learners, Blast Shield, Phagocyte, Push Back, Dead Low and Taraneh. Masks are requested. Information is here.

Belly dancing from 2:30 to 4 p.m. at The Middle East Corner, 480 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. $20 donation for a 21-plus show. Dancers perform the “New Flames of Araby” to live music from the Udi Joseph Kouyoumjian Ensemble. Information is here.

“Ladies at a Gay Girls’ Bar, 1938-1969” dance (continued) from 7 to 8:15 p.m. at The Dance Complex, 536 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. $22.85. Information is here.

“Waiting for Godot” from 7 to 10 p.m. at at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville. $15. The Deadword theater company presents its inaugural production: Samuel Beckett’s existentialist two-hander of poetry, dreamscapes and comical nonsense. Information is here.

A Modern Schubertiade at 8 p.m. at the Longy School of Music, 27 Garden St., Harvard Square. Free, with registration and donations of $10 or up welcomed. Piano faculty presents a multipart event: fortepiano on the floor, a concert with Steinway on the stage in Pickman Hall and a salonlike after-concert event in its Wolfinsohn Room. The music ranges from Schubert to György x and Chick Corea. Information is here.