Three-day forecast

THEATER

Eyes and ears on SCR

South Coast Repertory’s annual Pacific Playwrights Festival, made up of readings and fully staged shows by emerging and established playwrights, has become a high-profile national forum for new work, launching productions on both coasts. Featuring a host of notable actors, including Tony Award winner Stephen Spinella, this year’s slate, complementing the world premieres (already open) of Amy Freed’s “Safe in Hell” and Noah Haidle’s “Mr. Marmalade,” includes staged readings of Richard Greenberg’s newly revised “Safe as Houses,” Lucinda Coxon’s “Vesuvius,” Craig Lucas’ “Singing Forest” and Sarah Ruhl’s “The Clean House.”

“Pacific Playwrights Festival”: “Vesuvius” (Julianne Argyros Stage), Friday, 1 p.m.; “The Clean House” (Segerstom Stage), Friday, 3:30 p.m.; “Singing Forest” (Segerstrom Stage), Saturday, 10:30 a.m.; “Safe as Houses” (Segerstrom), Sunday, 11 a.m.; Readings, $10; “Safe in Hell” or “Mr. Marmalade,” $27-$55. (714) 708-5555 or www.scr.org.

ART

Creativity in the balance

When Edward del Rosario was younger, he recalls, “there was a time when we would say the rosary to a giant doll during the months of May and October.” This balance of comedy, tragedy and the absurd is evident in “Edward del Rosario: Paintings and Drawings.” Many of Del Rosario’s images were conceived as sketches for performances and are populated by children, Latin wrestlers and circus performers, all of whom hang carefully suspended in space.

“Edward Rosario: Paintings and Drawings, Richard Heller Gallery, Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Ends June 5. (310) 453-9191.

JAZZ

All Dizzy in O.C.

Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie was a potent force in jazz for more than 50 years as a player, a composer, a showman and a bandleader. For its last scheduled jazz concert until October, the Orange County Performing Arts Center presents the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All Stars -- including trumpeter Roy Hargrove, saxophonist Eric Alexander, trombonist Slide Hampton, pianist Mulgrew Miller, bassist John Lee and drummer Willie Jones III -- for four shows this weekend. Each was inspired or mentored by the late jazz giant.

Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All Stars, Founders Hall, Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Friday and Saturday, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. $49-$56. (714) 556-2787.

EVENT

Thoroughly modern milieu

More than 80 dealers will showcase their wares at the 17th annual L.A. Modernism Show this weekend in Santa Monica. Midcentury modern, Art Deco and Art Nouveau will be featured, along with Arts and Crafts furniture, jewelry, textiles and other items. Designers include Eames, Noguchi, Juhl, Niemeyer and many others. Actors Courteney Cox and David Arquette host a preview party to benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation on Friday evening.

L.A. Modernism Show, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 1855 Main St., Santa Monica. Friday preview party, 6-9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Preview party, $60; Saturday-Sunday, $10, good for both days. (818) 244-1126.

DANCE

Now watch their steps

They each helped transform dance with radical postmodern innovations and now they appear together at the Getty Center in “An Evening of Dance With Yvonne Rainer and Simone Forti.” Exploring the connections between dance and the visual arts, the performance includes reconstructions of historic works as well as new pieces displaying these iconic artists’ continuing mastery. Forti will also be participating in the “Beyond Text” festival June 18-20 at Beyond Baroque. The exhibition “Yvonne Rainer: Radical Juxtapositions, 1961-2002” continues at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions through Aug. 8.

“An Evening of Dance With Yvonne Rainer and Simone Forti,” Harold M. Williams Auditorium, the Getty Center, 12000 Getty Center Drive, West Los Angeles. Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, 3 p.m. $15 to $20. (310) 440-7300.

MUSIC

Essence of electric

(Un-)Mapping the Electric Guitar is a chance to hear new solo works for electric guitar by six contemporary experimental Los Angeles composers who explore the aesthetics of the instrument heard mostly in pop music. The performance features Rick Cox, Jeremy Drake, Michael Jon Fink, Karl Montevirgen, Michael Pisaro and Chas Smith.

(Un-)Mapping the Electric Guitar, Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock, 2225 Colorado Blvd., L.A. Saturday, 8 p.m. $10. (323) 226-1617.

THEATER

And it’s only May ...

France’s Compagnie du Hanneton’s romp “The Junebug Symphony,” led by ringmaster James Thierree, features fantastical beasts, roller-skating musicians and circus artists in a fusion of theater, dance and jazz.

“The Junebug Symphony,” Freud Playhouse, UCLA, 405 Hilgard Ave., Westwood. Tuesdays-

Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 4 p.m.; ends May 9. $40. (310) 825-2101.

MOVIES

Celebratory gloom

Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin’s black-and-white musical melodrama “The Saddest Music in the World” is simultaneously celebratory and dark as it chronicles a 1933 competition to find the gloomiest dirges and solemnest songs from around the globe. Set in Maddin’s prairie hometown of Winnipeg, it stars Isabella Rossellini as a double-amputee beer heiress who sponsors the contest.

“The Saddest Music in the World,” unrated, opens Friday at Loews Cineplex Beverly Center, 8522 Beverly Blvd., L.A. (310) 652-7760; Laemmle’s Playhouse 7, Pasadena, (626) 844-6444; Regal Edwards South Coast Village 3, 1561 W. Sunflower Ave., Santa Ana, (714) 540-1970.

MUSEUMS

Catlin and Indians

From 1830 to 1836, George Catlin followed the trail of Lewis and Clark to record the “manners and customs” of Native Americans. The result of his efforts can be seen in the display of paintings and artifacts, “George Catlin and His Indian Gallery,” which opens Sunday at the Museum of Western Heritage.

“George Catlin and His Indian Gallery,” Museum of the American West, 4700 Western Heritage Way, L.A. Opens Sunday. Hours: Tuesdays-Sundays, 10 a.m-5 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Ends Aug. 4. (323) 667-2000.

FESTIVAL

Mamas, meet Las Damas

Wondering what to do with Mom this weekend? The 37th annual Sunset Beach Art Festival in Huntington Beach celebrates Mother’s Day with more than 125 artisans and craftsmen displaying their works, live music, food, prizes and children’s activities. Admission is free, but a part of the proceeds benefit Las Damas of Sunset Beach, a nonprofit that funds art programs in local schools.

Sunset Beach Art Festival, 12th Street and Pacific Avenue, Huntington Beach. Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Free. (562) 592-2797.

POP MUSIC

She’s Mary J. Bliss

Mary J. Blige is back to reestablish her deeply personal bond with fans, one that’s been forged by her willingness to reveal so much of herself through her music. And in the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul’s new “Love & Life” album, it’s largely a blissfully happy revelation.

Mary J. Blige, Universal Amphitheatre, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City. Saturday, 8:15 p.m. $60.75-$75.75. (818) 622-4440.