THURSDAY, NOV. 19 

Bus Rapid Transit Public Workshop on the Local Preferred Alternative at the Transportation Commission meeting at 6 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst.  

Claremont Branch Library Rennovation Plans Meet the architects and learn about the project at 6:30 p.m. at Claremont Branch Library, 2940 Benvenue at Ashby. 981-6195. 

2020 Vision for Berkeley’s Children and Youth Initiative Community Meeting at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Technology Academy auditorium, 2701 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Childcare provided. 845-7103. www.berkeleyalliance.org. 

LeConte Neighborhood Association meets at 7:30 p.m. at the LeConte School. karlreeh@gmail.com 

Golden Gate Audubon Society Field Trip to Berkeley Fishing Pier Meet at 8 a.m. for a leisurely walk in search of Surf Scooters, scaup, loons, grebe and gulls. Bring a scope if you have one. www.goldengateaudubon.org 

Berkeley Sustainablity Summit and Green Gathering, with keynote speaker Robert Reich, at 4 p.m. at the David Brower Center. Tickets are $35. www.ecologycenter.org/ggss 

“Effective ‘Boss’ Management” at Assoc. of Women Scientists at 6:30 p.m. at Novartis, Building X-310, 5300 Hollis St., Emeryville. All welcome. http://ebawis.org 

Community Yoga Class: Gentle Yoga, Thurs. at 10 a.m. at James Kenney Parks and Recreation Center, 8th St. and Virginia. Cost is $6. Mats provided. 207-4501. 

FRIDAY, NOV. 20 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Adair Lara on “Write Your Memoirs: You Owe It To Your Family” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $15, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For reservations call 527-2173.  

Senior Healthcare Policy Forum from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at The Cathedral of Christ in Light Conference Center, 2121 Harrison St., Oakland. Tickets are $35-$50. To register go to shpf.elders.org or call 839-3100. 

Say No to War! Bring our troops home now. Rally for Peace from 2 to 3 p.m. at the corner of Action and University. 

Berkeley Women in Black weekly vigil from noon to 1 p.m. at Bancroft and Telegraph. Our focus is human rights in Palestine. 548-6310. 

Stand With Us Stand for Peace Stand with Israel vigil every Friday from noon to 1 p.m. at Bancroft and Telegraph. www.sfvoiceforisrael.org 

SATURDAY, NOV. 21 

Worm Composting Workshop at 10:30 a.m. at Berkeley Horticultural Nursery, 1310 McGee Ave. Free. 526-4704. www.berkeleyhort.com 

City of Berkeley’s All Storm Day Volunteer to clean storm drains from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Meet neighbors, protect neighborhoods, and clear debris that otherwise ends up in the Bay. Sign up by phone or email. If there is a particular drain you want to clean and keep from backing up, the city also will teach you to safely clean storm drains and supply equipment through its Adopt-A-Drain program. Stenciling projects for groups also available. 981-6418.  

Friends of Five Creeks Restoration Project on Cerrito Creek Meet at 10 a.m. at Creekside Park, south end of Santa Clara Ave., El Cerrito. 848-9358. www.fivecreeks.org 

Work Party at Strawberry Creek Lodge New planting and weed removal. Meet at 10 a.m. at the front door or in the Lodge’s backyard, 1320 Addison St. Please email if you’d like to join in. kyotousa@sbcglobal.net 

Close the Farm Say goodnight to the animals from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Little Farm, Tilden Park. 544-2233. 

Giftmaking with Recycled Materials inlcuding an origami gift box, note-pad, and printed holiday cards, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $10-$15. To register call 548-2220, ext. 239. 

Benefit for the Zapatista Autonomous Communities with Carlos Marentes Director of Sin Fronteras Border Agricultural Workers Project, and musical performance by Mamacoatl, at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. $5-$20. Dinner reception at 5:30 p.m. for $30.  

“Islam and the Challenge of Human Rights” with author Dr. Abdulziz Sachedina at 6 p.m. at the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California, 1433 Madison St, between 14th and 15th, Oakland. Cost is $5-$7. 832-7600. www.iccnc.org 

“What’s Next for Haiti?” with Euvonie Georges Auguste and Rea Dol at 4 p.m. at La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Donation $7-$25, no one turned away. www.haitisolidarity.net 

The Hillside Club’s Annual Arts & Crafts Benefit Show from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 2286 Cedar St. 508-6242. www.hillsideclub.org 

Friends of the Albany Library Book Sale with vintage, rare and collectible items from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1247 Marin Ave., Albany. 526-3720. 

“Cosmic Fireworks: The Explosive Deaths of Massive Stars” at 11 a.m. in the Genetics and Plant Biology Building, Room 100, UC campus. Admission is free and no science background is required. 

Diesel Car Maintenance Workshop and information on biodiesel from noon to 6 p.m. at 2465 4th St. at Dwight. Cost is $30 for lecture only, $140 for lecture and workshop. Registration required. 653-9450. dieselworkshops@gmail.com  

Floral Design Class with Devon Glaster from 1 to 3 p.m. at Expressions Gallery, 2035 Ashby Ave. Cost is $25. 644-4930. 

“Get Well!” Alternative practitioners talk about healing from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 3rd Flr Community Room, 2090 Kittredge. 981-6107. 

Enchanting Autumn Art for children ages 2 to 5 and their families to make leaf rubbings and enjoy other autumn activities from 4 to 5 p.m. at the future home of happytogether Preschool, Kehilla Community Synagogue, 1300 Grand Ave., Piedmont. Admission is free. Please RSVP to 705-2849. 

California Writers Club “Do You Really Need an Agent to Get a Publisher?“ with Kathy Briccetti, a 10 a.m. at Barnes & Noble Booksellers Event Loft, Jack London Square, 98 Broadway, Oakland. www.cwc-berkeley.com 

Berkeley Lacrosse Club For boys and girls ages 7-14. Registration ongoing through Nov. 30. Some scholarships available. 525-5789. berkeleylacrosse.org 

Houdini Magic Weekend at Playland-Not-At-The-Beach Sat. and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 10979 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. Cost is $10-$15. 932-8966. www.playland-not-at-the-beach.org 

Socio-Religious Analysis A theological education workshop for laypersons from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave. 849-8239. 

Creating Jewish Home Traditions for Young Children at 10:30 a.m. at Jewish Gateways, 409 Liberty St., El Cerrito. RSVP to rabbibridget@jewishgateways.org 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. at 2 p.m. and Sun. at 11 a.m. and 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Lawn Bowling on the green at the corner of Acton St. and Bancroft Way every Wed. and Sat. at 10 a.m. for ages 12 and up. Wear flat soled shoes, no heels. Free lessons. 841-2174.  

SUNDAY, NOV. 22 

Nature, News and Nosh Enjoy a cup of coffee or cocoa while getting the latest news on wildlife sightings and native plants in the park, at 10 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 544-2233. 

“Thangs Taken” Rethinking Thanksgiving hosted by Ariel Luckey at 7 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $10-$25. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency & Forming a More Perfect Union” with author David Swanson at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. Cost is $6-$25. Tickets available at brownpapertickets 841-4824. 

“20 Years Later: Remembering the Jesuit Martyrs” in solidairty with the annual protest at the School of the Americas, at 5 p.m. on the front steps of St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison. 499-0537. 

Tour of the Berkeley City Club, the “little castle” designed by Julia Morgan from 1 to 4 p.m. at 2315 Durant Ave. 848-7800. 

“Sewer Laterals: Am I at Risk? Be Sewer Smart” A free lecture with plumbr Peter Langes at 10 a.m. at Buildig Education Center, 812 Page St. 525-7610. 

Leslie Gallery of Animal Art Holiday Party at 1 p.m., 100 feet west of 2427 San Mateo St. Richmond Annex. http://directory.ac5.org/PALeslie 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. at 2 p.m. and Sun. at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

Tibetan Buddhism “Path of Liberation” lecture series begins with “Traveling the Path to Liberation” by Jack Petranker at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 809-1000.  

MONDAY, NOV. 23 

Kensington Book Club meets to discuss “Hard Times” by Charles Dickens at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

East Bay Track Club for ages 3-14 meets at 6 p.m. at the running track of Berkeley High School. For more information call Coach Walker at 776-7451. 

TUESDAY, NOV. 24 

Tuesdays for the Birds Tranquil bird walks in local parklands, led by Bethany Facendini, from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. Today we will visit the Bear Creek Staging Area, Briones Regional Park. Bring water, field guides, binoculars or scopes. Call for meeting place and if you need to borrow binoculars. 544-2233. 

Over the Hills Gang Hikers 55 years and older explore Tilden Park, Inspiration Point, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. For details call 544-2233. 

“A Balancing Act - Defending our President Against Right Wing Attacks vs. Promoting Our Progressive Agenda” with Peggy Moore, Organizing for America's California Political Director, at the El Cerrito Democratic Club, at 6:30 p.m. in Fellowship Hall, El Cerrito United Methodist Church, 6830 Stockton Ave., at Richmond Ave., El Cerrito. 527-5953. panterazero@gmail.com 

Berkeley PC Users Group meets at 7 p.m. at 1145 Walnut St., corner of Eunice. meldancing@comcast.net 

Magic Classes for ages 7 and up from 6 to 8 p.m. at Playland-Not-at-the-Beach at 10979 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. Cost is $25. Call to enroll 232-4264, ext. 24.  

Richmond Emergency Food Pantry Volunteers needed to help organize cases of canned food, from 9 a.m. to noon at 2369 Barrett Ave. Richmond. Ability to lift 50 pounds helpful.  Help needed on Fridays also. 235-9732. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 25 

Golden Gate Audubon Society Bird Walk at Lake Merritt and Lakeside Park. Meet at 9:30 a.m. at the large spherical cage near Nature Center at Perkins and Bellevue. www.goldengateaudubon.org 

“In Grave Danger of Falling Food” A documentary about permaculture at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $5. www.Humanist Hall.org 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. 548-9840. 

THURSDAY, NOV. 26 

Give Thanks and Honor the Native Community Vegetarian pot-luck from 6 to 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Free Thanksgiving Meal from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Cafe Gratitude, 1730 Shattuck. www.cafegratitude.com 

Free Community Thanksgiving Dinner noon to 2 p.m., Interfaith service at 11:30 a.m., at First United Methodist Church, 201 Martina St., Point Richmond. 236-0527. 

FRIDAY, NOV. 27 

After Thanksgiving Docent Guided Garden Tour Learn about California native plants in a beautiful, naturalistic 10-acre setting at 2 p.m. Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Regional Park, Wildcat Canyon Road and South Park Drive. Call to confirm. 841-8732.  

Peace Corps Open House Learn about serving in the Peace Corps from noon to 2 pm, 1301 Clay St., North Tower 5th Floor Conference Room, Oakland. Please bring picture ID because you will need to pass through security. RSVP 452-8442 or SFevents@peacecorps.gov  

Houdini Magic Weekend at Playland-Not-At-The-Beach Fri.-Sun. from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 10979 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. Cost is $10-$15. 932-8966. 

Berkeley Women in Black weekly vigil from noon to 1 p.m. at Bancroft and Telegraph. Our focus is human rights in Palestine. 548-6310. 

Stand With Us Stand for Peace Stand with Israel vigil every Friday from noon to 1 p.m. at Bancroft and Telegraph. www.sfvoiceforisrael.org 

SATURDAY, NOV. 28 

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. for ages 4-6 years, accompanied by an adult. We will care for animals, do crafts and farm chores. Wear boots and dress to get dirty! Fee is $6-$8. Registration required. 1-888-EBPARKS. 

Working with Wool Watch as the spinning wheel turns wool into yarn, try a drop spindle, and create a felted ornament to take home, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 544-2233. 

Berkeley Artisans Open Studios Sat. and Sun. from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. For map see www.berkeleyartisans.com 

Womyn of Color Arts and Crafts Show, Sat. and Sun. from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $14-$16. 849-2568.  

Lawn Bowling on the green at the corner of Acton St. and Bancroft Way every Wed. and Sat. at 10 a.m. for ages 12 and up. Wear flat soled shoes, no heels. Free lessons. 841-2174.  

SUNDAY, NOV. 29 

Fireside Storytime Warm yourself by the fire and sip hot cocoa while listening to nature stories, at 10:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 544-2233. 

The Buzz About Bees Learn the natural, cultural and cuinary sides of honey, at 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 544-2233. 

“Microcosmos” A documentary on bugs for the whole family, at 1:30 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave., Albany. 528-2261. 

A Woman’s Voice “An Examination of Choice: Who has it —who doesn’t — and the implications of that difference” with Dr. Robin Lakoff, Prof., Dept. of Linguistics, UCB, at 4 p.m. at Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar Street at Arch. Cost is $5-$10. 644-2967. www.hillsideclub.org 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. at 2 p.m. and Sun. at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

ONGOING 

Food Donations for the Homeless and Hungry From Nov. 17 to Nov. 25 please drop off food donations to Berkeley Food & Housing Project at 2362 Bancroft Way. Contact Wanda Williams at 649-4965, ext. 506. wwilliams@bfhp.org 

Volunteers Neede for United Way’s Earn It! Keep It! Save It! The Bay Area’s largest, free tax-assistance program, is now recruiting volunteers to serve as greeters, language interpreters and tax preparers for the 2010 tax season. Training begins in November, and free tax sites will open in late January. No previous tax preparation experience is necessary. There is a special need for volunteers who can speak Spanish. Register at www.earnitkeepitsaveit.org 800-358-8832. 

One Warm Coat Drive Donate outwear including rain coats in all shapes and sizes at the Bay Street Management Office, below AMC Theaters. www.OneWarmCoat.org 

CITY MEETINGS 

Design Review Committee meets Thurs., Nov. 19, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7415.  

Transportation Commission meets Thurs., Nov. 19, at 6 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7061.  

THURSDAY, NOV. 19 

FILM 

“Jesters and Gestures: Performing Yiddish Culture from Silent Cinema to Avant-Garde Film” at Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $4.50-$9.50. 642-0808. bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Druid Ireland Artist Talk An interview with the artists of “The Walworth Farce” at 4 p.m. in Zellerback Playhouse, UC campus. tdps.berkeley.edu 

Lierre Keith, author of “The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice and Sustainability,” reads at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

Patrizia Chen on her memoir of an Italian childhood, “Rosemary and Bitter Oranges” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloway’s, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Cecile Pineda, Mexican American novelist, reads from and discusses her work at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. Free. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland Opera “Dark River: The Fannie Lou Hamer Story” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. through Nov. 22 at Oakland Metro Operahouse, 630 Third St., Oakland. Tickets are $28. 763-1146. oaklandmetro.org 

Scorpio Variety Showcase with Bronkar Lee, beatbox, John Staedler, guitar sax, Joshua Walters, comedy at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10, Scorpios free. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Dr. K’s Home Grown Roots Revue with the Wronglers, Harmon’s Peak, the roadoilers at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $14.50-$15.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Kelly Park Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

The Loyd Family Players, Antioquia at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Truth Be Told, hip hop jam, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Backyard Tarzans at 7 p.m. at Chester’s Bay View Cafe, 1508 Walnut St. 849-9995. 

The Shure Thing at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Ian McFeron Band with Paul Manousos at 8:30 p.m. at Speisekammer, 2424 Lincoln Ave., Alameda. Free. 522-1300. 

FRIDAY, NOV. 20 

THEATER 

Aurora Theatre “Fat Pig” through Dec. 13, at 2081 Addison St. Tickets are $15-$55. 843-4822. auroratheatre.org 

Berkeley Black Repertory Group Theater “Sparkle: The Stage Play” Thurs.-Fri. at 8 p.m., Sat. at 2 and 8 p.m., Sun. at 4 p.m. at 3201 Adeline St., through Dec. 20. Tickets are $10-$45. 652-2120. 

Berkeley Rep “Tiny Kushner” Short plays by Tony Kushner at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison, through Nov. 29. Tickets are $33-$71. 647-2949 www.berkeleyrep.org 

Central Works “Blastosphere!” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. through Nov. 22 at The Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Tickets are $14-$25. 558-1381. centralworks.org 

Contra Costa Civic Theatre “Lucky Stiff” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. through Dec. 6, at 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito. Tickets are $18, $11 for 16 and under. 524-9132. www.cct.org 

Impact Theatre “Large Animal Games” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave., through Dec. 12. Tickets are $12-$20. impacttheatre.com 

Masquers Playhouse “The Rocky Horror Show” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2:30 p.m. at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond, and runs through Dec. 12. Tickets are $18. 232-4031. www.masquers.org 

“Reality Playthings” experiments in experience with Frank Moore at 8 p.m. at Temescal Arts Center, 511 48th St. www.eroplay.com 

UC Dept. of Theater, Dance & Performance Studies “Silences and Salutations” Seven one act plays through Nov. 22 at Durham Studio Theater, UC campus. 642-8827. tdps.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jeffrey Haas reads from his new book, “The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther” followed by panel discussion, at 6:30 p.m. at Marcus Books, 3900 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, Oakland.  

“If This You See: Staging Stein” A panel discussion iwth Prof. Lyn Hejinian, Prof. Peter Glazer and others at 4 p.m. in the Durham Studio Theater, UC campus. tdps.berkeley.edu 

John Greenlee and Saxon Holt on “The American Meadow Garden” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloway’s, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Alison Gopnik on “The Philosophical Baby” in a benefit for Habitot in a private home in Piedmont at 7 p.m. Donation $150. 647-1111, ext. 31. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Dance Brigade “The Great Liberation Upon Hearing” based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 7 p.m., through Nov. 22, at Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon St. at 8th. Tickets are $17-$23. www.brownpapertickets.com 

John Santos Sextet in a celebration of Latino Heritage at 8 p.m. at Merritt College, Newton Seal Student Lounge, Building R, 12500 Campus Drive, Oakland. Tickets are $15, students, $5.  

Silvia Nakkach, Val Serrant, Francine Lancaster and friends in a benefit concert for The Stupa Peace Park at 7 p.m. at Unity of Berkeley, 2401 Le Conte Ave. Tickets are $20-$30. vajrayana.org 

Celebrating the Bolero and the Vals Criollo at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $13-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Lisbeth Scott at 8 p.m. at Rudramandir, 830 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $15-$20. www.rudramandir.com 

The Jolly Gibsons at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Los Boleros, Tito y su Son de Cuba at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cuban salsa dance lesson at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $10-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Corrine West at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Silver Kittens at 7 p.m. at Chester’s Bay View Cafe, 1508 Walnut St. 849-9995. 

Buxter Hoot’n, Guns for San Sebastian, Fred Torphy at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Green Machine at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Kev Choice Ensemble at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Joshi’z 3 at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

SATURDAY, NOV. 21 

CHILDREN  

Mariela, bi-lingual songs at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5 for adults, $4 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

The Snow Queen Puppet Show Sat. and Sun. at 11 a.m. and 2 and 4 p.m. at at Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellevue Ave., Oakland. Cost is $7. 296-4433.  

Duo Amaranto, songs in English and Spanish, at 11 a.m. at Studio Grow, 1235 10th St. Cost is $9. 526-9888. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“The Spontaneous Smiley Project” Photographs of the Smiley Face in everyday objects. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Photolab Gallery 2235 Fifth St. 

Rita Sklar “Spiritual Paintings” Opening reception at 1:30 p.m. at Kehilla Community Synagogue, 1300 Grand Ave., at Fairview, Piedmont. 

“Trois Femmes de Metal” works by Gabrielle Curry, Elizabeth Dante and Angie Garberina at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. 848-1228.  

THEATER 

Country Joe’s Tribute to Woody Guthrie Benefit for California Coalition for Women Prisoners at 7 p.m. at BFUU, 1924 Cedar. Tickets are $25 and $100. 841-4824. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Sarita Echavez See discusses her new book “The Decolonized Eye: Filipino American Art and Performance” at 3 p.m. at Eastwind Books of Berkeley, 2066 University Ave. 548-2350. 

Abdulziz Sachedina on his new book “Islam and the Challenge of Human Rights” at 6 p.m. at the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California, 1433 Madison St, between 14th and 15th, Oakland. Cost is $5-$7. 832-7600. www.iccnc.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sandra Soderlund, organ recital, Baroque and neo-Baroque music at 4 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$20. 684-7563. www.brownpapertickets.com 

Chora Nova All-Beethoven concert at 8 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, 2407 Dana, between Channing and Haste. Tickets are $10-$20. 336-3307. www.choranova.org 

Michael Jones & John Burke Violin & piano music of Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Strauss and Dukelsky at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. www. 

trinitychamberconcerts.com 

Passamezzo Moderno & Duo Solace “Across the Alps: The Italian Baroque Moves North” at 7:30 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College at Garber. Tickets are $10-$25. 528-1725. www.sfems.org 

Oakland Opera “Dark River: The Fannie Lou Hamer Story” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. through Nov. 22 at Oakland Metro Operahouse, 630 Third St., Oakland. Tickets are $28. 763-1146. oaklandmetro.org 

Lilia Valitova, solo piano concert, at 7 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, One Lawson Rd., Kensington. Tickets are $18, children 13 and under, free. www.LiliaValitova.com 

Works in the Works 2009 Choreographers’ Performance Alliance and Eighth Street Studio performance series Sat. and Sun at 7:30 p.m. at Eighth Street Studio, 2525 Eighth St. at Dwight. Tickets are $10 at the door. 527-5115. 

Celebrating Songwriters Showcase, hosted by Caren Armstrong at 8 p.m. at Left Coast Folk, Left Coast Cyclery, 2928 Domingo Ave. Cost is $10. 204-8552. www.celebratingsongwriters.com 

Three Voices in Harmony with Becky Reardon, Terry Garthwaite, and Betsy Rose at 7:30 p.m. at Avonova, 417 Avon St., Oakland. Donation $15-$20. Reservations suggested. 652-8440. 

Frankye Kelly & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $14. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Mark St. Mary at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun/Zydeco dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $10-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Strange Journey Fall Tour at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10-$15. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

Crooked Still at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Wayne Wallace and Rhythm & Rhyme: A evening of Latin Jazz at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15-$20. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Paul Manousos at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Strange Angel Blues Band at 7 p.m. at Chester’s Bay View Cafe, 1508 Walnut St. 849-9995. 

Band of Zeroes, featuring Larry Ochs, Ben goldberg, Mathais Bossi, Jon evans, Wil Blades and Scott Amendola at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Steve Carter Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

SUNDAY, NOV. 22 

EXHIBITIONS 

Mayan Textiles Exhibition of textiles from the Mayan weavers’ cooperative Jolom Mayaetik of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, from 1 to 5 p.m. at The Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. at Arch. 843-8724. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

David Swanson reads from “Daybreak,” an investigation of the Bush/Cheney years, at 3 p.m. at Diesel, 5433 College Ave., Oakland. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Prometheus Symphony Orchestra at 3 p.m. at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave., Oakland. Concert is free and families and children are welcome.  

Trio CGY works by Beethoven, Brahams, Faure, Ravel at 3 p..m. at First United Methodist Church, 201 Martina St., corner W. Richmond Ave., Point Richmond. 236-0527. 

Gospel Chorus “Those Singin’ Sistahs” at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $5-$15. 642-9988. 

Jupiter String Quartet at 7:30 p.m. at The Org, 2601 Durant Ave. 665-5988. 

Anne Sadjera Ensemble at 7 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Rebecca Riots at 3 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$20. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Mark Levine’s Kenny Garret Project at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373.  

Po’ Girl at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Jim Page, Hali Hammer and Clara Bellino at 7 p.m. at Art House, 2905 Shattuck Ave. Suggested donation $5-$12. 

Josh Allen Large Ensemble, Henry Kaiser Trio at 8 p.m. at Flux 53 Theater, Foothill and Fairfax, Oakland. Suggested donation $10. 338-2432. 

Bacon at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

MONDAY, NOV. 23 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Whipped Creamy White, Bing Cherry Red” Group at show at Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts Annex Lobby, 1428 Alice Street, No. 100, off 14th St., Oakland. through Jan. 21. 238-7221. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Subterranean Shakespeare “A Winters Tale” staged reading at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Unitarian Fellowship, 1924 Cedar Tickets are $8. 276-3871. 

Poetry Express with Mark States at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. 644-3977. 

TUESDAY, NOV. 24 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Bluesbox Bayou Band at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun/Zyeco dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 25 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

David Berkeley at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Ray Cepeda Latin Jazz at 7 p.m. at Chester’s Bay View Cafe, 1508 Walnut St. 849-9995. 

Kickin’ The Mule at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Montuno Swing at 8 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$7. 548-1159.  

Trio of Doom at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

THURSDAY, NOV. 26 

Happy Thanksgiving 

FRIDAY, NOV. 27 

THEATER 

Aurora Theatre “Fat Pig” through Dec. 13, at 2081 Addison St. Tickets are $15-$55. 843-4822. auroratheatre.org 

Berkeley Black Repertory Group Theater “Sparkle: The Stage Play” Thurs.-Fri. at 8 p.m., Sat. at 2 and 8 p.m., Sun. at 4 p.m. at 3201 Adeline St., through Dec. 20. Tickets are $10-$45. 652-2120. 

Berkeley Rep “Tiny Kushner” Short plays by Tony Kushner at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison, through Nov. 29. Tickets are $33-$71. 647-2949 www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Heretic’s Potentially Offensive Comedy (2) Hour(s)” Featuring the work of Benjamin Garcia, Erin Phillips and writer/director Clay Rosenthal, at 8 p.m. at The Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck Ave. Tickets at the door are $15. 

Contra Costa Civic Theatre “Lucky Stiff” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. through Dec. 6, at 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito. Tickets are $18, $11 for 16 and under. 524-9132. www.cct.org 

Impact Theatre “Large Animal Games” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave., through Dec. 12. Tickets are $12-$20. impacttheatre.com 

Masquers Playhouse “The Rocky Horror Show” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2:30 p.m. at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond, and runs through Dec. 12. Tickets are $18. 232-4031. www.masquers.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Bundles, Webs, Remains” work by Carol Lee Shanks. Artist reception at 6 p.m. at Garage Gallery, 3110 Wheeler. Exhibition continues Sat. and Sun. from 1 to 5 p.m. to Dec. 13. www.berkeleyoutlet.com 

“Metaphysical Abstraction” Closing party with documentary film on Agnes Martin at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Cost is $5, free for BAC members. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

“Holidayland” A joint exhibition at The Compound Gallery, 6604 San Pablo Ave., Oakland and Blankspace, 6608 San Pablo Ave., Oakland. Reception at 6 p.m. Exhibitions run to Dec. 20. www.thecompoundgalley.com, www.balckspacegallery.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Golden Gate Boys Choir Outdoor Holiday Performance at 4 p.m. at Alameda Town Center, Otis Drive, Alameda. Free. www.ggbc.org 

Kelly Park Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Trio Garufa, Argentine Tango at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Maria Muldaur’s Garden of Joy Jug Band at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

The Blind, Commisure, Orchestra of Antlers at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Fender Cronin and guests at 7 p.m. at Chester’s Bay View Cafe, 1508 Walnut St. 849-9995. 

The P-PL at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Igor & The Red Elvises at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Tickets are $15, available through ticketweb.com  

Joshi’z 3 at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

SATURDAY, NOV. 28 

CHILDREN  

The Snow Queen Puppet Show Sat. and Sun. at 11 a.m. and 2 and 4 p.m. at at Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellevue Ave., Oakland. Cost is $7. 296-4433.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“What’s Cooking” Sat. and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Berkeley Potters Guild, 731 Jones St. at 4th St. to Dec. 24. 524-7031. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

John Curl reads from “For All the People: Uncovering th Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements, and Communalism in America” at 6 p.m. at Fig Tree Gallery, 2599 8th St., Studio #42, in the Sawtooth Building. 540-7843. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Kenney Washington & Michael O’Neill Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $14. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. East Coast Swing dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $12-$15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Sonic Safari Swing at 7 p.m. at Chester’s Bay View Cafe, 1508 Walnut St. 849-9995. 

Fred Randolf Jazz at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Michael Shiono and friends at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Wave Array, James Winton Band at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Steve Carter Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

SUNDAY, NOV. 29 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Aurora Theatre Company Script Club Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” 7:30 p.m. at 2081 Addison St. 843-4822. auroratheatre.org 

John Curl reads from “For All the People: Uncovering th Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements, and Communalism in America” at 3 p.m. at Book Zoo, 6395 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 654-2665. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Erik Jekabson & Bay Area Composers’ Big Band at 7 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Family Square Dance with Pearson’s Pork Pies at 3 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $4-$6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Mahealani Uchiyama, world, Afro-Polynesian at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

An Irish Christmas in America at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $20.50-$21.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Behind a scrim decorated with concentric circles, framed by cotton bolls, Emmett Till is dancing (performed by Hannefah Hassan-Evans), high-stepping in his Chicago finery, until he acknowledges a white woman passing—after which, two white men in black beat him in a brutal, stylized assault that turns his dance into writhing. 

That’s where Oakland Opera’s world premiere of Mary D. Watkins’ Dark River: The Fannie Lou Hamer Story takes off: with the reaction of the rural African-American community to Till’s murder in the mid-1950s. The staging employs a broad, long ramp that leads through the audience to the main stage, where the ensemble gathers in a cotton field to mourn Till and other victims of lynch law. It seems as if every spare foot of the Oakland Metro Operahouse, off Jack London Square, is in use; later, the audience will turn to watch scenes in a sharecropper’s home, positioned like a loft, opposite the main stage. 

In a flashback to the late ’20s, a black woman and two young girls are sorting cotton when one of the girls, seeing the schoolbus pass by, asks why she can’t go to school like the white kids. Jeanine Anderson, as her mother, sings beautifully, giving perspective and comfort to her daughter, one of 20 children. Bolanle Origumwa and India Wilkerson accompany her well as the two girls. The daughter, wondering why she can’t go to school, will grow up to be Fannie Lou Hamer, who will lead the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to the ’64 Democratic Convention.  

When the story jumps ahead to 1962, it starts to take off. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) workers arrive in rural Mississippi; Fannie Lou (sung and acted by the splendid Raina Simons) is surprised to learn she has a constitutional right to vote—and becomes more and more deeply involved in the movement, at first to the consternation of her husband, Papp (a prepossessing Jo Vincent Parks)—and for good reason. While attempting to be registered as a voter, Hamer and her family are thrown off the plantation where they’ve sharecropped. 

Twenty-three scenes, with an intermission, take the audience through Hamer’s odyssey and the mushrooming of the civil rights movement—from the treacherous fieldwork of voter registration and providing the indigent with food and necessities through demonstrations and the decision to work with white students, the beatings and murders of movement workers, to the formation of the Mississippi Freedom Party and its challenge of the Mississippi delegation at the Democratic Convention in Atlantic City in 1964. And finally, to Hamer’s dismissal for her integrationist views in 1966 by a reconstituted SNCC, responding to Stokely Carmichael’s call for Black Power. 

Mary Watkins’ music, played by a sextet conducted by Deirdre, with music director Skye Atman on piano, lucidly propels and embellishes the action throughout, a complex and often harrowing series of events, epic in scope, over four years’ time, crystalized in the figure of Hamer, a middle-aged wife and mother with a sixth-grade education, who heroically takes up the cause of civil rights, finally believing it to be that of human rights.  

For those who remember the events, the opera often touches some of the same nerves, has the same sense of tension and urgency that gave—and gives—a feeling both of immediacy and of history in the making. 

The score is fluid, constantly shifting—the composer later remarked on its many rhythmic and harmonic changes—with a low, dark, insistent sound, driven by strings and percussion, alternating with more lyrical moments, brightened by woodwinds. Stylistically, it’s an ambitious and successful amalgam of modern compositional modes with jazz orchestration and gospel themes, all shifting in and out, kaleidoscopically, with the action, the sung dialogue and speeches.  

There was comment about the pageant-like quality of the opera, the first half in particular. The lyrics come through most clearly when figures of speech are rendered as simple poetry, and with quotations of scripture, especially Hamer’s quoting of Proverbs 26 to a penitent Sheriff’s Wife (after an aria beautifully sung by Cary Ann Rosko): “He who digs a pit for another will fall therein ... and he of ill will who rolls a stone will see it return.” Much of the narrative seems taken directly from a wire service teletype; it’s made caustic, satiric in moments like J. Edgar Hoover (Kenneth Woods) announcing, “If you turn up dead, we’ll investigate,” lightened by humor and the vernacular: “Fanny Lou, they’re playing your speech on the picture tube!” Papp exclaims over the phone, long distance. 

With the scene in jail and a lively skit where the men re-enact with brooms blacks defending themselves against nightriders, ending on a hilarious note night riders, ending on a hilarious note when a “mean old woman” and her two sons send Klansmen scurrying when they shoot the gas tank in their car, the first half ends. After intermission, the opera doubles in intensity, with the Freedom Democratic Party’s trip to Atlantic City. In his boxer shorts, a cigarette-smoking LBJ (Woods again) calls from his hotel room to deflect the possible damage to the southern voting bloc if the official Mississippi delegation is unseated in favor of the “One Man, One Vote” Freedom Party. Hamer meets with NAACP chief Roy Wilkins (Charles Alston), who tells her to go home, go back to the farm; let the educated staff do the work. An ebullient Hubert Humphrey (Alan Cochran) tenders crocodile tears and a scant compromise, while his beaming secretary (Hassan-Evans again) flutters humorously about him like a moth.  

Much of this is based on the original events, all in counterpoint to the speeches by Aaron Henry (a splendid Darron Flagg), civil rights attorney Joseph Rauh (Alexander Frank) and Hamer, famously asserting, “I question America” and “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” Sound familiar? 

The cast of 20, whether singing as a chorus or delivering the many individual roles, can’t be praised enough for its singing and acting. It’s a real opera, in that all the different production elements come to the fore, a highlight of every Oakland Opera performance. Darryl V. Jones of Cal State East Bay directed, choreographed (with Hassan-Evans) and served as dramaturge; Oakland Opera Artistic Director Tom Dean designed the set with Jesse Miller; Robert Anderson lit it; Susan Swerdlow produced and did the ensemble music direction. And there are more involved in the project produced by the composer, Oakland Opera and Cal State over the past few years. It’s emerged, a moving, singing scroll of modern history, like the old Popular Front and WPA murals, illuminated by and illuminating the story of one brave woman who stepped forward for the good of all. 

DARK RIVER: THE FANNIE LOU HAMER STORY 

Presented by Oakland Opera at 8 p.m. Thursday–Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday through Nov. 22 at Oakland Metro Operahouse, 630 Third St., Oakland. $28. 763-1146. oakland-metro.org.

The visitor to the still new and stately exhibition space at the Kala Art Institute will encounter a large picture of an octopus on the right wall. The artist, Harry Clewans had read about the mollusks with their eight arms, their unusual intelligence, memory and ability to hide from their predators, and he made this picture of a large scary animal, which looks almost alive in its leafy habitat.  

The work has all the appearances of a painting, but it’s much more complicated: Octopus (2006) is a large, 56-by-60-inch woodcut collage of ink and gold leaf on paper mounted on a wood panel.  

As in all his pieces in the exhibition, the artist first made a drawing directly onto wooden blocks, then hand-carved and printed the images. He would then, working like a jigsaw puzzle, assemble them and collage them into a large composition, which consists of a multitude of found components. For Octopus he used an earlier drawing of a seedpod, which he also employed in the context of other pictures. In Octopus it serves as the mottled and puckered skin of the animal’s arms.  

He used the same detail for different functions. In the large Fireplace (2007), it serves as part of the wall decoration. This woodcut shows an elaborate and luxurious interior with a golden Baroque mantelpiece that rises to a gold crown and enfolds a mirror that reflects part of the salon’s interior. 

Clewans’ way of working requires a laborious, almost obsessive process. It can take six months to complete a finished woodcut, and all the pieces are unique—no editions. There are a total of eight works—the product of three years work in the show. Pile of Grief (2006) shows a large accumulation of debris, arranged in the form of a pyramid with a head that appears like a gas mask on top. It was motivated by the death of his mother and like other works, it shows a preoccupation with dying. What We Know (2005), depicts a prone figure of a man (Clewans’s self portrait), stretched out horizontally, reminiscent of Renaissance paintings of the dead Christ. Waiting is a memorable image of a man’s bust with an elaborate structure of bones of his skull and a raven sitting on his shoulder. The richly colored surface against its gray background creates an ominous feeling. The work was inspired by a portrait of Bruce Conner, an artist greatly admired by Harry Clewans. 

Clewans is almost entirely self-taught. He studied briefly with Gordon Cook and Joan Brown, but not for long. He is by no means unknown, however; he has been in numerous exhibitions not only in the Bay Area but also in Los Angeles, Seattle, Minnesota and in venues as far removed as Belarus and Uzbeckistan. The latter was a show curated by Kala, and Clewans was also a recipient of a Kala Fellowship. The present show, which Clewans shares with the photographer Maizie Gilbert, constitutes this year’s James D. Phelan Award, for which each artist received a $5,000 cash prize. It was juried by Larry Rinder, director of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

The way many people see Yiddish culture is often one-sided, flat. Knowing just a little, they project fantasies: ‘the poor little shtetl!’” 

Zehavit Stern was talking about “Jesters and Gestures: Performing Yiddish Culture From Silent Cinema to Avant-Garde Film,” the series she curated with Jeffrey Skoller, which will feature its final two screenings Sunday and Tuesday. 

Yiddish cabaret stars Shimon Dzigan and Yisroel Shumacher appear in Jolly Paupers (Poland, 1937) with their short subject, I Want to Be a Boarder, made in the United States the same year; and on Tuesday, Ken Jacobs’ Urban Peasants (United States, 1975) with the short, Unititled (Part 1) (1981), Ernie Gehr’s portrait of the last Jewish immigrants of the Lower East Side that year.  

“Jesters and Gestures” came from a meeting between Stern and Stoller “two years ago, when I taught a class at UC Berkeley,” Stern recalled. “Jeffrey teaches film; it was from a combination of our interests—and from not having to talk about Yiddish culture as an museum artifact!” 

The series features seven shows in just over two weeks, including a rare live performance, West and East, by the Sala-Manca Group—a “translation” from the 1923 Austrian silent film East and West, starring great Yiddish actress Molly Picon.  

Stern wryly recalled reactions she’s encountered: “When I tell people I speak Yiddish, they’ll say, ‘Why do you want to do that?’” 

She talked about the upcoming Jolly Paupers. “It’s really special. Since we called the series ‘Performing Yiddish Culture,’ we wanted a broad spectrum of performances—and some would like it all at once! Humor, singing, dancing, plot, cantoral chanting, a wedding ...  

“This is an excellent performance of humor from Lodz in Poland, between the wars. They had very good—really crazy-funny—writers, and it gives you a sense of their stage performances, of cabaret, though there almost seems to be a plot. It sometimes feels like brief sketches. When Dzigan and Shumacher performed in Yiddish after the war in Israel, they were ‘persecuted’—though that’s too strong a word!—forced to live in hotels for years, because the rule was that Yiddish performers were foreign artists, not Israeli.” 

Stern commented on their short film, made in the States: “It gives a sense of American vaudeville—Jewish Fred Astaire? I don’t know!—so there’re two kinds of humor from one team on one program, in a way.” 

Of the film by the well-known experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs, composed of family home movies from Brooklyn in the 1930s and ’40s, alternating with “situations” from an LP, Instant Yiddish, Stern said, “Ken Jacobs plays with it, with the absence of Yiddish culture. So many people interview their parents about the Holocast; this is so experimental, so contemporary, engaging—touching! And it uses something like a Yiddish Berlitz guide: How to Book a Hotel Room in Yiddish, How to Go to the Bank ...” 

Of the unusual live performance by the Sala-Manca Group, Stern said, “They were accompanying their own film, with images from the original screenplay, the night after the original showed, so some people saw both. They’re very political: the protagonist is the grandson of the original film’s, who went from being a practicing Jew to secular, maybe assimilated, in America ... the grandson’s orthodox, lives in Israel ... They call it a translation; there’s also the notion of mis-translation, translating Hebrew to Yiddish, Yiddish to English, Hebrew to Yiddish, Yiddish to English, and vice versa, through Babylon, that translation software. All kinds of cultural encounters—and perfectly aware of the gaps.” 

Mentioning the reaction to a live performance in their theater by the PFA staff, Stern said, “They were very excited. And they had to pull out every piece of their equipment! It’s not a performance space.” 

The reaction to the series has been gratifying to Stern. “I was surprised. People came up afterwards, more than I expected. There was even a sense of community. Feeling connected. In discussion, we sounded like we knew each other. Many of them I do know came with the East Bay Group Yiddisher Cabaret, in which people meet every month in someone’s house. But film studies people came, too. I’m always glad to see it’s not necessary to have a background to be interested.”  

JESTERS AND GESTURES: PERFORMING YIDDISH CULTURE FROM SILENT CINEMA TO AVANT-GARDE FILM  

Dzigan & Shumacher in Jolly Paupers with short I Want to Be a Boarder (both 1937), 3 p.m., Sun., Nov. 22, introduced by Zehavit Stern; Ken Jacobs’ Urban Peasants (1975) with Ernie Gehr’s Untitled (Part 1) (1981), 7:30 p.m., Tues., Nov. 24, introduced by Jeffrey Skoller. Pacific Film Archive Theater, 2575 Bancroft at Bowditch (near Telegraph). Tickets: $5.50–$9.50. 642-1124; bampfa.berkeley.edu.

Dr. Abdulaziz Sachedina, who will appear Saturday night at the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California in downtown Oakland to discuss his new book, Islam and the Challenge of Human Rights (Oxford, $25), says that religion can help persuade its own adherents to respect other humans. 

“The role of religions is to forge better relationships,” he said. “The original impulse of religious texts is to recognize the other, create better camraderie ... Secular advocates say religion has no role in these questions, that it’s historically problematic, that it would be better for people to just believe in what they believe and leave it at that. But that would be to deprive religion of a voice, of its best offer to humanity. Human rights need religion, which teaches and has the ability to persuade emotionally ... Religions need to learn that those outside religion itself have human respect, dignity. Religion can’t afford to be exclusive when it comes to human relationships.” 

Sachedina spoke specifically about Islam in relation to his study and work on the role of religion in human rights. 

“We need to search in our sources, to see what the Quran really does say,” he said. “Is it saying others are less than you? The Quran says all human beings are endowed with a divine nature, naturally understood in dignity. We also have responsibility for the earth, for a peaceful environment. God’s right to be worshiped is not to objectify human beings, but in loving one another, in working for the betterment of the earth. It’s not a ritual where we sit down and close our eyes. To work to improve the quality of life on earth is a human responsibility. That’s the fulfillment of God being worshiped, part of the commitment to do God’s bidding. God does not need to be worshipped. We worship God when we recognize each other.” 

Sachedina, originally from Tanzania and of East Indian extraction, studied in Canada, India and Iran, where he was a student of Dr. Ali Shariati’s. Sachedina speaks 10 languages and has taught since the 1970s. He is chair of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia. 

Sachedina said he sees the violation of human rights in many countries, including in the Muslim world, as a major concern.  

“It is important to convince many people in the faith to recognize that human dignity, the ability to tell right from wrong, is part of our nature and comes from the divine,” he said. “People of the faith need religion to play a role in persuading its own adherents of the necessity to respect other human beings—to be citizens of the world, caring for the environment, for the world as a whole, to participate in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” 

Sachedina emphasized that his “life goal, not simply an academic concern, is to be engaged in trying to make people aware of the humanity of others, of belief, of gender, of race—to respect certain inalienable rights as human beings.” 

He said that we all had work to do in this regard, and that the Muslim community can’t be self-righteous regarding the dignity of others.  

“We should be looking for variety,” Sachedina said. “Human beings have a lot to learn.” 

ISLAM AND THE CHALLENGE OF HUMAN RIGHTS 

Dr. Abdulaziz Sachedina discusses his new book, 6 p.m., Sat. Nov. 19 at the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California, 1433 Madison, Oakland. $5-$7. 832-7600. www.iccnc.org.