Students from around the country will perform at the Music For All National Festival. (Submitted photo)

Evan Hoffmann, who will play the title role in Shakespeare's "Henry V" at the Christian Theological Seminary. (Submitted photo)

Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the subject of "Iron Ladies of Liberia." (AP photo)

1. Music For All National Festival

Various times, Feb. 28-March 1, free to $63, various locations, (317) 636-2263, www.musicforall.org.

The Music For All National Festival brings a cornucopia of music to Indianapolis this week, featuring some of the best young musicians in America. Its marquee event is the National Concert Band Festival, which is hosted by Clowes Hall, and costs $10-$16 for a single-day ticket and $25-$35 for a three-day pass. The National Percussion Festival, which will be held at the Indiana Historical Society, is free to attend, as is the Orchestra America National Festival, held at the Hilbert Circle Theatre. Finally, the Honor Orchestra of America will perform two concerts with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. For a full schedule and a list of times, prices and locations, visit www.musicforall.org.

2. 'Henry V,' 'The Merchant of Venice'

7 p.m. Feb. 28, 2 p.m. March 1, $10 (free for IU/IUPUI community), Christian Theological Seminary, 1000 W. 42nd St., (317) 278-0887.

In the midst of its "Piercing Eloquence Tour," the American Shakespeare Center troupe stopped in Indianapolis on Feb. 25 and will remain in residency at IUPUI until March 2. During their stay, the troupe will stage three public performances: two of Shakespeare's "Henry V" and one of "The Merchant of Venice." The ASC, which according to its Web site "seeks to make Shakespeare ... accessible to all," is "blowing the cobwebs out of Elizabethan drama," says Bob Mondello of National Public Radio.

3. Iron Ladies of Liberia

7 p.m. Feb. 28, free, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 4000 N. Michigan Road, Ohio St., (317) 923-1331, www.imamuseum.org.

In this 2007 documentary, filmmakers Daniel Junge and Siatta Scott Johnson follow Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as she tackles the inaugural year of her Liberian presidency. The country's first-ever female president, Johnson-Sirleaf took office in January 2006, 14 years after civil war broke out in Liberia. Backed by a cadre of other powerful women, she sets out to transform her war-torn country into a place where democracy and peace prevail.

4. 'Evasions and Erasures'

6:30 p.m. Feb. 29, free, IUPUI Lilly Auditorium, 755 W. Michigan St., (317) 278-1073 (call ahead for reservations).

In 1963, Ku Klux Klansmen bombed a Birmingham, Ala. church, killing four young girls. Vincent Colapietro, a Penn State philosophy professor, pays tribute to the victims in a multimedia performance that IUPUI calls "powerful and aesthetically beautiful." Colapietro blends jazz, drama and traditional song to form a monologue memorializing the event.

5. Nilaja Sun's 'No Child'

6 p.m. March 1, $20-$25, Madame Walker Theatre, 617 Indiana Ave., (317) 236-2099, www.walkertheatre.com.

The state of Indy's public schools is a common topic. But did you ever wonder what New York's might be like? Nilaja Sun, a New York-based solo performer, plays teachers, students, parents, administrators, janitors and guards to answer that question. Sun told Broadway.com that growing up in a rough neighborhood "taught me a lot about different types of people."