It was really hard to narrow down the choices for this weekend, so I have tried to include a wide variety of stuff to do with your sweetheart, your friends, your kids!
FRIDAY
Circus, family: Atlanta’s Universoul Circus is famous for drawing crowds to their feet, and for infusing pop, hip-hop, R&B and jazz into the program. For more on this hometown success, see our interview with founder Cedric Walker. Through Feb. 27 in the Green Lot at Turner Field.
Dance: Atlanta Ballet brings “The Sleeping Beauty” to life on the stage at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre Feb. 11-13. As a preview for the production, the AJC’s Howard Pousner tells the decidedly non-”Black Swan”-like tale of two Atlanta Ballet dancers.
Stage: “Carapace” is a portrait of a flawed man on a collision course with fate one cold Minneapolis winter night. This winner of the 2010 Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition was written by David Mitchell Robinson and directed by Judith Ivey. Opens Feb. 11 and runs through March 6 in the Alliance Theatre’s Hertz Studio Theatre at Woodruff Arts Center.
Music: The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra presents “Live and Let Die: The Music of Paul McCartney” at 8 p.m. Feb. 11-12 at Symphony Hall.
Stage: Two brothers find themselves at odds over what to do when their dad remains in his home even as his health and his neighborhood are deteriorating in “Broke-ology,” presented by True Colors Theatre Company and starring Afemo Omilami, Eric Little, Enoch King and Jasmine Guy. See our review of the production for more. The show continues through Feb. 20 at the Southwest Arts Center in Atlanta.
Stage: The Atlanta Shakespeare Company’s 12th annual production of “Romeo and Juliet,” the Bard’s play about ill-fated young lovers, welcomes lovers through March 6 at the New American Shakespeare Tavern in Atlanta.
Stage: Theatrical Outfit presents Horton Foote’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “The Young Man from Atlanta,” the story of a couple confronting the loss of their only son. It runs through Feb. 20 at the Balzer Theater at Herren’s in downtown Atlanta.
Stage: Comedian Manny Oliveira ponders the difference between being lonely and being alone in “I’m the Man You Meet Before You Meet the Man You Marry.” The show runs through Feb. 27 at 14th Street Playhouse in Midtown.
Stage: “Bring It On: The Musical” is set in the world of competitive cheerleading and inspired by the 2000 movie starring Kirsten Dunst and Gabrielle Union, though the musical tells a different story. Our review calls the show “one of the most exciting Atlanta world premieres in many years.” It runs through Feb. 20.
Stage: In “The Body Detective,” Detective Sam Flat Foot sleuths his way through Bodytown, boning up on his knowledge of the skeletal system. Through March 13 at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta.
Visual arts: Take a visual journey back to turn-of-the-century Paris with “Toulouse-Lautrec and Friends: The Irene and Howard Stein Collection.” Catherine Fox calls it “a thoroughly enjoyable and instructive exhibition celebrating a great artist.” See the rest of our review. It continues through May 1 at the High Museum of Art.
Flowers, family: Natural beauty blooms at the Atlanta Botanical Garden even in the chilly days of winter with the opening of “Orchid Daze: Liquid Landscapes.” It continues through April 10.
History, visual art: With the Atlanta History Center’s “Eudora Welty: Exposures and Reflections,” you’ll learn that the Pulitzer Prize-winning Southern author was also an accomplished photographer. The exhibition runs through May 8.
SATURDAY
Kids: Lowe’s, “Build and Grow” Clinics, 10 am, various locations, free. To sign up: https://www.lowesbuildandgrow.com/ChooseAStore.aspx
Story Hour: “Falling for Rapunzel” at Barnes & Noble, 2900 Peachtree Road, 11 a.m. Saturday.Picture book is a clever, hilarious turn on the Rapunzel story that will enchant kids, Free.
Visual arts: The fourth annual Rail Arts District Studio Cruise happens in community art spaces, performance spaces, studios and galleries along a one-mile stretch of rail line that passes through downtown Avondale Estates, into Decatur’s Laredo Drive industrial area and along East Ponce De Leon Avenue into Scottdale. 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Feb. 12
Monster trucks: Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam performs for more than four million fans annually and Feb. 12 finds the event at Philips Arena in downtown Atlanta. Get there early for Party in the Pit and see the trucks up close and meet the drivers. Or just meet driver Lee O’Donnell, in our Q&A.
Food, festival: Two days before Valentine’s Day seems the perfect time to indulge in some oysters, so head over to the Oysterfest at Park Tavern, on the edge of Piedmont Park, at 1 p.m. Feb. 12.
Music: The Ludwig Symphony Orchestra gets you in the mood with “A Romantic Gala Concert for Valentine’s Day” at 8 p.m. Feb. 12 at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center.
Tree planting: The Blue Heron Nature Preserve will mark Arbor Day in Georgia with a tree planting event 1-3 p.m. Saturday.
Volunteers are needed to plant 300 bare root seedlings in a wetlands area that tends to be soggy. Those interested should meet at the cul-de-sac on Emma Lane and look for a red pickup truck to sign in, pick up trees and get directions. See the Blue Heron Web site for a map and directions. Participants should wear boots, and bring a hand trowel and a bag for the trees and picking up trash. For last minute weather checks and directions call 404-345-1008.According to the Arbor Day Web site, Georgia’s Arbor Day is the third Friday in February.
SUNDAY
Crafts, family: At the Chattahoochee Handweavers Guild Open House, you can try your hand at weaving or just enjoy the fiber arts demonstrations from some of this non-profit organization’s talented instructors. 1 p.m. Feb. 13 at the North DeKalb Cultural Center in Dunwoody.
Music: The Atlanta Baroque Orchestra explores “Music Then, Music Now” with works by Handel, Telemann and Tavener. 4 p.m. Feb. 13 at Roswell Presbyterian Church.
Music: Taipei Chinese Orchestra is joined by Wu Man, who plays the pipa, a stringed Chinese instrument that originated more than 2,000 years ago. At 4 p.m. Feb. 13 at Emory University’s Schwartz Center for Performing Arts.