Looking for Something to Do? Free Pasadena Events March 9 to 15

Here are events scheduled Saturday, March 9, to Friday, March 15.

All events are free, so take a look -- and don't you dare say there's nothing to do in Pasadena!

Children are invited to hear a story, make a craft and meet the cast of the Root Beer Bandits Saturday, March 9, from 10 a.m. to noon in the Garfield Promenade on the street level at Paseo Colorado.

March is One City, One Story month -- our community reading celebration! Have you read this year's selection "In the Distance," the Pulitzer Prize finalist about a Swedish boy in the Old West yet? One City, One Story events are scheduled all month long. Here are some this coming week:

• Join a book discussion of "In the Distance" for adults Saturday, March 9, at 10:30 a.m. at Allendale Branch Library.
• "The Emigrants" (1971, PG) starring Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann will be shown Monday, March 11, at 1 p.m. in Studio on 4th (fourth floor) at Central Library. A 19th century Swedish family escapes the famine of their homeland and emigrates to the more fertile fields of Minnesota as they make their way on foot, steamer, train and paddle boat in search of a better life. The movie will be screened courtesy of the Sottotitoli Foreign Film Discussion Club.
• "The Searchers" (1956, NR) starring John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter will be shown Wednesday, March 13, at 1 p.m. in the Donald R. Wright Auditorium at Central Library. Three years after the end of U.S. Civil War, a man returns home to Texas and vows to track down his niece who was abducted by Comanches after they killed her family. 
• A New Adult book club discussion of "In the Distance" is scheduled Wednesday, March 13, at 7 p.m. in the Fourth Floor Conference Room at Central Library (think YA but with more mature themes and content). Several community book club-style discussion groups for all ages are scheduled through the end of March.
• "Stagecoach" (1939, NR) starring John Wayne and Claire Trevor will be shown Thursday, March 14, at 6:30 p.m. in the Donald R. Wright Auditorium at Central Library. A stagecoach on its way from the Arizona Territory to a distant settlement in New Mexico is filled with passengers with diverse histories -- a prostitute, an alcoholic, a pregnant woman, a whiskey salesman, a fugitive, the driver and a shotgun guard -- who must learn from and lean on each other as the stagecoach makes its way through dangerous Apache country in the western frontier. The film, directed by John Ford, is widely considered by critics to be the template for all westerns that came after it. "Stagecoach" will be introduced by Carl Koslowski, Pasadena Weekly film critic and arts editor, and will be followed by a Q&A with the audience. The evening also will include a western singalong with country-Americana band McMains.
• See paintings of African American cowboys by artist Emerson Terry on display at Hastings Branch Library through March 31.
• If you have a Pasadena Public Library card, present it at the Autry Museum of the American West through March 31 for free admission.
• See a full calendar of One City, One Story events here.

Access for students to arts education is required in California public schools, but the quality and quantity often depends on where they live and who is teaching them. "Show Your Work -- Stories of Arts Education in L.A." Saturday, March 9, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Southen California Public Radio's Crawford Family Forum will feature current and former art teachers and teaching artists explaining how their students -- and those students' works -- have changed their lives, and the highs and lows of being arts educators. While the event is free, tickets are required.

The Caltech Orchestra winter concert Saturday, March 9, at 8 p.m. in Ramo Auditorium (#77 on this map) will feature Doppler's Concerto for Two Flutes and Orchestra, Bartok's Dance Suite and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 2. The concert will be repeated Sunday, March 10, at 3:30 p.m. at the same venue. Parking in Caltech lots and parking structures is free on weekends.

The second Sunday of every month is Free Admission Day at the USC Pacific Asia Museum. On Sunday, March 10, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., discover the art of anime! Learn to draw your own anime-style characters, see the feature-length anime film "Lu Over the Wall," bring the kids to storytime in the Silk Road Gallery, take a docent-led tour of the special exhibition "Tsuruya Kōkei: Modern Kabuki Prints Revised & Revisited" and more.

The works of Dmitri Kabalevsky will be highlighted during the Composer of the Year festival Sunday, March 10, at 1, 2:30, 4 and 5:30 p.m. in Barrett Hall at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music where student performers from the piano department will play some of Kabalevsky's compositions.

The Pasadena Community Orchestra presents "Boulanger + Neruda + Beethoven" Sunday, March 10, at 8 p.m. at First Church of the Nazarene Pasadena. Works will include Boulanger's D'un Matin de printemps, Neruda's Trumpet Concerto (featuring soloist Cameron Ghahremani) and Beethoven's Symphony No. 5.

America's Got Talent auditions will return to the Pasadena Civic Auditorium this month. You can be an audience member for free as host Terry Crews, judges Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, Julianne Hough and Gabriel Union plus a spirited array of singers, dancers, comedians, magicians and other hopeful stars keep everyone entertained. Click here to claim your ticket(s) for specific dates beginning Monday, March 11.

Baritone Christian Nova, accompanied by pianist Frank Garvey, will perform Wednesday, March 13, from 12:10 to 12:40 p.m. for the popular Music at Noon recital series at Pasadena Presbyterian Church.

How did the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) emerge as the largest art museum in the western U.S.? Arts journalist Suzanne Muchnic will tell the tale during a Book Club of California multimedia presentation Wednesday, March 13, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Women's City Club of Pasadena. While the event is free, reservations are encouraged. You do not have to be a member of BCC to attend.

The six-part Great American Songwriters series continues Thursday, March 14, at 2 p.m. in the Scott Pavilion at the Pasadena Senior Center with a focus on Cole Porter, composer of iconic American standards such as "Anything Goes," "Begin the Beguine," "I Get a Kick Out of You," "I Love Paris," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "Night and Day" and dozens more. Join pianist Bob Lipson and commentator/performer Saul H. Jacobs for this fun, interactive program. You do not have to be a member of the Pasadena Senior Center to attend, but you do have to be 50 or older.

Flights of Fantasy Story Theater will perform engaging Irish folk tales and fables for children during an afternoon filled filled with laughter and interactive storytelling Thursday, March 14, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. at Santa Catalina Branch Library.

"The Wife" (2018, R) starring Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce will be shown Friday, March 15, at 1 p.m. in the Scott Pavilion at the Pasadena Senior Center. A man about to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature must confront the fact that he and his wife of 40 years have shared compromises, secrets and betrayals. You do not have to be a member of the Pasadena Senior Center to attend, but you do have to be 50 or older.

SAVE THE DATE!

Do you love movies and dream of writing the scripts that bring concepts to life? The panel discussion "Breaking into Screenwriting" will be hosted by the Scriptwriters Network in conjunction with the Pasadena International Film Festival Saturday, March 16, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. upstairs at Vroman's Bookstore in the Playhouse District. Come learn how to get started and make a career of it!

Photo credits: Garry Marshall Theatre, City of Pasadena, USC Pacific Asia Museum, Baton Music, Christian Nova, LACMA, Getty Images, Flights of Fantasy Story Theater, Silver Reel