Words and Images

This weekend’s Ojai Playwrights Conference at Happy Valley School’s Zalk Theater will highlight staged readings of new works by five playwrights. Each reading will be followed by an audience-participation discussion with the playwright, director and cast.

* Ojai Playwrights Conference, Friday, 8 p.m., “Love and Yearning in the Not-for-Profits and Other Marital Distractions” by Ari Roth; Saturday, 3 p.m., “Nocturne” by Adam Rapp, and 8 p.m., “Polish Joke” by David Ives; Sunday, 3 p.m., “Good Thing” by Jessica Goldberg, and 7:30 p.m., “Fortune” by Deborah Zoe Laufer; Zalk Theater, Happy Valley School, 8585 California 150, upper Ojai; $12 per performance or $50 for the series;640-0400.

Community Celebration The Camarillo Fiesta and Street Fair will line downtown’s Ventura Boulevard this weekend as the city throws a party in its own honor. There will be a carnival, food and vendor booths, live entertainment and children’s activities.

* Camarillo Fiesta and Street Fair, Friday, 6-10 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sunday, 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m.; Old Towne Camarillo, free, 388-5396 or 388-5349.

Jazz Singer-pianist Yve Evans, a consummate entertainer, will perform with a few of her friends Sunday at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center. Evans, a veteran of the West Coast jazz scene, is at home in a variety of musical settings--from a rhapsodic jazz ballad to an up-tempo Duke Ellington chestnut, with blues and pop standards too.

* Yve Evans, Sunday, 7 p.m., Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, 3050 Los Angeles Ave.; $15 general, $12 seniors and students, $8 ages 12 and under; 581-9940.

Benefit Auction Focus on the Masters, an arts education program, will hold its annual fine art auction Sunday at the Ventura County Museum of History and Art in Ventura. There will be live and silent bidding for paintings, sculpture, ceramics and other mediums. Featured local artists include Sergio Aragones, Michele Chapin, Gayel Childress, Bert Collins, Carlisle Cooper, Otto Heino and Gerd Koch. Proceeds will benefit the organization’s “Learning to See Youth Outreach,” a youth-at-risk arts education program. Note: A free auction preview and portrait exhibition will be held Saturday from 1 to 9 p.m.

* Focus on the Masters Fine Art Auction, Sunday, preview and registration, noon-1 p.m.; auction, 1-4 p.m.; Ventura County Museum of History and Art, 100 E. Main St., Ventura. Registration fee, $5. 649-9366.