Bay Area virtual and in-person events

Just because you’re stuck at home during the COVID-19 shutdown doesn’t mean you can’t explore the greater world. Here’s a sampling of virtual, and occasionally in-person, family-friendly shows, concerts, activities and other events over the next several weeks.

IN-PERSON

Historical Walking Tours of History Park: 10 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. A museum guide will lead small groups of visitors through San Jose’s History Park discussing the historical and architectural background of each building. $0 to $12. historysanjose.org Playground: Through March 27, Marrow Gallery, 548 Irving St., San Francisco. This appointment-only exhibit features Oakland artist Stephanie Robison and San Francisco artist Carey Lin, who inspire a sense of fun in their work. www.marrowgallery.com/

Steam and Diesel Train Rides: Limited capacity rides 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, March through May, Niles Canyon Railway, Sunol Depot, 6 Kilkare Road, Sunol. $15-$30. www.ncry.org/ ride/rides-2021/

VIRTUAL

Art Boutiki Music Hall

Live Stream: 8:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays through March. Including New Acoustic Collective, Kavanaugh Brothers Celtic Experience, AJ Lee and Blue Summitt, Astu, R&B and Soul and more. http://bit. ly/3doyp40

Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour Virtual Screening: Now through Oct. 24. This year’s tour features a streaming collection of action, environmental and adventure films and benefits the Rio Theatre Santa Cruz and Banff world tour. $15. http://bit. ly/3asd8vj

BATS Improv Online Shows: This San Franciscobased

improv group will stream free shows each week to bring a little improv magic into homes via Zoom. At 7:30 p.m. on the night of each show, click the link next to the show you want to see to connect to the BATS virtual theater. www. improv.org/online-shows/ Bay Area Children’s Theatre Creativity Corner: This virtual “playborhood” offers kids stories that unfold via video, plus followup activities they can do on their own, inspired by the make-believe they’ve seen. Parents can submit their children’s creations to BACT, which is planning to share examples online. https:// bactheatre.org

Beat the Lock Escape Room: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Solve a virtual escape room with your friends via an audio/video call and live feed that lets you play by instructing a game master to search for clues. $25. www. beatthelock.com

Bringing BADM to You: Bay Area Discovery Museum offers a series of fun, engaging learning experiences to enjoy as a family. Explore three different themes — science and math; body and brain; and talk and play — designed to develop skills for children to succeed in school and life. Within each theme, you’ll find step-by-step videos and activities with instructions written out. bayareadiscoverymuseum.org/bringingbadm-to-you

Broadcast Platform, Marshstream: 7:30 p.m. nightly. Programming varies by night with offerings including short performances, book/writer discussions, singalongs, storytelling, game nights and more. Find more information at: www. themarsh.org.

Chef’s Kitchen Virtual Cooking Experience: A series of interactive cooking demonstrations with local chefs sharing their favorite seasonal dishes and techniques. Attendees will receive the full recipes and how-to videos. “Mediterranean Flair,” April 12. The series benefits Alameda Family Services. $100 per event or $250 for the series. http:// alamedafs.org/chef.html

City of Berkeley’s Holocaust Remembrance Day program: 2 p.m. April 8. Honoring Holocaust survivor Edith Heine, who will speak about her experiences. The program will also feature music, poetry and a candle lighting. Free. http://bit. ly/3vbqjcz

Concord Couch Concerts: 8 p.m. first Friday of the month. This showcase for local indie bands and artists will be streamed on Facebook Live and Youtube. www.facebook.com/concordcouchconcerts; www. youtube.com/c/concordcouchconcerts.

Diablo Symphony Orchestra Virtual Concerts: First Thursday of each month, featuring works that have been performed and recorded at Lesher Center for the Arts in past years. www. diablosymphony.org Dynamic Duet: 7 p.m.

April 10. Bay Area vocalists Daniela Innocenti Beem and Julie Ekoue-totou, together with Jake Gale, will share their favorite songs in a delightful cabaret to benefit the Novato Theater Company. Free, donations appreciated. www.novatotheatercompany.org 18Reasons Cooking School: Check out a slate of new online classes. You may not have everything listed in the equipment and shopping list, but instructors will give you guidance on how to adapt their recipes to what you have access to. Learn new recipes and techniques. https://18reasons.org/ “Erma Bombeck, at Wit’s End”: Through April 3. Erma Bombeck gave up her dreams of being a foreign correspondent to be a housewife but ended up one of the most widely-read writers in the country for more than 30 years. $15 to $50. www. tabardtheatre.org “Fantasticland”: Opened with a double episode, and new episodes will be available every Tuesday and Wednesday through April 7. After a major hurricane destroyed the popular Florida theme park Fantasticland, employees and parkgoers fought for their lives to survive the wreckage and each other. $25. www.townhalltheatre.com/

Family Game Nights: 7to 8:30 p.m. today. The musical theater-themed game nights range from trivia to dance-offs, bingo to musical chairs. Free. https://playfulpeople.org/family-gamenights/

Festival Napa Valley’s Remote Ensemble Project: This virtual performance of the “Va, Pensiero” chorus from Verdi’s opera “Nabucco” features instrumentalists and singers from 26 states, eight countries and five continents. They represent two dozen orchestras, ensembles, opera companies and music conservatories, such as the Juilliard School, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and San Francisco Opera Orchestra. The performance can be seen on Festival Napa Valley’s Youtube channel: https://youtu. be/jhv9wlvnyxa

Full Moon Fridays — Live Cabaret Series: 8 p.m. Fridays. Featuring live cabaret style performances. https://www.facebook. com/42ndstreetmoon/ Funkmode Dance Studio Digital Workouts: Offering free dance videos, including breakdance, hip hop, youth dance party and more. Find the videos at https://www. youtube.com/user/funkmode

Gold Coast Chamber Players, Love and Diversity: 7 p.m. Saturday. A romance from 19th century power couple Clara and Robert Schumann will be showcased in music for piano and strings. Meet with the musicians after the concert. $30. www.gccpmusic.com “Hershey Felder, Puccini”: 5 p.m. daily now through Sunday. Starring virtuoso pianist and performer Hershey Felder with guest stars baritone Nathan Gunn, soprano Gianna Corbisiero and tenor Charles Castronovo. $55. https://theatreworks.org or https://www.operasj.org. Lamplighters Music Theatre Multimedia: Lamplighters brings their wit and musicality to the virtual stage with an inside look into the company and the rich history of Gilbert and Sullivan. The monthly assortment includes new interviews and video essays, alongside archival vignettes highlighting the best of the company’s 68-year performance history. Free. lmt. lamplighters.org/patreon Left Coast Chamber Ensemble — Metamorphosen: 7:30 p.m. March

22. The program includes the world premiere of a new work for two cellos by Nina Shekhar, along with Derek Bermel’s “Soul Garden,” a shimmering concerto for viola and string quintet. Reservations required; donations encouraged. www. leftcoastensemble.org Livermore Art Association Virtual Art Show — New Dawn: Showcase and sell your original 2D and 3D art. The show will be hosted on LAA’S website and is running now through March 31. www.livermoreartassociation.org

Livermore Shakes Educates: A Shakespeare resource webpage for kids and parents, this is an extension of the company’s “So Wise So Young” program for second, third and fourth graders. http://livermoreshakes. org/educates/

Moraga Art Gallery Virtual Tour: View the Moraga Art Gallery exhibit and hear artists talk about their work and what motivates them.

Visit the Lamorinda Arts Alliance website for the link to the virtual tour: https:// laa4art.org

Mount Diablo Peace & Justice Center 2020 Art & Writing Challenge: Middle and high school students in Contra Costa County are invited to submit visual art (any medium), creative writing and essays on the topic of “Our Connected Planet.” No fee. http://tinyurl.com/ mdpjc-artandwriting2020 New Dawn, Livermore Art Association’s Virtual Art Show: Through March 31. Some 85 artists from Livermore and across the Bay Area will show 223 pieces of artwork in various media. https://livermoreartassociation.org/new-dawn

Pacific Beach Coalition’s Surf Movie: ‘Heart of the Sea’ is the story of Rell Sunn, a pioneer in the world of professional women surfers. The evening includes added footage by Powerlines Productions, featuring Mavericks 20 /21 Epic waves with interviews with Bianca Valenti, Peter Mel and Greg Cochran. Sliding scale, $10 and up. http://bit. LY/2OFSG6C

Persian and Central Asian Dance Classes: Take daily classes on Zoom with teachers from nations and regions all over the world including Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, China’s Xinjiang region and more. $10 to $20. www.pomegranategardendance.com

School of Rock Remote Lessons: School of Rock is a performance-based music school for ages 5 to adult. Learn to play drums, guitar, keyboard, bass guitar and vocals by putting on seasonal rock shows. The school is offering a combination of one-onone remote lessons and access to master classes on music theory, songwriting, instrument exploration and genre journeys. Cost varies. schoolofrock.com/ sanramon