TODAYEVENTSA garden party in South GateThe 42nd...

TODAY

EVENTS

A garden party in South Gate

The 42nd annual South Gate Azalea Festival culminates this weekend with a carnival and parade. The carnival, which starts tonight and runs through Sunday, will feature live entertainment, rides, games, food and other attractions. The parade starts at 1 p.m. Sunday on Tweedy Boulevard near California Avenue and concludes at the carnival at South Gate Park.

South Gate Azalea Festival Carnival, South Gate Park, 9520 Hildreth Ave., South Gate. 5 to 10 p.m. today. $2 carnival admission. (323) 357-9645.

* Carnival hours: Noon to 11 p.m. Friday to Sunday. The parade runs 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday along Tweedy Boulevard. www.cityofsouthgate.org

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THEATER

Solo acts

by women

“Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival 2007: Crossing the Line” features dramatic, comedic and musical works by national and local solo female performers. The 14th annual multicultural event opens with a “Love’s Got Everything to Do With It” theme, featuring Henrietta Komras, Sybyl Walker and Carla Zilbersmith. Themes change nightly. Complete program information is available at the festival website.

“Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival 2007: Crossing the Line,” Highways Gallery and Performance Space, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica. Opens 8 p.m. today. $25 per program. (818) 760-0408, (310) 315-1459. www.lawtf.com * Also 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m. Sunday.

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FRIDAY

MOVIES

Just try and stop them

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi satirizes his country’s gender segregation policies in the film “Offside.” When Iran faces Bahrain in a World Cup qualifying match, an eclectic group of teenage girls disguise themselves in various ways to try and enter the stadium in Tehran. Thwarted, they nevertheless teach a thing or two to the young male guards charged with stopping them.

“Offside,” rated PG for language throughout, and some thematic elements, opens Friday in selected theaters.

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ART

Your date’s

a no-show

“lol” is an exhibition of documents supporting the Internet projects of Marta Edmisten, who posted a provocative Internet profile luring married men to a rendezvous in front of the New York Public Library, then presented photographic evidence of the men being stood up. In another project, the artist posed as three unnamed young women, ages 18 to 21, offering “worn/soiled” panties to would-be buyers for $25 a pair. With each, Edmisten calls into question these behaviors and contemporary “dating practices.”

“Marta Edmisten: lol,” Another Year in LA, 2121 N. San Fernando Road., No. 13, L.A. Opens Friday. (323) 223-4000.

* Hours: noon to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays. Ends April 27.

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SATURDAY

MUSIC

10 years of Vox Femina

Iris S. Levine’s Vox

Femina, a Los Angeles-based women’s choral ensemble, celebrates its 10th anniversary season this weekend.

The group will give the world premiere of Roger Bourland’s “Alarcon Madrigals, Book III,” which was commissioned by the chorus. It will also team up with the Classical Ensemble of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus and the USC Percussion Ensemble for Orff’s “Carmina Burana.” The soloists will be soprano Lori Stinson, tenor Brandon Brack and baritone Ralph Cato.

Vox Femina, Wilshire United Methodist Church, 4350 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. 8 p.m. Saturday. $25 in advance. $30 at the door. (310) 922-0025. www.voxfeminala.org

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MUSIC

It will help pass time

Haydn’s “Clock” Symphony gets its fun nickname from the ticking sounds in the work’s second movement. Brahms based his “Variations on a Theme of Haydn” on a piece of music he believed Haydn wrote but which now is thought to be written by someone else. Schoenberg took the name of his “Transfigured Night” from a work by poet Richard Dehmel that tells of a reconciliation between a woman and her beloved as they walk in the forest. Jorge Mester will conduct the Pasadena Symphony in all three named and nicknamed works.

Pasadena Symphony, Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 300 Green St., Pasadena. 8 p.m. Saturday. $16 to $75. (626) 584-8833. www.pasadenasymphony.org

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BOOKS

Shedding some light

“Acts of Light: Martha Graham in the Twenty-First Century” is the first photographic survey of Graham’s dances as performed by the current Graham company. Author Nan Deane Cano will accompany a visual presentation of these images, captured by John Deane, with a study of two dances in particular: Appalachian Spring and Primitive Mysteries. Cano’s talk will focus on Graham’s sensitivity to the lives of women, and how it imbued her creative process.

Nan Deane Cano, Warren Center at the American Film Institute, 2021 N. Western Ave., L.A. 2 p.m. Saturday. (323) 466-2157.

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WORLD MUSIC

Of course it’s political

Gilberto Gil may be the first artist to set policy as his country’s minister of culture while maintaining a career as a major international performer. But Gil has been an essential figure in Brazilian music since the late ‘60s, when he was a co-founder of Tropicalia, a movement aimed at blending Brazilian culture with the creative ideas surfacing in the U.S. and England. His politically charged music eventually led to his exile (with Caetano Veloso) in London, and a return to a career juxtaposing continuing musical success with environmental and cultural advocacy. He makes his first solo appearance.

Gilberto Gil, Royce Hall on the UCLA Campus, 405 Hilgard Ave., Westwood. 8 p.m. Saturday. $38 to $65. (310) 825-2101.

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SUNDAY

THEATER

Who could focus?

An 8-year-old is anxious and unfocused. Attention-deficit disorder? Or TV-cellphone-computer-video game overload? Rita Wilson and Bronson Pinchot head the cast in “Distracted,” Lisa Loomer’s new comedy about a mother’s search to find answers about her ADD-diagnosed son from teachers, pediatricians, psychologists and nutritionists. The world premiere play is presented by Center Theatre Group.

“Distracted,” Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A. Opens 2:30 p.m. Sunday. $42 to $55. (213) 628-2772. www.CenterTheatreGroup.org* Runs 8 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays, 7:30 p.m. Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Ends April 29.

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TUESDAY

JAZZ

Trombone adventures

There’s excitement in the air every time Isaac Smith stands up to take a trombone solo. His wildly adventurous approach to the instrument -- filled with exuberant whoops and burning note bursts -- reaches far beyond the articulately crafted bebop style chosen by most contemporary trombonists. Heard most frequently as a sideman, his skills as a bandleader have been less apparent.

The question is whether Smith can capture the boundless enthusiasm of his solo work within the more structured environment of his eight-piece band.

Isaac Smith Octet, the Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City. 8 and 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. $20. (310) 271-9039.