Weekend Roundup: What to do in EL the weekend of May 13-15

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It’s the calm between the storms this weekend; MSU graduation and Mother’s Day are in the rearview, and the Art Festival is coming up on May 21 and 22. There are gardens to plant, and soccer and baseball games, but when you want a break from your routine, there’s lots to do in East Lansing.

Friday night, you can take the whole family to MSU’s Arena Theater to see “An Evening of LAUGHS: Two One-Act Comedies for all ages.” The show, which starts at 7:00 pm, includes “The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales” based on the children's book of the same name by John Glore, and the Michigan premiere of “The Monologue Show” by playwright Don Zolidis, about a high school theatre class forced to do their end-of-term monologues with differing degrees of success. The show (both acts) is appropriate for elementary ages and up and features several East Lansing Public Schools students in the cast. Tickets are $10 at the door.

On Saturday morning from 10:00 to 11:30 am, MSU’s Community Music School offers “Interactive Environmental Songs with Joe Reilly.” The program requires no musical background and is open to children ages three to thirteen and their parents or guardians. “I started to bring my guitar as a way to enhance the teaching,” says Reilly, “and I found that the kids just connected with the music so well. It grew very organically. I started doing more direct environmental education through my songwriting.” A donation of $3 to $5 is requested.

If children aren’t part of your weekend (or if you’d like to have some grownup time without yours), consider an early dinner out followed by “Drowning World: The Elements,” a talk at the Eli & Edythe Broad Museum from 7:00 to 8:30 pm in the Museum’s Ross Education Wing. The speaker is artist Gideon Mendel, and the topic is his “Drowning World” project, a “creative response to the key issue of climate change” on display at the Broad through October 16.

Sunday afternoon after some bagels and yard work, consider heading to Wharton Center’s Pasant Theater for The Young Playwright’s Festival, at which six of mid-Michigan’s top high school playwrights will be recognized as finalists. Each finalist’s project, developed through a one-of-a-kind mentoring program with theatre professionals, will be directed and performed live at Wharton Center. The Sunday 2 pm performance is free and open to the public with first-come, first-served seating, and no tickets are required.

For more information on all of these events (and more) visit East Lansing Info.org and check out our Local Events Calendar.