TODAYWomen of the boardsThe 12th annual Los...

TODAY

Women of the boards

The 12th annual Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival: “Roots and Identity,” kicks off with an award ceremony and reception hosted by singer Freda Payne and actor Hattie Winston, honoring actors Shelley Morrison, Lorraine Toussaint and Arigon Starr and Mark Taper Forum Associate Artistic Director Corey Madden. Monologist Jude Narita and dancer-choreographer Lisa K. Lock will perform. The festival continues Friday with a rotating bill of multicultural dance, storytelling, comedy, performance art, music, poetry and theater by and with women.

Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival 2005 opening gala: Gallery Theater, Barnsdall Art Park, 4800 Hollywood Blvd., L.A. 7 p.m. today. $50 per pair of tickets or $30 each. (818) 760-0408.

* Festival performances: 8 p.m. Friday, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 3 and 7 p.m. Sunday. Lee Strasberg Creative Center, 7936 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. $20 per program. Call (818) 760-0408 or go to www.lawtf.com.

The music in Lorca

Composer Ian Krouse, chairman of the department of music at UCLA, has been interested in the life and works of the great Spanish poet-playwright Federico Garcia Lorca for more than two decades. In the early ‘80s, he composed well-received scores for two Lorca plays (“Yerma” and “Blood Wedding”), and now he is ready to unveil a full-length opera, “Lorca, Child of the Moon,” in which the Spanish poet steps in and out of those plays and two more of his best-known works. The Cuban-born actress and director Margarita Galban wrote the libretto and also directs the opera.

“Lorca, Child of the Moon,” Freud Playhouse, UCLA, Westwood. 7:30 p.m. today. $20. (310) 825-2101. www.cto.ucla.edu.

* Also 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday.

FRIDAY

Shown in living color

Wizard World, a traveling three-day pop culture convention for fans of comic books, toys, sci-fi, anime, film, video games and television, comes to Long Beach this weekend. Among those appearing will be Avi Arad (“Spider-Man,” “X-Men” and “The Hulk”); Chris Evans (“Fantastic Four”), Stan Lee (“Spider-Man,” “X-Men”), Kevin Smith (“Clerks”) and Joss Whedon (“Astonishing X-Men,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”). For schedule and other information, see www.wizarduniverse.com.

Wizard World L.A. Long Beach Arena, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach. 2 to 8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, $25 to $150. (310) 854-4800.

Venerable captain

Compared with Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira, Clint Eastwood and Sidney Lumet are just kids. The 96-year-old De Oliveira, whose career stretches back to the early 1930s, continues to make films, including the 2003 production of “A Talking Picture.” Leonor Silveira stars as a young professor on a cruise visiting the Mediterranean’s historic sites with her 7-year-old daughter. Along the way, they encounter a famous French executive (Catherine Deneuve), a renowned Greek actress (Irene Papas) and the ship’s captain (John Malkovich).

“A Talking Picture,” unrated, opens Friday exclusively at Laemmle’s Fairfax Cinemas, 7907 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles,

(323) 655-4010.

SATURDAY

Positively gleaming

In the 1930s, Yoshihara Kuniie and his peers, nostalgic for samurai culture, rediscovered the craft of Japanese sword making. “The Art of the Japanese Sword: The Yoshihara Tradition of Swordmakers” exhibits the award-winning creations and traces four generations of the Yoshihara family, who continue to make swords in Tokyo.

“The Art of the Japanese Sword: The Yoshihara Tradition of Swordmakers,” Pacific Asia Museum, 46 N. Los Robles Ave., Pasadena. Opens Saturday. Adults, $7; students and seniors, $5; 11 and younger, free. (626) 449-2742.

* Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays, except 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays. Ends June 19.

As seen in

a new light

The touring Black Light Theatre of Prague performs its multimedia double bill for family audiences, freely adapted from “Alice in Wonderland” and “Gulliver’s Travels.” It’s a surreal trip through the fantasy worlds of Lewis Carroll and Jonathan Swift. Part of the 2005 Eclectic Orange Festival.

Black Light Theate of Prague, Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine. 7:30 p.m. Saturday. $25 and $30; children half-price. (949) 854-4646. (714) 740-7878.

* Also 3 p.m. Sunday.

Look at them move

Two ambitious, one-night-only dance events take place at the same time Saturday. In Glendale, the third annual Ballet of the Foothills “Celebration of Dance” features eight premieres by Backhausdance, Ballet Pacifica, Grandeza Mexicana Folk Ballet, JazzAntiqua Dance and Music Ensemble, San Pedro City Ballet and the host company. In Little Tokyo, dancer-choreographer Ramaa Bharadvaj and her Angahara Dance Ensemble will present the premiere of “Raja Mandalam,” based on ancient myths from Bharadvaj’s native India.

Ballet of the Foothills’ “Celebration of Dance,” Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. 8 p.m. Saturday. $15 to $25. (818) 243-2539

Angahara Dance Ensemble in “Raja-Mandalam, “ Aratani/Japan America Theatre, 244 S. San Pedro St., L.A. 7:30 p.m. Saturday. $18 to $35. (213) 680-3700.

MONDAY

Doves

in flight

There’s been such an influx of new bands from England recently that a group on its third album can seem downright ancient. But the Manchester trio Doves sounds as if it’s hitting its stride on the new “Some Cities,” which entered the English charts at No. 1 and tempers Doves’ trademark grandeur with down-to-earth doses of grit and soul.

Doves, El Rey Theatre, 5515 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. 8:15 p.m. Monday. Sold out.

(323) 936-4790.