Sunday, March 5

“Legally Blonde” drag brunch at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at Summer Shack, 149 Alewife Brook Parkway, North Cambridge. Neon Calypso hosts a show paying tribute to the 2001 movie and iconic Harvard student Elle Woods, with diners encouraged to also wear costumes inspired by “Legally Blonde.” Information is here.

“It Begins With Breath” faculty debut recital at 3 p.m. at the Longy School of Music, 27 Garden St., Harvard Square. Free, with donations up to $20 accepted. A chance to hear works by composer and improviser Matthew Evan Taylor, whose music has been performed across the United States and Europe by such ensembles as the Cleveland Orchestra and Detroit Symphony. Information is here.

Poets David Blair, Tanya Larkin, David Rivard, Sam Witt and Talia Adry Witt read from 3 to 5 p.m. at Gallery 263, 263 Pearl St., Cambridgeport. Information is here.

---

Monday, March 6

Chess night 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Somerville Public Library, 79 Highland Ave., on Central Hill. Free. A meetup, not a class, open to players of all skill levels. Information is here.

Ensemble Uncaged at 8 p.m. at the Longy School of Music, 27 Garden St., Harvard Square. Free, with donations up to $20 accepted. Andy Kozar and Rachel Elliott are co-directors of this new group with a mission of eclecticism. Information is here.

---

Tuesday, March 7

Purim at the Palace at 4 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. $45 for a family. Celebrate the Jewish holiday in costumes with a caricature booth, face painting, a hamentashen bake-off, magic, mascot characters and holiday snacks and crafts. Information is here.

Eleanor Catton reads from “Birnam Wood: A Novel” from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Free with an RSVP; $29.75 with a copy of the book. The author of “The Luminaries” and screenwriter of its ensuing television series as well as of “Emma.” presents a thriller about a guerrilla gardening group navigating its relationship with an enigmatic billionaire over land he wants for a doomsday bunker. Catton will be in conversation with Nina MacLaughlin, author of “Wake Siren: Ovid Resung.” Information is here.

Community quilt celebration from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Cambridge library’s O’Neill Branch, 70 Rindge Ave., North Cambridge. Free. People of all ages and sewing abilities were invited to contribute to a community quilt using fabric markers, glue or a needle and thread. Now the quilt goes on monthlong display after this party (with refreshments) for its completion. 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, March 8

Artist Sandra Ramos’ “Both Sides Now” and conversation from 5:15 to 7:30 p.m. at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, 1730 Cambridge St., Mid-Cambridge near Harvard Square (to see the exhibit) and Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., near Harvard Square (for the 6:30 p.m. talk). Free. The witty Cuban-born artist uses photographs, drawings, collage, sculpture and video to critique aspects of her country’s history and expose the failings of democratic systems against totalitarian regimes. She’ll be in conversation with curator Mary Schneider Enriquez. Information is here.

YA authors Sarah Underwood and Lyssa Mia Smith in conversation at 7 p.m. at Porter Square Books, 25 White St., Porter Square. Free. British data scientist Underwood is author of “Lies We Sing to the Sea,” a sapphic fantasy inspired by Greek mythology; New Yorker Smith is a clinical psychologist and author of “Revelle,” set on an island in a magical version of Prohibition-era New York inspired by “Moulin Rouge!” Information is here.

---

Thursday, March 9

Margaret Atwood reads from “Old Babes in the Wood: Stories” at 7 p.m. at Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy St., near Harvard Square. $45 with a copy of the book. The famed “Handmaid’s Tale” author brings 15 stories, some of which appeared in The New Yorker and New York Times Magazine. She’ll be in conversation with Scott Tong, co-host of WBUR’s “Here and Now” in a Harvard Book Store event. Information is here.

“Podcast But Outside” at 7:30 p.m. at Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square. $27. Hosts Cole Hersch and Andrew Michaan bring their “interview strangers on the street” shtick (for which they pay interviewees $1) inside on tour, proving that everyone has a story to tell. This show was rescheduled from September. Information is here.

“When We Persist” jazz concert with pianist Kevin Harris at 8 p.m. at at the Longy School of Music, 27 Garden St., Harvard Square. Free, with donations up to $20 accepted and preregistration required. The visiting artist performs with faculty member Noah Preminger and students. Information is here.

Emily Scott Robinson, Alisa Amador and Violet Bell perform at 8:30 p.m. at The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Harvard Square. $24. Amador, local winner of last year’s NPR Tiny Desk Contest, Ross, of the duo Violet Bell, and writer-composer Robinson perform individually and then together to perform songs from Robinson’s “Built on Bones,” six original songs for the witches of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.” Information is here.

---

Friday, March 10

Felix Flicker reads from “The Magick of Physics: Uncovering the Fantastical Phenomena in Everyday Life” at 7 p.m. at the Harvard Science Center, 1 Oxford St., near Harvard Square. Free or $31 with a copy of the book. The book’s conceit is that you, the reader, are an aspiring wizard whose ability to cast spells – that is, do science – depends on your grasp of the fundamentals of the universe. No equations or charts! He’ll be in conversation with Harvard professor of physics Norman Y. Yao in a Harvard Book Store event. Information is here.

“See the Music, Hear the Dance” with the Kendall Square Orchestra from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy St., near Harvard Square. Pay what you think is fair, with suggested donations from $10 to $50-plus. Music buzzing with energy, joy and excitement including Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s “Ballade in A Minor,” Duke Ellington’s “River Suite” and Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet Suite.” Information is here.

“Into the Woods” at 8 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville (and repeating Saturday). Free. An informal, bare-bones staging of Stephen Sondheim’s musical bringing together fairy tale characters in an original exploration of community, loss and resilience. Information is here.

“Claiming Space” at 8 p.m. at the Longy School of Music, 27 Garden St., Harvard Square. Free, with donations up to $20 accepted. Guest mentor Mark DeChiazza directs artists in residence Sid Richardson, Bahar Royaee and Samantha Wolf and director Amy Beth Kirsten in an improvised work called Flash Concert Theatre. 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, March 11

Maple Syrup Boil Down Festival from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Somerville Community Growing Center, 22 Vinal Ave., near Union Square, Somerville. Free. Find out how sap from local sugar maple trees is boiled down. Information is here.

“Bittersweet” art exhibition closes from 1 to 4 p.m. at Gallery 263, 263 Pearl St., Cambridgeport. Free. Say goodbye to the national group exhibition of works that consider wellness and self-care in an ever-evolving world, juried by photographer and photo editor Vanessa Leroy. Information is here.

Somerville Writers & Readers Winter Market at 1 p.m. at the Somerville Public Library, 79 Highland Ave., on Central Hill. Free. The “winter market” concept stems from this event representing “locally sourced, organically grown literature” – a chance to meet some Somerville authors, hear readings, learn about book groups and browse, borrow or buy new reading material, all with refreshments. There are half-hour slots starting at 1:30 for graphic novelist Dave Ortega; poet Denise Provost; Somerville poet laureate Lloyd Schwartz; short story author Lesley Bannatyne; and novelist Kevin M. McIntosh. Information is here.

“Into the Woods” (continued) at 8 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. Free. Information is here.

An Evening with Bill Banfield at 8 p.m. at the Longy School of Music, 27 Garden St., Harvard Square. Free, with donations up to $20 accepted. Longy president Karen Zorn hosts a retrospective on the career and impact of Banfield, the school’s first senior scholar in residence, with a reception and book signing for his “Musical Landscapes in Color: Conversations with Black American Composers.” Information is here.

Conspiracy Live! comedy show from 9:30 to 11:30 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville. $15 for an 18-plus show. Sketch, and potentially sketchy, comedy. Information is here.

---

Sunday, March 12

An ’80s extravaganza drag brunch at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at Summer Shack, 149 Alewife Brook Parkway, North Cambridge. Neon Calypso hosts a show paying tribute to the decade of Madonna, Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston. Information is here.

“Waterlines: Stories of Urban Ebb and Flow” Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble performance from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at the Somerville Museum, 1 Westwood Road, in the Spring Hill neighborhood. $25. The ensemble presents an immersive concert inspired by the exhibition around them, works by five local artists up through March 22 that invite consideration of the ecological, spiritual and social dimensions of water and our connection with it. Curated by Arlinda Shtuni. Information is here.

Boston League of Wicked Wrestlers Presents “Tests of Strength” from 7 to 10 p.m. at The Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. General admission is $25. Queer wrestling, circus and drag, including Carrie N. Crowe vs. Shitty Wizard, The Bradlees Babes vs. the Millennial Kid and more, with a halftime show of trapeze, aerialist and contortionist performances from the New England Black Circus. Information is here.

GRCB Adult Session Showcase at 8 p.m. at Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square. The Girls Rock Campaign Boston brings to the stage seven brand-new bands performing seven original songs – all created in just one weekend. Information is here.cub

In a look ahead at a week of Cambridge and Somerville events, XXXX