8pm Theater

Patrick Marber has won critical huzzahs as one of the most important new British playwrights. “Dealer’s Choice,” first produced in 1995, was his debut. Its framework is a high-stakes weekly poker game in a London restaurant; Marber probes the six characters’ desires and obligations as they place their bets. The work is informed by a compulsive gambling problem the 36-year-old writer says he struggled with during his days at Oxford. “Dealer’s Choice” and its even more acclaimed successor, the edgy examination of contemporary sexual manners, “Closer,” have summoned comparisons to the elite likes of David Mamet, Harold Pinter, Joe Orton and Tom Stoppard. Marber’s third play, “Howard Katz,” about an ordinary man’s rejection of his world, recently opened in London. Stages’ mounting of “Dealer’s Choice” is the first production of a Marber play in Orange County. Review, Page 47.

“Dealer’s Choice,” Stages, 400 E. Commonwealth Ave., Fullerton. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m., Sundays, 5 p.m. Ends March 23. $12 to $15. (714) 525-4484.

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8pm Pop

He dresses like Robin Hood; she wears a rabbit suit. Adam Green and Kimya Dawson call themselves Moldy Peaches, and they’ve taken the rock press by storm with a self-titled album that combines nursery-rhyme wonder and pornographic candor.

Moldy Peaches, with the Tyde, Dave Dandero, Gram Rabbit, Knitting Factory Hollywood, 7021 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, 8 p.m. $12. (323) 463-0204.

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8pm Pop

Veteran feminist singer-songwriter Holly Near comes to Orange County for a pair of shows. On Friday it’s a club outing at the Coach House, followed Saturday by a performance at a church in Costa Mesa. She recently reissued her 1985 live album “Harp” in an expanded 26-song set covering more of the performance in which she joined fellow folkies Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert and Arlo Guthrie.

Holly Near, Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. With Susan Buirgy. 8 p.m. $19.50. (949) 496-8930. Also Saturday at the Orange Coast Unitarian Church, 1259 Victoria St., Costa Mesa. 8 p.m. $25 and $35. (949) 646-4652.

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8pm Dance

Just when you think you’ve got choreographer Bill T. Jones pegged, he surprises you, so expect what the New York Times called “a new and vibrant dimension” when the resolutely unpredictable Mr. J. brings his Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company to UCLA for a collaboration with the Orion String Quartet. Both of his programs begin with the West Coast premieres of “Verbum” and “World/Without/In.” On Friday, the scheduled finale is the West Coast premiere of “Black Suzanne,” a work replaced on Saturday by Jones’ classic “D-Man in the Waters” from 1989.

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and Orion String Quartet, Royce Hall, UCLA campus, 405 Hilgard Ave., Westwood. 8 p.m. Also Saturday, 8 p.m. $30 to $45. (310) 825-2101.

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8pm Theater

A gritty Southern waterfront world is the setting for Rubicon Theatre Company’s concert reading of the 1946 musical “Beggar’s Holiday,” the only full musical score that Duke Ellington wrote for Broadway. Based on John Gay’s “The Beggar’s Opera,” this new adaptation of John Latouche’s original book is by Dale Wasserman. Jazz singer Carl Anderson (Judas in the film “Jesus Christ Superstar”) plays wicked MacHeath; Alaina Reed Hall--kids know her as Olivia on “Sesame Street”--plays poor Jenny and Sharon McNight plays Mrs. Peachum.

“Beggar’s Holiday,” Rubicon Theatre Company at the Laurel, 1006 E. Main St., Ventura. Friday and March 7-9, 8 p.m.; Saturday and March 6, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday and March 10, 2 p.m. $28 to $38. (805) 667-2900.

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8pm Theater

Michael Phillip Edwards performs his autobiographical solo show, “Runt, A Hero’s Journey,” winner of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival’s 2001 Fringe First Award. At the center of this growing-up piece is Edwards’ father, a brutal tyrant who forces others, even his son, to play “runt” to his “top dog.”

“Runt, A Hero’s Journey,” Davidson/Valentini Theatre, the Village at Ed Gould Plaza, 1125 N. McCadden Place, Hollywood. Thursdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends March 31. $20. (323) 860-7300.

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8pm Music

With deep ties to Eastern Europe, the Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble continues to develop Western audiences for the choral music of Bulgaria, Macedonia, the former Yugoslavia, Russia, Hungary and Kazakhstan. Its latest program, “Songs From Eastern Europe and Beyond,” highlights the ensemble’s mastery of the complex Balkan and Slavic vocal styles in both ancient and new music.

Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble, Beckman Auditorium, Caltech, Pasadena, 8 p.m. $10 to $22. (626) 395-4652.

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all day Photography

A new exhibition of 40 photos by Loomis Dean marks the first one-man show for the noted Life photographer. Dean’s 35-year tenure with the magazine began in 1947. Stationed first in Los Angeles, his assignments included the film industry and the atomic tests in the Nevada desert. One of his most famous images, which is included in this show, “Loomis Dean: American Original,” is that of Noel Coward in a tuxedo, smoking in the blazing desert sun.

“Loomis Dean: American Original,” Apex Fine Art, 152 N. La Brea Ave., L.A. A reception for the photographer will be Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. and is open to the public. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ends April 6. Free. (323) 634-7887.