Former German gymnast Tobias Wegner will perform LEO, his one-man physical theater show, 8 p.m. Friday at Fayetteville’s Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St.
Wegner combines acrobatics, animation and physical comedy in the story of an otherwise ordinary man whose world becomes unhinged while he’s stuck in a room with seemingly nowhere to go.
It’s part of the center’s 10x10 Arts Series. Tickets are $10-$25. Call (479) 443-5600 or visit the website, waltonartscenter.org.
Black History talk
Author, publisher, educator and poet Haki R. Madhubuti, a 2014 inductee into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame, will speak about his involvement in the civil rights movement and the influence of art in black American culture at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, 501 W. Ninth St., Little Rock.
The talk is part of the center’s Black Hall of Fame Distinguished Laureate Series and its month-long series of events marking Black History Month. Admission is free. Call (501) 683-3592 or visit the website, mosaictemplarscenter.com.
Literary festival
The University of Central Arkansas’ department of writing will kick off its annual Arkatext literary festival, a celebration of Arkansas writers, at 1 p.m. Monday with undergraduate students reading and performing original prose, poetry and hybrids.
Except as noted, all events will take place in Thompson Hall at UCA, 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway.
Master of fine arts degree candidates and faculty member Stacy Kidd will put on a similar program at 1:40 p.m.Tuesday in the Thompson Hall Grand Foyer.
At 11 a.m. Wednesday, Fayetteville novelist and short story writer Padma Viswanathan will deliver a craft talk followed by a question and answer session in Room 331. She will read from her work at 2 p.m. in the Grand Foyer.
Kyran Pittman of Little Rock, author of Planting Dandelions: Field Notes From a Semi-Domesticated Life, will give a craft talk and Q&A session at 11 a.m. Thursday in Room 331 and will read from original works at 1:40 p.m. in the Grand Foyer.
Fayetteville poet and editor Matthew Henriksen will give the festival’s final craft talk and and Q&A session at 1 p.m. Friday in Room 331.
The festival will close with the fourth annual Toad Suck Review Launchapalooza at 7 p.m. Friday at Bear’s Den Pizza, 235 Ferris Road, Conway. Editors of the UCA literary magazine and other area writers will give readings.
A complete schedule is available online at uca.edu/writing/arkatext-festival. Admission to all events is free. Call (501) 450-3653 or email johnv@uca.edu.
‘Eureka Gras’
The ninth annual Eureka Gras Mardi Gras Extravaganza continues Saturday with the Light and Sound Night Parade, 6 p.m., starting at the Carnegie Public Library, 194 Spring St., continuing down Spring Street to the courthouse on Main Street. Second Line Dancing will follow at 7 p.m., starting in front of Basin Park and working back up Spring Street. Admission to parade and line dance is free.
The Voulez Vous Lounge, 63 Spring St., will host the post-parade Black Lite Ball at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 via the website, voulezvouslounge.com.
The Hookers and Jokers Ball, 6 p.m. Feb. 27 at the Best Western Inn of the Ozarks Convention Center, 205 W.Van Buren St. (U.S. 62 West), will feature music, a mini parade, a buffet with heavy hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar. This year’s theme is “Eureka Circus.” Come in costume; there will be prizes for the best ones. Tickets are $25. Call (479) 253-8737.
A champagne buffet dinner and music highlight the formal Coronation Masquerade Ball, 6 p.m. Feb. 28 in the Crystal Dining Room, Crescent Hotel, 75 Prospect St. Tickets are $40; reservations are required. Call (479) 981-9551.
The Krewe of Krazo (that’s “Ozark” spelled backward) will lead the second Mardi Gras parade, also with a “ Eureka Circus” theme, downtown at 2 p.m. March 1. The Basin Park Hotel, 12 Spring St., will host the Beaux Arts Masquerade Ball, with cash bar at 7 p.m. and dancing to party band Ultra Suede at 8. Tickets are $20. Call (479) 253-9417.
The Saint ’Lizbeth King Cake Ball and dinner, 6 p.m. Fat Tuesday, March 4, in the Parish Hall of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church, 232 Passion Play Road, closes the festival. Tickets are $40. Call (479) 253-8864 or (479) 253-4503.
A complete schedule is available online at krazo.ureeka.org or eurekasprings.org/events.
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