Arts & Culture

Despite being saddled with a couple of generic American names, John Smith’s (Marcel Ruiz) life story had been anything but boring.

Former Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett may have the legacy of a football player, but he has the soul of an artist. Bennett has produced films, books and apps all with the goal of inspiring young people. His latest children’s book “Dear Black Boy” debuted this year.

The 1980s is alive and well at Speakeasy Stage where New Edition blasts from the speakers in their production of “School Girls: Or, The African Mean Girls Play.” Running through May 25, the show uses comedy and heart to confront issues of colorism and racism in black communities.

“Caroline, or Change,” produced by Moonbox Productions and playing at the Boston Center for the Arts Calderwood Pavilion through May 11, is set in the 1960s. But its themes of immigrant barriers, economic inequity and race relations feel extremely relevant in 2019.

“black odyssey boston,” a co-production of The Front Porch Arts Collective and Underground Railway Theater, is a who’s who of black talent in the Boston theater scene.

For 51 of its 60 years, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has come to town, each annual and wildly anticipated visit presented by the Celebrity Series of Boston.

Jazz performers are appearing at unexpected venues in the Boston area. From a Chinese restaurant to a wine bar to a hole-in-the-wall, the music, depending on where you go, may be accompanied by good food, small settings, and lively crowds.

On May 6, two Boston area students will compete in the National August Wilson Monologue Competition.

For a brief five-day engagement, poet and playwright Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s vibrant, physical tale “/peh-LO-tah/” takes the stage at ArtsEmerson.

On Saturday afternoon, April 27, the Handel and Haydn Society and Castle of Our Skins will present a free concert, “Nigra Sum Sed Formosa: I am Black But Beautiful,” at Roxbury Community College Media Arts Center.

In 2017, the Harvard Art Museums acquired Kara Walker’s seminal work, “U.S.A. Idioms.” Now, the 12-foot drawing is on display for the first time since its purchase.

Small and soft-spoken, author Jesmyn Ward delivered a lecture that was both searing and tender on April 10 at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. True to its title, “Bearing Hope: The Stories We Tell Our Children to Survive,” her talk, one of this year’s Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Celebrity Lectures, which presents innovators in the arts, reflected on her intertwined endeavors as a story teller and mother.