Looking for Something to Do? Free Pasadena Events February 22 to 28

Here are arts and cultural events scheduled Saturday, Feb. 22, to Friday, Feb. 28.

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

Now that the books are closed on the 2020 Tournament of Roses events, tour season has begun at the Tournament House! Come along any Thursday at 2 p.m. or 3 p.m. through the end of August. Owned by the City of Pasadena, the former Wrigley Estate is home to the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association. A docent will lead you through the 18,500-square-foot Charles Frederick Holder-designed Italian Renaissance mansion built for the chewing gum mogul in 1906. In addition to 21 magnificent rooms, you'll experience new touch screens highlighting Rose Bowl Hall of Fame inductees, a Pac-12 and Big Ten helmet wall, video playback of Rose Bowl Game history, a celebration of the annual B-2 flyover, displays related to Rose Queens and their Courts as well as grand marshals through the years and plenty of other fascinating memorabilia. Then visit the Wrigley Gardens adjacent to the mansion that feature a vast floral display of roses, camellias and annuals.

The opening reception for the exhibition "In Verbis Artis" (In Words Art) is Saturday, Feb. 22, from 4 to 7 p.m. in the gallery at ArtCenter College of Design's South Campus. The group exhibition explores the relationship between typography, design and fine art through the works of seven Los Angeles-based artists who examine the fluidity of written words and address myriad potential interpretations of language at this critical time for communication throughout contemporary culture. 

The annual Mentoris Vocal Competition finals provides valuable opportunities to advance the careers of future opera stars. This year's finalist competition Sunday, Feb. 23, at 2 p.m. in Westerbeck Recital Hall at Pasadena City College's Center for the Arts (Building CA on this map) will feature eight classical singers ages 20 to 32 who will have competed during the semifinals earlier in the day, vying for a position to sing in the final round of eight vocalists and combined prizes of $20,000 funded by the Pasadena Area Opera Trust. Although the semifinals in another location are not open to the public, the final competition at PCC is, and admission is free.

On Monday, Feb. 24, at 1 p.m. in the Scott Pavilion at the Pasadena Senior Center, an LA Opera community educator will share insights into the upcoming production of Gaetano Donizetti's Tudor-period opera "Roberto Devereux," based on the true history and relationship of Queen Elizabeth I and the 2nd Earl of Essex.  Amid rumors about his relationship with the queen, Devereux faces whispers of treason due to an unauthorized peace treaty he signed with Ireland, and Queen Elizabeth is forced by her advisors to confront a no-win choice between love and country. You do not have to be a member of the Pasadena Senior Center to attend, but you do have to be 50 or older.

The documentary film "Animation Outlaws" will be shown Monday, Feb. 24, at 7 p.m. in the Los Angeles Times Media Center at ArtCenter College of Design's Hillside Campus. It tells the story of the Sick and Twisted Festival that was known as much for the radically experimental breakthrough animation it presented as it was for the outrageous antics of the founders, Spike and Mike, who threw away the traditional cartoon rulebook and wrote their own, influencing animators of "Adult Swim," "Nightmare Before Christmas," "Wallace and Gromit," "Finding Nemo," "Monsters Inc.," "Beavis and Butthead" and many more. Kat Alioshin, producer/director of the documentary, will answer questions from the audience following the film screening. See the trailer here.

The Avanti Trio will perform works for flute, violin and viola Wednesday, Feb. 26, from 12:10 to 12:40 p.m. for the popular Music at Noon recital series at Pasadena Presbyterian Church.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the PBS documentary "One Woman, One Vote" (1995, TV-PG) narrated by Susan Sarandon, which will be shown Wednesday, Feb. 26, at 1 p.m. in the Donald R. Wright Auditorium at Central Library. The film documents the 70-year struggle for women's suffrage that culminated in the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. Discover why the crusaders faced entrenched opposition from men as well as women, and why so many feared what might happen to the American way of life if women won the right to vote. See the trailer here.

SAVE THE DATE!

March is One City, One Story month -- our community reading celebration with events that include book discussions, films, presentations, special programs and more all month long, beginning Tuesday, March 3. Have you read the current selection "The Secrets We Kept" by Lara Prescott yet, which is inspired by true events? At the height of the Cold War, two secretaries are pulled out of the typing pool at the CIA and given the assignment of a lifetime, filled with intrigue and risk: smuggle Boris Pasternak's manuscript for "Doctor Zhivago" out of the USSR, where no one dares publish it, and help the epic novel make its way into print around the world. The story is intertwined with that of the decades-long affair between Pasternak and his mistress/muse, Olga Ivinskaya, who was sent to the Gulag and inspired Zhivago's heroine Lara. Check the book out from a local library, purchase your very own copy at Vroman's Book Store or other online source, or go for a digital version.

Photo credits: Tournament of Roses Association, ArtCenter College of Design, MentorisVoice, LA Opera, Avanti Trio, National Archives.