Ventura County Weekend : FRIDAY

FOR THE KIDS

Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” is certainly a holiday favorite, but not necessarily accessible to all audience members. With the little ones in mind, the Conejo Valley Children’s Concert Series will bring Jim Gamble’s Marionettes to the Civic Arts Plaza Forum Theatre for unique staging of the fairy-tale classic.

Here, the Sugar Plum Fairy will guide the audience through a fantasy puppet world of Toy Soldiers, Russian Acrobats, Arabian Dancers and more--including the battle between the evil Rat King and the Nutcracker. Show times: 5 and 7 p.m. Friday. Advance tickets, $7; $1 more at the door. The Plaza is at 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. Information: 493-4348.

SUNDAY

MUSIC, POETRY

John Trudell, former leader of the American Indian Movement and spokesman for Native American rights, will bring a program of music and poetry to Nicholby’s in Ventura on Sunday night at 7 p.m.

Trudell has a pair of albums on Rykodisc Records with a third due in February. He also has a 17,000-page FBI file. Prior to the show, Trudell will autograph copies of his book “Stickman” across the street at the Phantom Bookshop from 3 to 5 p.m. Opening for Trudell at the $5 show will be local roots rocker and folk singer, Bill Coffey. The former front-man for the Mudheads is set to release a new CD any day now. Nicholby’s is located at 404 E. Main Street. Information: 662-2282.

FOREIGN FILM

While the politicos have given the nod in favor of a brokered peace in the Balkans, Milcho Manchevski’s film “Before the Rain” (Macedonia, 1994) is a stark reminder of the heartbreaking ethnic violence the region’s peoples have endured. Garnering Oscar’s best foreign film nomination and a Grand Prize at the ’94 Venice Film Festival, the movie will be featured by the Ojai Film Society at a 4:30 p.m. showing at the Ojai Playhouse, 145 E. Ojai Ave. Told in three apparently unrelated stories--using the ancient beauty of the Macedonian landscape to contrast the violence in the former Yugoslavia--the narrative’s puzzle begins to come together only in the final moments of the film. Tickets: $6.50, $4 senior citizens and students. Information: 646-8946.

UP THE COAST

* The Santa Barbara Civic Light Opera will open Friday with Meredith Willson’s American classic “The Music Man” at the Granada Theatre, 1216 State St. Here is the story of the glib con man Professor Harold Hill and the ever-charming librarian Marian. First appearing in New York in 1957, the production features such favorites as “Seventy-Six Trombones” and “Trouble.” Show times: 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Through Dec. 17. Tickets: $15-$35. Information: 966-2324.

* The PCPA Theaterfest also continues through Dec. 17 with the musical “Annie” at the Marian Theater, Allan Hancock College, Santa Maria. Show times: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets: $12-$18. Information: (800) 549-7272.

* The UC Santa Barbara University Jazz Ensemble will perform with guest bassist Nico Abondolo at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the campus’ Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall. Tickets: $5. Information: 893-3261.