all day: Festival

Beach Fest 2000 welcomes the start of summer with a seaside celebration at the Long Beach Marina Green. Live music will be the primary focus of the event. More than 40 bands representing numerous styles from rock and blues to reggae will perform on four stages. Festival-style vendor booths, a chili cook-off, a rock-climbing wall and a microbrew area will also contribute to the fun.

* Beach Fest 2000, Long Beach Marina Green, across from the Long Beach Convention Center, Shoreline Drive and East Ocean Boulevard, Long Beach. 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Advance tickets, $13; at the event, $15. (949) 376-6942.

2:30 pm: Theater

The 3rd Annual Pacific Playwrights Festival offers a two-weekend sampler of play readings and workshop productions at South Coast Repertory Theater in Costa Mesa. Readings include “Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams” by Nilo Cruz, “Vieques” by Jorge Gonzalez, “Kimberly Akimbo” by David Lindsay-Abaire, “The Butterfly Collection” by Theresa Rebeck, “The Beard of Avon” by Amy Freed, “Modern Orthodox” by Daniel Goldfarb, and “Tom Walker” by John Strand. Workshop productions are “The End of It All” by Cusi Cram, and “Fighting Words” by Sunil Kuruvilla.

* 3rd Annual Pacific Playwrights Festival, South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Readings: Saturday and Sunday, 2:30 p.m.; June 23, 1 and 3 p.m.; June 24, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.; June 25, 11 a.m. Workshop productions: June 21, 23, 25, 7:45 p.m. June 22, 24, 7:45 p.m.; also June 25, 2 p.m. Ends June 25. $8 to $18. (714) 708-5555.

noon: Pop Music

Apparently stung by criticism of the all-male lineup at last year’s Weenie Roast concert, KROQ-FM has boldly added a band with a female lead singer to this year’s roster in its new stadium venue. No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani will be a high voice in the wilderness of crunching hard rock and rap, though some of the boys--notably Moby, Stone Temple Pilots and Everclear--are the sensitive types. You go, girl.

* KROQ Weenie Roast, Edison International Field, 200 S. State College Blvd., Anaheim. Noon. Sold out. (714) 254-3100.

8 pm: Pop Music

The recent mainstream success of the dark-humored revenge tale “Goodbye Earl” has cemented the Dixie Chicks’ stature as the hottest act in country music since Shania Twain. The Texas trio hits the Southland for two dates at the Arrowhead Pond.

* Dixie Chicks, with Patty Griffin, Arrowhead Pond, 2695 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim, Saturday at 8 p.m. and Monday at 7:30 p.m. $32.50 and $39.50. (714) 704-2500.

2:30 pm: Jazz

Chill the wine and pack the picnic basket. The year’s biggest jazz party, the Playboy Jazz Festival opens Saturday with Dianne Reeves, the Count Basie Orchestra, Los Van Van, guitarist John Scofield and others. On Sunday: trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, singer Reuben Blades, crooner Lou Rawls, drummer Elvin Jones and others are on tap. Don’t forget the corkscrew.

* Playboy Jazz Festival, Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood. 2:30-11 p.m. Also Sunday, 2-10:30 p.m. Remaining tickets, $15-$30. (310) 449-4070.

all day: Photography

During the filming of “Buena Vista Social Club,” director Wim Wenders and wife Donata snapped images of the Cuban musicians who were made famous by the documentary.A collection of those photos, titled “Buena Vistas of Havana,” opens Saturday at RoseGallery. It depicts the nearly forgotten musicians who moved on from Cuba’s crumbling streets to Carnegie Hall.

* “Wim Wenders and Donata Wenders: Buena Vistas of Havana.” RoseGallery, 2525 Michigan Ave., D-3, Santa Monica. Ends Aug. 31. Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Free. (310) 264-8440.

FREEBIES

“Music Under the Stars” features the Pasadena Pops Orchestra and the Gospel Choirs of First AME Church of Los Angeles performing music by Leonard Bernstein, Tchaikovsky and others, outdoors at Pasadena City Hall, 100 N. Garfield Ave. 7:30 p.m. (626) 792-7677.