This Week:

April 3First Friday on Abbot Kinney, stores open until 10pm, Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, 310.392.2525.One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, through May 3, 8pm Fridays-Saturdays, 2pm Sundays, $14-$18, Theatre PalisadesPierson Playhouse, 941 Temescal Cyn Dr., PP, 310.454.1970. Aram Saroyan’s A Tender Mind: The Life and Times of Lew Welch, one-main show about the Beat poet, with D.W. Moffett, 7:30pm, $5-$7, Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, 310.822.3006.Special Observing Event: Saturn & the Moon, 8pm, preceded by The Night Sky Show, 7pm, $5 or $9 for both shows, John Drescher Planetarium, SMC, 1900 Pico Blvd., 310.434.4223.The Tempest, through April 12, 8pm Fridays-Saturdays, 2pm Sundays, 2pm matinee April 11, $10-$15, SMC Theatre Arts Main Stage, 1900 Pico Blvd., 310.434.4319.April 4Broadsides Screenplay Reading Series, with reading of Roxanne Marciniak’s Suspicious Minds, 3pm, $5, Electric Lodge Performing Arts Center, 1416 Electric Ave., Venice, 310.403.2882.Desperate Writers-The Final Draft, new version of the comedy about married screenwriters, through May 10, 8pm Fridays-Saturdays, 2 and 7pm Sundays, Edgemar Center for the Arts, 2437 Main St., 800.838.3006.Cancer Survivor Education Day, day-long event with workshops and speakers, 9am-3:30pm, $10, Covel Commons, Grand Horizon Room, UCLA, WW, 310.825.2101.Does News Have a Future? lecture by LA Times columnist Tim Rutten, 7:30pm, free, Unitarian Universalist Church of Santa Monica, 1260 18th St., 310.829.5436.Alexandra Hedison’s Ithaka, photography, reception 7-10pm, through May 12, Frank Pictures Gallery, Bergamot Station, 310.828.0211.Jennifer Lee, reception 5-7pm, through May 2, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Bergamot Station, 310.264.3866.Mela, one-character play by Michael Halperin, performed by Addio Daddio, 8pm, $5, Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, 1343 Ocean Park Blvd., 310. 452.1116.Barney Saltzberg, storytelling, songfest, and book signing, 10:30-11am, free, Children’s Book World, 10580 1/2 Pico Blvd., LA, 310.559.2665.Salute to Tebot Bach and Mifanwy Kaiser, poetry, with poets from Tebot Bach magazine, 7:30pm, $5-$7, Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, 310.822.3006.SMC Annual 29th Annual Student Photography Show, reception 6-9pm, through May 2, Pete and Susan Barrett Gallery, SMC Performing Arts Center, 1310 11th St, 310.434.3434.Willy Wonka, musical for children, through April 18, 2pm April 11, 11am and 2pm April 11 and 18, $10, Kentwood Players at Westchester Playhouse, 8301 Hindry Ave., Westchester, 310.645.5156. Tim Zinnemann, A Beautiful Girl Like You, photographs, reception 4-7pm, through April 29, Schomburg Gallery, Bergamot Station, 310.453.5757. April 5Brentwood Spring Art Show, sidewalk art sale, 10am-6pm, free, San Vicente Blvd., beginning at Saltair and running east to Darlington, Brentwood, 626.797.6803.Cantori Domino presents J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, with the California Institute of the Arts Orchestra, the Los Robles Amadeus Children’s Choir, and soloists, 7pm, $15-$20, First United Methodist Church, 1008 11th St., 323.662.5007.Dance of the Sinhala, Sri Lankan drummers, 4pm, free, Fowler Museum at UCLA, WW, 310.825.8655.The Darker Side of Light: Arts of Privacy 1850-1900, through June 28, Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., LA, 310.443.7016.5K Run/Walk to benefit Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA, hosted by Dakota Fanning, registration 6am, $15-$20, Wilson Plaza, UCLA, WW, runwalk.ucla.edu.Open Poetry Reading with featured poets Lynne Bronstein, Debra Edler Brown, and Reverend Dave Wheeler, 5pm, free, Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, 310.822.3006.SMC Jazz Band, 4pm, $10, The Broad Stage, SMC Performing Arts Center, 1310 11th St., 310.434.4323. April 6Sailing I: Practice and Theory, classroom sessions Mondays through April 20, 6:30-10pm, $425, UCLA Extension Lindbrook Center, 10920 Lindbrook Dr., WW, on-the-water sessions begin April 11, California Sailing Academy Coast Guard School, 14025 Panay Way, MDR, 310.825.7093.April 7ALMS “Offerings,” photography by Felice Willat and gourds by Karen Saviskas, reception April 19, 4-7pm, through May 3, Topanga Canyon Gallery, 120 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd. #109 Pine Tree Circle, 310.455.7909.Dead Pool: Lake Powell, Global Warming & the Future of Water in the West, science lecture by Dr. James L. Powell, 11:15am, free, SMC Humanities and Social Science Lecture Hall 165, SMC, 1900 Pico Blvd., 310.434.4303.The Seagull, Chekhov’s tragicomedy, through April 11, 7:30pm, Tuesday-Saturday, $12-$15, Smothers Theatre, Pepperdine University, 24255 PCH, Malibu, 310.506.4055.April 8Discussion of Morag Joss’ Puccini’s Ghost, 7pm, free, Montana Branch Library, 1704 Montana Ave., 310.829.7081. Sonos and Katia and Marielle Labeque, 8pm, $28-$60, Royce Hall, UCLA, WW, 310.825.2101.April 9Nanotechnology in Daily Life, with Dr. Christina Bauer, 11:15am, free, Science Lecture Hall 145, SMC, 1900 Pico Blvd., 310.434.4303.