What is art for, and what is the nature of the artistic impulse? These questions central to “Red,” the multiple Tony Award-winning play by John Logan currently on offer at The Kalamazoo Civic’s Parish Theatre.

For his 75th birthday, Hammond B3 organ guru Dr. Lonnie Smith celebrated doing what he loves most. He performed at the Jazz Standard nightclub in New York with his musical “brothers,” guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg and drummer Johnathan Blake. The live set of covers and Smith’s original compositions are featured on All in My Mind, Smith’s newest album and his second after returning to Blue Note Records in 2015.

Celebrating its sixth season, Muskegon’s Shoreline Symphony marked another milestone last fall when it performed in its new home, Frauenthal Theater.

This month, the Grand Rapids Ballet will pirouette, leap and float across Miller Auditorium’s stage against an all-white backdrop with scenes projected onto it, displaying some of the most iconic moments from Alice in Wonderland.

To James Sofranko, dance is a language within itself. “You can express ideas through dance that you can’t through other forms. It’s a beautiful thing,” he said.

More than 1,000 attendees are expected to show up at this year’s Midwest Regional Alternative Dance Festival at The Epic Center in Kalamazoo.

It’s no accident that HIS Dance Ensemble’s production of The Toymaker: An Easter Story bears little resemblance to the traditional Easter fables.

The personal stories of trauma, illness and loss behind the seven portraits that Donna F. St. John painted for Moving Through the Unimaginable encompass a more painful past than the seemingly jovial faces let on.

Romeo and Juliet is undoubtedly the world’s most famous love story and has been performed and adapted countless times for more than 400 years. However, the current production is a first for Kalamazoo’s New Vic Theatre, and it’s been 34 years since the company has staged any Shakespeare play.

It’s a wonderful and rare thing in the theater when the exact right script, director, company, and moment come together. That wonderful, rare thing is even more remarkable when all of the aforementioned entities emerge from local talent.