We’ve got your weekend: Films, concerts, food, opera, and the sweet smell of spring

Judy Hill from What You Gonna Do When The Worlds On Fire. (Still provided by: The New Orleans Film Society)

Wednesday, April 5/Lafayette Square: Oh, Irma how we love you. If you haven’t seen and heard Irma Thomas at Wednesdays at the square then you do not have to cry (okay, maybe cry a little bit because…respect). You can see her and Johnny Sansone on April 5. The YLC Wednesday at the Square concert series is free and open to the public. Proceeds from food and drink sales benefit YLC’s community service projects, which are designed to improve the quality of life in New Orleans and to foster leadership skills in young professionals. The show begins at 5:00 PM with headliners taking the stage at 6:30 PM.

Thursday, April 4/Langston Hughes Academy (3519 Trafalgar Street): Although dips in the sunshine and temperatures can make you think spring isn’t really here, it really is. And Edible Schoolyards is ready to show you all spring has to offer. They are throwing “An Edible Evening,” and this year’s guests will enjoy food from New Orleans’ top restaurants, a signature cocktail designed by James Beard Award winner, Cure, wines from Presqu’ile, and a Beer Garden featuring local breweries. With an silent auction, DIY with ESY station, raffles, and market table with student-made goods, “An Edible Evening” is sure to be a garden party under the stars you’ll never forget. The event begins at 7:00 PM, all proceeds benefit Edible Schoolyard New Orleans, and you can find tickets and details here.

Thursday, April 4/Marigny Opera House (725 Saint Ferdinand Street): Lera Auerbach’s 12-voice acapella opera is based on a haunting play of Flemish Symbolist writer Maurice Maeterlinck. A group of twelve blind patients have been led into the forest by their priest, who guided them there to enjoy the last rays of sun before the winter. Realizing that they have gone too far, the priest tells them to wait while he seeks food and help. In their frustration and helplessness, they pray for forgiveness and salvation, but the tension mounts inexorably when they discover the cold body of the priest who has died among them. We know, it sounds dark and fascinating! You can hear this opera and contemplate whether it is a metaphor for our lives, our religions, or our own blindness. This will be an “immersive theater” production, so you will experience the heightened sensory perception of joining the cast of sightless individuals as you enter the forest with them. We know, it keeps getting better! The show is Thursday through Saturday, and you can find tickets here.

Saturday, April 6/Southern Rep Theater (2541 Bayou Road): Earthalujah! The world-traveling radical performers, Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir are coming to New Orleans, just in time for festival season. Recently sharing stages with Pussy Riot, Yothu Yindi, Joan Baez and Neil Young, the award-winning and often arrested activist-entertainers will host a late-night party-show at Southern Rep at 10:00 PM Saturday April 6th. Then, on Sunday April 7 at 7:30 PM (also at Southern Rep) the troupe will stage their gospel concert for the Earth. Part political rally, part comedy show about an Elvis-impersonator televangelist and his choir, part church service of the Earth faith: whatever the Church of Stop Shopping is – it’s a movement to rise to the occasion of the Earth’s crisis. As activists, they have faced down Monsanto and Bayer, climate-change financiers like Chase Bank and UBS, and mountaintop removal coal-mining and pipe-lines. Tickets will run you between $12-$20, and you can purchase them here.

Saturday, April 6/New Orleans Botanical Garden (City Park): This weekend, garden lovers are invited to attend the 40th annual Spring Garden Show that is taking place in City Park. The show is an educational experience for home gardeners and professionals both. The festival will feature a variety of exhibits, vendors, children-friendly activities, educational programs, arts and crafts, cooking demonstrations and more. Tickets will cost you $10 (adults) and $5 (children). For more information about the show, you can check out their site here.

Sunday, April 7/The Art Garage (2231 St. Claude Avenue): Maybe you won’t be making your face into a lion or a fairy, or some other Mardi Gras-inspired creature, but Victoria Ingrid is holding a makeup 101 workshop for your everyday makeup (whatever that means to you). Do you struggle with applying eye shadows? How about finding the perfect tones for your complexion? Ingrid will help you by starting with the basic steps to prepping your skin, and how to decipher what kind of primer would be good for your specific needs. She’ll go into great detail about subjects like the difference between synthetic brushes vs natural haired brushes, and why that’s so important, and she’ll teach you everything you need to know about makeup tools, and when its okay to bend the rules. The workshop begins at 12:00 PM, it’s $50 a seat, and you can find out full details here.

Sunday, April 7/Southern Food and Beverage Museum (1504 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd): It’s food time, people! The Southern Food & Beverage Museum (SoFAB) is presenting “Made in Louisiana” – a festival showcasing Louisiana’s unique, gastronomic heritage through food, beverages and culinary products crafted in the Pelican state. Festival guests can enjoy samples from over 40 purveyors serving innovative culinary products, including (you ready for this list?): craft beers | pickles | sauces | snacks | breads | absinthe | jambalaya sausage | pies | salsa | spice mixes | tamales | pecan treats | oils | wine jams | raw sugar toffee | meat pies | coffees | honey | sweets | nuts | paella cutting boards | cocktails | and more. Dang, that made us hungry! Anyway, tickets are between $12-$20, and you can find out more details here.

Tuesday, April 9/NOCCA (2800 Chartres Street): The New Orleans Film Society (NOFS) will continue their “Seeing Music: A Film & Conversation Series” with What You Gonna Do When The World’s On Fire? The screening will be followed by a conversation with New Orleanian Judy Hill, the lead of the film who won awards at both Venice and Mar del Plata Film Festivals, who is the daughter of late New Orleans R&B icon Jessie Hill (Ooh Poo Pah Doo). Admission for the Seeing Music series is FREE for NOFS members and NOCCA students with public tickets available for $10. What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire? is the story of a community of black people in New Orleans during the Summer 2017. Directed by Roberto Minervini (director of Louisiana – The Other Side, 2015), the film premiered and won four awards at the Venice Film Festival last year. The screening will begin at 7:30 PM.