all day: Art

Photojournalist Eve Arnold has been on the job for 50 years, documenting celebrities and historic events, publishing books of her work and winning prestigious awards. “Eve Arnold: In Retrospect,” opening Friday at Apex Fine Art, surveys highlights of her career, including a portrait of Malcolm X, a shot of a young woman at a Cuban bar and an image of Marilyn Monroe rehearsing in “The Misfits.”

“Eve Arnold: In Retrospect,” Apex Fine Art, 152 N. La Brea Ave., L.A. Friday through Feb.23. Regular schedule: Tuesdays-

Saturdays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Free. (323) 634-7887.

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8pm

Theater

“David’s Mother,” first seen in 1992, is about a mother, her autistic teenage son and how his care becomes her all-consuming passion and cross to bear. Bob Randall’s play is not a sentimental ode to motherly love; there is a price to be paid as Sally, the mom, uses caustic humor to shut out the rest of the world, leaving herself and David in an unhealthy state of isolation.

“David’s Mother,” Rude Guerrilla Theater Company’s Empire Theater, 200 N. Broadway, Santa Ana. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Also Thursday, Jan. 31, 8 p.m. $12 to $15. Ends Feb. 3. (714) 547-4688.

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11am

Art

New York multimedia artist Yucef Merhi is showcased in “WizArT,” an interactive, multilingual installation at seven-degrees gallery in Laguna Beach. The Venezuelan-born artist started “WizArT” as a way to explore the relationship between the Internet, art and language. Visitors can enter a media lounge and interact with the art piece that is accessed online.

“WizArT,” seven-degrees gallery, 891 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Gallery hours: Mondays-Fridays, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturdays, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; Sundays by appointment only. Free. Ends Jan. 20. (949) 376-1555.

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8pm

Dance

With the future of the Dance Kaleidoscope series uncertain, all honor is due to dedicated co-producers Deborah Lawlor and Benita Bike for offering emerging local contemporary choreographers an opportunity to test their work through the Fountain Theatre’s Choreographers Showcase, a veritable cornucopia of made-in-the-Southland discoveries. In this sixth annual festival of solos and duets, the participating dance-makers include Moonea Choi, Christine Chrest, Maria Gillespie, Erin Hirsh and Dani Lunn, Kiha Lee, Carol McDowell, Don McLeod, Paula Present, Susan Shaberman, Elaine Wong and Koala Yip.

Festival of Solos and Duets: A Choreographers Showcase, Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave., Hollywood.

8 p.m. Also Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 3 p.m. $20. (323) 663-1525.

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8pm

Theater

In the classic Moliere comedy “The School for Wives,” an imprudent man’s scheme to obtain the perfect wife--by having a young girl brought up in a convent to be docile and ignorant--

doesn’t have the desired result. His prospective bride emerges from her cloistered existence wide-eyed and falls for the first man she sees. Dakin Matthews stars as the foolish Arnolphe in the South Coast Repertory staging that opens tonight.

“The School for Wives,” South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8p.m.; Sundays, 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Ends Feb. 10. $27 to $52. (714) 708-5555.

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9pm

Pop Music

When you visit Calexico--the band, not the burg--you can expect a rich dose of wide-open spacey soundscapes evocative of the group’s Arizona origins. Led by singer-guitarist Joey Burns and drummer John Convertino, the band breaks from recording sessions for its fall album to play some live dates.

Calexico, with Mark Olson, Knitting Factory Hollywood, 7021 Hollywood Blvd. 9 p.m. $12. (323) 463-0204.

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7pm

Pop Music

They’re known to the world as the Charlatans UK, but maybe that can be amended to Charlatans L.A. The English band’s singer, Tim Burgess, has lived here for four years, and the group’s new album, “Wonderland,” was largely recorded here. The record also contains some work in the group’s hometown of Manchester, England, and it adds up to a resounding recovery from the ever-promising outfit’s snakebitten history.

Charlatans UK, with Starsailor, the Palace, 1735 N. Vine St., Hollywood. 7 p.m. $22.50. (323) 462-3000.

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all day

Art

Nam June Paik is internationally renowned for making art from stacks of television sets--essentially painting great big collages of images that flicker on the tubes. Paik left his trademark video work behind in 1996, when he was disabled by a stroke, but he didn’t stop making art. An exhibition that opens Friday at the Korean Cultural Center reveals that Paik now works with relatively conventional paint and brushes but still has a distinctive view of the world around him, not to mention a keen sense of humor.

“Nam June Paik,” Korean Cultural Center, 5505 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. Friday through Jan. 24. Regular schedule: Mondays-Fridays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Free. (323) 936-7141.