Patchogue gallery honors Richard Smith

WHAT Richard Smith, a pioneer in both the Pop Art and Color Field movements of 1950s and '60s, opens a solo exhibit of his paintings and drawings in Patchogue. He has a studio in his adopted hometown. Smith, 80, was part of a group of English artists whose work embracing consumer culture predated that of Pop Art icons Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Upon moving to New York in 1961, his association with Mark Rothko and Ellsworth Kelly took him in the direction of lush abstracts. Smith's art is found in many of the world's top museums, from the Tate Modern and British Museum in London to the Metropolitan Museum and MoMA in New York. He will be honored for his life's work at Friday night's reception.

WHEN | WHERE Reception 7-9 Friday night at Gallery at sPACe (Patchogue Arts Council), 30 Terry St. Gallery hours: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 6-10 p.m. Fridays, noon-4 p.m. weekends, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 5-8 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays through May 7

INFO 631-627-8686, patchoguearts.org

ADMISSION $25 for reception (RSVP); free thereafter

PLUS: 'Long Island's Best' young artists

Phillip Gladkov, a Walt Whitman High senior, won best in show for his "Rise of Consumerism" mixed media at the 16th annual "Long Island's Best: Young Artists at the Heckscher Museum," through April 22 at 2 Prime Ave., Huntington. The juried exhibition features art by students in grades 9 through 12 from 52 schools, public and private, in Nassau and Suffolk counties; 631-351-3250, heckscher.org.

MUSIC: Jack's Waterfall 'Playground'

WHAT Don't know what to do with the kids over spring break? Jack's Waterfall leads a pair of matinee audience-participation concerts, "The Musical Playground," for grade-school children and parents. The West Sayville-based acoustic ensemble (sometimes a solo act), Jack's Waterfall will encourage -- no, insist -- that kids sing from their seats or onstage as they experience such exotic instruments as peace pipes (not the ones you smoke over a treaty) and the djembe. You may learn something, too, in this tour of beats from around the world.

WHEN | WHERE 11 a.m. (geared to 4- to 6-year-olds) and 1 p.m. (7- to 9-year-olds) April 12, YMCA Boulton Center, 37 W. Main St., Bay Shore

INFO 631-969-1101, boultoncenter.org

ADMISSION $8 ($5 for kids)

THEATER: 'Stage Fright'

WHAT Actors are never to speak the title of the Shakespearean tragedy about a certain bloody Scottish monarch. Bad luck, you know. So when a critic, notorious for his merciless reviews, awakens to find himself lashed to a throne and berated by a woman calling herself Lady Macbeth, he suspects his situation is no comedy. The critic had been lured to this theater, where John Wilkes Booth once played, to shoot a documentary on the thespian-turned-assassin. Will the critic pan "Stage Fright"?

WHEN | WHERE Friday and Saturday nights at 8, Arena Players at Vanderbilt Museum Carriage House, 180 Little Neck Rd., Centerport. Continues through April 22.

INFO 516-293-0674, arenaplayers.org

ADMISSION $20-$25