Jonathan Peters

Photo by Steve Cisneros, courtesy of Phantom Projects The Bluest Eye is coming to Santa Monica for a three week run at the Miles Memorial Playhouse this Friday. The Toni Morrison book, adapted for the stage by Lydia Diamond, tells the story of an African-American girl facing an identity crisis in 1940s Ohio. Protagonist Pecola equates whiteness (and blue eyes) with beauty, an unreachable standard that drives the story's narrative and Pecola to madness....

Rewind, a new group of plays, enjoys a premiere tonight at The Little Victory Theatre in Burbank. These short one-acts (each runs about 15 minutes) are written by members of the SkyPilot Theatre's resident playwrights program and star some of the company's talent. Five plays will premiere on Friday night and the other five will show on Saturday. The SkyPilot Theatre, led by actor and director Bob Rusch, first started putting on shows in...

This weekend the American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica offers a well-deserved tribute to one of the hardest working directors in the industry, William Friedkin. Both Saturday and Sunday nights will feature talkbacks with Friedkin, moderated by journalist F.X. Feeney and screenwriter Josh Olson respectively. The French Connection, which shows Saturday night, enjoys its 40th anniversary this year. The movie that won Friedkin an Oscar still stands out as a trademark...

This Thursday eve, comedians Davey Johnson and Randy Liedtke take to the Steve Allen Theater stage in Los Feliz to present their show, The Second Annual Best Doorknockers Christmas Pageant Ever! The pageant aspires to be a corny tribute to the TV Christmas special--a variety show in the style of Bob Hope or even Lawrence Welk. According to Liedtke, expect "comedy, magic, juggling, ballet, opera, cookies" as well as "The John 3 Reillys," which, as the name would suggest, are three musical John C. Reilly impersonators.

The Desert of Forbidden Art marked its Los Angeles premiere on Thursday night at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. The doc tells the story of Igor Savitsky's quest to save avant-garde Russian art from Soviet censors and build a now legendary museum to house it in backwater Nukus, Uzbekistan. Celebrity narrators include Sally Field, Ben Kingsely, and Ed Asner, who ably portray the story's principals....

With the release of his new book a month away, Steve Martin comes to the Getty this Tuesday to talk art with writer Frederic Tuten. The already sold-out event is part of the Getty's Pacific Standard Time initiative, which is hosting lectures focusing on Los Angeles' role in the development of contemporary art.

In Santa Monica this Saturday: 20 plus breweries, 5 bands, 3 galleries, and The 3 Heads (pictured). This Saturday afternoon in Santa Monica, the 18th Street Art Center will present its first Beer, Art and Music Festival. The event, the first of its kind on the West Side, features offerings from more than twenty craft breweries, all free with the price of admission. These include standbys such as Samuel Adams and Sierra Nevada as...

Sam Hoffman and Eric Spiegelman of the comedy website Old Jews Telling Jokes come to the Skirball Cultural Center this Wednesday as part of a tour to promote their newest book of the same name (out this month).

Sneaky Nietzsche, a collaborative and interactive theatre project, enjoys its world premiere today in downtown Los Angeles. With a burlesque dance troupe, homebrew beer, actors and a musical concert "performed by a fictional band of creatures," audience members can expect to be immersed in an "urban forest underworld" according to director Sheila Vand. Fanciful and deeply imaginative, this show is not to be missed. Vand began work on Sneaky Nietzsche about a year ago,...

Untitled by Roberto Gutierrez. Courtesy of Avenue 50 Studio. This Saturday night the Northeast LA Gallery Night returns to showcase some of the most innovative and eclectic art in the area. Twenty-two galleries will open their doors late on a not quite walkable path centered near Highland Park and Eagle Rock (download the updated map here). Started some five years ago as more galleries moved to the area, it has grown into a neighborhood...