7:30 pm: Movies

UCLA Film and Television Archive and the Independent Feature Project/West present “Independent Spirit Award Best First Feature Nominees.” The first film in the series is Tony Bui’s debut feature, “Three Seasons,” a gentle and exquisitely beautiful film set in Ho Chi Minh City. Film critic Emanuel Levy will introduce the film and talk about the rise of independent films and will sign copies of his book “Cinema of Outsiders.” The Independent Spirit Award ceremony will take place in Santa Monica on March 25.

* “Independent Spirit Award Best First Feature Nominees,” UCLA, James Bridges Theater, nearest cross streets are Sunset Boulevard and Hilgard Avenue, Westwood. Tonight at 7:30, “Three Seasons,” 7:30 p.m. Feb. 24, “Cookie’s Fortune” and “Twin Falls Idaho,” 7:30 p.m. Feb. 27, “Election” and “Boys Don’t Cry,” 2 p.m. Feb. 27, “The Limey,” 7 p.m. March 2, “Being John Malkovich” and “Sugar Town,” 7:30 p.m. March 5, “The Straight Story” and “Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl,” 7 p.m. $4 to $6. (310) 206-FILM.

8 pm: Theater

Stage and film actor Roger Guenveur Smith traces the mythic rise and fall of Black Panther Party leader Huey P. Newton in an L.A. Theatre Works live radio theater staging of his acclaimed solo show, “A Huey P. Newton Story,” winner of many honors. A partial list: two Obie Awards, the Helen Hayes Award and three NAACP Awards. The production will be recorded for future broadcast on KCRW-FM (89.9).

* “A Huey P. Newton Story,” Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles. Today-Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 2 p.m.; Sunday, 4 and 7:30 p.m. $31 to $35. (310) 827-0889.

8 pm: Theater

Meryl Friedman’s adaptation of “Pudd’nhead Wilson,” Mark Twain’s ironic tale of passion and betrayal, race and identity, has its West Coast premiere. Set in pre-Civil War Missouri, it’s the story of what results when a slave switches the places of two newborns--her own fair-skinned child and that of her master.

* “Pudd’nhead Wilson,” Falcon Theatre, 4252 Riverside Drive, Burbank. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3:30 p.m. Ends April 2. $22 to $30. (818) 955-8101.

8 pm: Dance

As the first in a series of four millennial performance rituals, the locally based Horton Award-winning Trip Dance Theatre presents its site-specific, interactive “Light” in the former RTD Building at 4th and Main streets in downtown Los Angeles. “Interactive” means that ticket-holders are expected to participate in both the movement of the piece and its sound-collage accompaniments. So plan on wearing white clothing and a pair of soft-soled shoes to allow you to comfortably join director Nina Kaufman’s vision of the audience as community, and to help Trip’s dancers and musicians trace a path from the death of winter to the birth of spring.

* “Light,” Trip Dance Theatre, former RTD Building, third floor, 425 S. Main St., downtown Los Angeles, 8 p.m. Also Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 7 p.m. $10 to $15. (323) 468-9938.

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FREEBIE: A new installation reconstructs the paintings, photographs and architecture of the Getty galleries in “Renee Petropoulos: Having a Wonderful Time, West Pavilion Art After 1800 J. Paul Getty Museum Los Angeles California,” opening today at Rosamund Felsen Gallery, 2525 Michigan Ave., B-4, Santa Monica, (310) 828-8488. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Ends March 18.