THREE-DAY FORECAST

THEATER

Modern take on Dostoevsky

UCLA Live and Goethe-Institute Los Angeles presents Berlin’s Volksbuhne am Rosa-Luxemberg-Platz theater company in “The Insulted and the Injured,” a contemporary adaptation of Fyodor M. Dostoevsky’s novel of power, sex and money. Martin Wuttke (“The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui”) heads the cast. Performed in German with English subtitles. Mature audiences only.

“The Insulted and the Injured,” Freud Playhouse, UCLA, 405 Hilgard Ave., Westwood. Opens Wednesday. Runs Wednesdays to Fridays, 8 p.m.; ends Dec. 19. $30 to $45. (310) 825-2101.

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POP MUSIC

KROQ concert has local flavor

The alt-rock pendulum seems stuck on the male side of the clock, if the lineup for the annual “KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas” is a good indicator. Yet that’s not the only way the rosters for Saturday’s and Sunday’s shows are slanted: They’re also top-heavy with Southland-based bands, with a Saturday slate that includes Linkin Park, the Offspring, P.O.D. and Pennywise and a Sunday lineup with Korn, Blink-182, Jane’s Addiction and 311 among many others.

“KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas,” Universal Amphitheatre, 100 Universal City Plaza, Los Angeles. Saturday and Sunday, 5 p.m. $64. (818) 777-3931.

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ART

Playing with textures and materials

Four painters from Los Angeles and four from

London combine their works in a show that looks to beauty and entropy for inspiration. The mixed-media works of “Vanitas” play with materials and textures, at times blurring the line between painting and installation, and examine the rise and fall of notions of beauty.

“Vanitas,” Raid Projects, 602 Moulton Ave., Los Angeles. Opens Saturday. Open Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m., through Dec. 27 and by appointment. (323) 441-9593.

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FESTIVAL

A ‘Suite’ Hanukkah

Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker Suite” will get “klezmerized” at the Skirball Cultural Center’s annual Hanukkah Family Festival this Sunday. The Shirim Klezmer Orchestra will perform the holiday favorite re-cast for Hanukkah with the Eastern European elements of the score emphasized with a playful irreverence. The daylong festival also will feature craft workshops, folk dancing, games and other activities. Other musicians and storytellers slated to perform include Uncle Ruthie, Dan Crow and J.P. Nightingale.

Hanukkah Family Festival, Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., L.A. Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Adults, $8; students and seniors, $6; 11 and younger and members, free. (310) 440-4500.

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JAZZ

Duke and Billy’s ‘Nutcracker’

The Pasadena Jazz Orchestra will tackle

a piece that evokes the spirit of Christmas past while being decidedly Christmas present when it performs the Duke

Ellington-Billy Strayhorn adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker Suite” this weekend. Among their musical changes, Ellington and Strayhorn replaced strings with saxophones and gave waltz passages a swing feel, generally giving the beloved holiday ballet a modern jazz makeover.

Vocalist Cheryl Conley

and the orchestra will open the show with a selection

of traditional holiday favorites.

“The Nutcracker Suite,” the Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn arrangement, Pasadena Jazz Orchestra, McKinley Auditorium, 325 S. Oak Knoll Ave., Pasadena. Today to Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. $10 to $25. (626) 398-3344.

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DANCE

Squawk with the animals

“A series of

disconnected dreamlike meditations staged with extraordinary visual flair and choreographic savvy.” That’s what a Times

reviewer wrote in September when the locally based AVAZ International Dance Theatre presented the premiere of “Guran,” a full-evening dance drama about human society

encroaching on wildlife. Now award-winning

company artistic director Jamal gives UCLA

audiences a look at

“Guran,” this time expanded by 17 minutes of additional material. The engagement also includes a special children’s matinee, with the company offering lessons in exotic face-painting (an art highly evident in “Guran”) one hour before the performance.

AVAZ International Dance Theatre, Freud Playhouse, UCLA campus, Westwood. Saturday, 2:30 (special children’s show) and 8 p.m. (“Guran”). $25 (matinee) and $40 (evening). (310) 825-2101.

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LECTURE

Personal view of art

There is so much to say about the work of Vito Acconci, pioneer of performance and installation art. As part of the Dialogues of Contemporary Art series, Acconci himself offers a broad view to his important and personal art from the 1960s. From that auspicious beginning, Acconci went on to found the Acconci Studio of theoretical design and building workshop.

Vito Acconci, Zipper Concert Hall, Colburn School, next door to the Museum of Contemporary Art, 200 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. Sunday, 3 p.m. $12, nonmembers; $7, members. (213) 626-6828.

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MOVIES

‘Earring’ paints a love story

The 17th century painter Johannes Vermeer was a master at capturing the look of light as it poured through the window to illuminate his subjects. In “Girl With a Pearl Earring,” a drama based on Tracy Chevalier’s novel, the painter (Colin Firth), captures the interest and imagination of the daughter (Scarlett Johansson) of a tile maker who comes to work for his family. The young woman’s growing intimacy with the painter and her impact on his work stirs up the household and scandalizes the city of Delft.

“Girl With a Pearl Earring,” rated PG-13 for some sexual content, opens Friday in selected theaters.

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MUSIC

Holiday stocking stuffer

Associated with such contemporary American composers as Morten Lauridsen and Eric Whitacre, the Donald Brinegar Singers will offer some fascinating recent music as well as traditional works in their holiday concert, “A Glimpse of Snow and Evergreen.” Lauridsen’s “O Magnum Mysterium,” Whitacre’s “Lux Aurumque,” Steven Heitzig’s “Little Tree” and an excerpt from a longer work by chorus bass Vijay Singh will share the program with new arrangements of seasonal fare.

Donald Brinegar Singers, Holliston Methodist Church, 1305 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. Sunday, 4 p.m.; Tuesday, 8 p.m. $15. (213) 247-2715.

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WORDS

U.S. role in Iraq

A U.N. weapons inspector (1991-’98), Scott Ritter has emerged as an impassioned critic of U.S. foreign policy in his latest book, “Frontier Justice: Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Bushwhacking of America.” In his book and his address, Ritter asks the questions: Just how can bombing bring Iraq into democracy? And will a war-imposed government have any currency in the world beyond the U.S. and its immediate allies?

Scott Ritter, Valley Cities Jewish Community Center, 13164, Burbank Blvd., Sherman Oaks. Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. $20 to $25. (818) 786-6310.