THEATER

”My Name is Asher Lev,” presented by Portland Stage runs through April 17. The production is based on the best-selling novel by Chaim Potok and poses questions about religion, art, faith and God, through the lens of a young man who is driven to draw and paint the world as he sees it. The main character is born into a Hasidic family in post-World War II Brooklyn, where artistic genius threatens to estrange him from both his parents and his observant Jewish community. For more information, call 774-0465 or visit www.portlandstage.org.

ART

“Abstract Narratives with Six Maine Artists” is a group exhibition of new works by six Maine artists including Meghan Brady, Jessica Davis Buckley, Amanda K. Hawkins, Jonathan Mess, Jean Noon and Andrea Sulzer. Engine is located at 128 Main St. in downtown Biddeford. The exhibit will run through April 23. For more information, go to www.feedtheengine.org.

“Beneath the Surface, New England Wax Encaustic Artists,” is a special exhibition at the Saco Museum that features work from New England Wax (N.E.W.), a regional association of artists who work in encaustic, a beeswax-based painting medium. The show will run Saturday to May 28. Juried by Ron Crusan, executive director and curator of the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, the exhibition includes 103 works by 25 artists representing all six of the New England states. An opening reception will take place on Friday from 5:30-7:30 p.m. There will be an artist discussion on April 14 at 6:30 p.m. The Dyer Library/Saco Museum is located at 371 Main St. in Saco.

MUSIC

Southern Rail will perform bluegrass music at the Sanford-Springvale Historical Museum in Springvale on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Doors will open at 6:45 p.m. Southern Rail has been performing and touring nationally for over 30 years, and is currently working on its 12th CD. The museum is located at 505 Main St. Tickets are $20 for adults and seniors; free for ages 21 and under. For more information, call 324-2797 or go to www.sanfordhistory.org .

Bowdoin International Music Festival is accepting applications for the ninth annual composition competition. The 2016 competition is for works written for string quartet (two violins, viola, violoncello). To be eligible, composers must be students living within the United States and be under the age of 35. The selected work will be premiered during Bowdoin’s 2016 Gamper Festival of Contemporary Music from July 28-31. This is an opportunity for a young composer to have his or her work performed during a major music festival. A prize of $1,000 will be awarded to the winning composer. A modest travel stipend, lodging and a recording of the work will also be provided. For complete details, visit the festival’s website at bowdoinfestival.org.

SPECIAL INTEREST

Ogunquit Performing Arts announces the 15th annual Classic Film Series. Films will be shown at the Dunaway Center, 23 School St., Ogunquit, on the first Sunday of the month at 2 p.m. through May. “O’Clock High,” starring Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill, Millard Mitchell and Dean Jagger, will be shown on Sunday at 2 p.m. The film is a 1949 American war film is about aircrews in the United States Army’s Eighth Air Division who flew daylight bombing missions over Germany and France.