BEST BETS Thursday 5/17

COUNTYWIDE

7pm

Theater

In the nine months before the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the Nazis allowed 10,000 German and Austrian Jewish children to be sent to England for safety. “Kindertransport,” a 1993 play by British writer Diane Samuels, explores that little-known historical chapter and the scars it left by tracing the experience of one girl. Saved while her family perishes, she must deal with the trauma of separation, and later, with a survivor’s guilt that is passed down to her children. A film on the same subject, “Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport,” won this year’s Academy Award for best documentary feature. Readers Repertory Theater tackles Samuels’ fictionalized but factually based dramatic account in a series of free staged readings this weekend around the county.

* “Kindertransport,” presented by Readers Repertory Theater at 7 tonight at the Newport Beach Public Library, 1000 Avocado Ave. Also at 7 p.m. Friday at the Mesa Verde Library, 2969 Mesa Verde Drive, Costa Mesa; 7 p.m. Saturday at Mission Viejo Library, 25209 Marguerite Parkway; and 1 p.m. Sunday at the Vanguard Theater, 699-A S. State College Blvd., Fullerton. Free. (949) 206-9674.

7:30 pm: Movies

The Visual Communications Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film and Video Festival celebrates its 16th year with the opening-night premiere of “Green Dragon” by Timothy Linh Bui (co-producer and co-screenwriter of the award-winning “Three Seasons”). The festival aims to show films that reflect the changing face of Asian Americans. Highlights of the weeklong event include screenings of John Korty’s 1976 telefilm “Farewell to Manzanar,” Anurag Mehta’s “American Chai,” Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s “Wrestlers (Uttara),” Yongyooth Thongkonthun’s “The Iron Ladies (Satree-Lex)” and Abraham Lim’s “Roads and Bridges.”

* The Visual Communications Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film and Video Festival, Directors Guild of America, 7920 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. Opening gala, “Green Dragon,” 7:30 p.m. Festival continues through May 24 at the DGA and other venues. Opening night and gala, $20 to $30; with VIP reception, $75 to $100; screenings, $6.50 to $20; passes $25 to $50. (213) 680-3700 or https://www.vconline.org.