Best Bets: Sun 9/20

2 pm: Theater

Brooke Adams heads the cast in the world premiere of “If Memory Serves,” a comedy by Jonathan Tolins (“The Twilight of the Golds”) about a fading celebrity, formerly everybody’s favorite TV mom, whose grown son is recalling nasty childhood memories. At the Pasadena Playhouse through Oct. 25.

* “If Memory Serves,” Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave. Sunday, 2 p.m. Regular schedule: Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 5 and 9 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Oct. 25. $13.50-$42.50. (800) 233-3123.

11 am: Art

Nine steel sculptures by acclaimed abstract sculptor Richard Serra will fill the entire 55,000-square-foot Geffen Contemporary at MOCA in a new exhibition of monumental works opening Sunday in Little Tokyo. Seven sculptures measuring 13 feet high by nearly 30 feet deep from Serra’s “Torqued Ellipses” series will be installed in the cavernous warehouse-like space, as will “Pickhan’s Progress,” an 11-foot-high, 86-foot-long serpentine piece, the forged block sculpture “58 X 64 X 70” and more than 40 maquettes.

* “Richard Serra,” the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, 152 N. Central Ave., Little Tokyo. Ends Jan. 3. Museum hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Museum admission: adults, $6; students and seniors, $4; children under 12, free. (213) 626-6222.

11 am: Art

“An Expressionist in Paris: The Paintings of Chaim Soutine,” the first retrospective devoted to the Russian painter in nearly 50 years, opens Sunday at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Considered an outsider because of his raw style, Soutine painted portraits, still-lifes and landscapes of unusual beauty while working in Paris during the 1940s German occupation. The survey at LACMA will feature about 50 paintings produced during this time, including “Page Boy at Maxim’s” (1927), pictured at right.

* “An Expressionist in Paris: The Paintings of Chaim Soutine,” Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. Ends Jan. 3. Museum hours: Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, noon-8 p.m.; Fridays, noon-9 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Admission: adults, $7; students and seniors, $5; children, $1; age 5 and younger, free. (323) 857-6000.

7:30 am: Fund-Raiser Triathlon

More than 1,000 amateur and professional athletes, as well as Hollywood celebrities, will take to the beach for the 12th annual Nautica Malibu Triathlon. The event, a benefit for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, consists of a half-mile swim, 18-mile bike ride along Pacific Coast Highway and a four-mile run along Zuma Beach to Point Dume and back. In addition to the triathlon, there will be 100- to 200-yard “Tot Trots” and a sand castle-building contest to benefit the William Z. Landworth Memorial Scholarship Foundation.

* 12th annual Nautica Malibu Triathlon, Zuma Beach. Registration at 6:30 a.m., competition at 7:30 a.m. $65. “Tot Trot,” $5. (818) 707-8867. Sand castle contest, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. $16. Call (310) 306-9102, Ext. 4406 to preregister, or register on day of event.

3 pm: Cabaret

A most civilized affair: Maybin Hewes and Kay Freeman took time off from theatrical pursuits to raise families. Now they return to singing, dancing and making merry at this afternoon soiree titled “Still Struttin’.” The show includes high tea, complete with cucumber sandwiches and tea cakes.

* “Still Struttin’,” Cinegrill, Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, 7000 Hollywood Blvd. $15. (323) 466-7000.

7:30 pm: Comedy

The Ice House in Pasadena, one of L.A.’s venerable institutions for stand-up comedy, celebrates its 38th anniversary Sunday night with a show headlined by Paul Rodriguez and including Finis Henderson, Steve McGrew and “Tonight Show” writer Jimmy Brogan. The $24.50 admission includes a special anniversary T-shirt. All proceeds go to Pasadena’s Hillsides Home for Children.

* The Ice House 38th anniversary, 24 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena. $24.50. (626) 577-1894.

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FREEBIE: Music, food and children’s events at the community Unity Festival, San Pedro. 11 a.m. (310) 831-6818.