8:30pm / Performance

Highways, known for its edgy, adult, out-of-the-mainstream performance art, theater, dance and music, celebrates its “10th Birthday Party,” with three nights of performances by Michael Kearns, Helios Dance Theatre, Dan Kwong, Guitar Boy, David Rousseve, Hae Kyung Lee and Dancers, Denise Uyehara, Rosanna Gamson, Joan Hotchkis, Barnes, Tim Miller, SLANG, Victoria Marks, Osseus Labyrint, Leo Garcia, John Fleck, Simone Forti, Rachel Rosenthal Company, Syd Rushing, Dan Froot and Paul Zaloom. Call for nightly lineup.

* “Highways’ 10th Birthday Party,” Highways, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica, Friday-Sunday, 8:30 p.m. $20; $45 for all three nights. (310) 315-1459.

8pm: Movie/Exhibition

A screening of the 1919 silent comedy “The Hoodlum” will kick off “Mary Pickford Rediscovered: Rare Pictures of a Hollywood Legend,” a 10-week long photo exhibition devoted to Pickford, America’s first movie sweetheart. Those who attend the screening will get a sneak preview of the photo exhibition, which opens to the public on Saturday.

* “The Hoodlum,” Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Samuel Goldwyn Theater, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, 8 p.m. $3 to $5. (310) 247-3600. The photo exhibition “Mary Pickford Rediscovered: Rare Pictures of a Hollywood Legend” opens on Saturday at the academy in the Grand Lobby Gallery. Saturdays and Sundays, noon-6 p.m.; Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Through Aug. 1. Free.

8pm / Theater

Nick Cassavetes (he directed Miramax’s “She’s So Lovely” and appears opposite Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence in “Life”) is staging the premiere of James Bozian’s dark comic love story “Rockstar.” It’s one of two comedies presented by Circus Theatricals under the umbrella title, “Two Headed Monster.” Also on the bill: “All the Hitz, All the Time,” about a failed composer in a pizza parlor whose life is disrupted by a mysterious homeless woman, directed by stage and screen actor Dean Nicols.

* “Two Headed Monster,” Hudson Guild Theatre, 6543 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m. through June 26. $TK. (310) 289-2999.

8 & 9:30pm / Jazz

Saxophone shaman Charles Lloyd started drawing rock fans to his cause in the ‘60s with a group that included pianist Keith Jarrett. The Memphis-born, Santa Barbara-based tenorman, who combines down-home blues and ethereal spirituality in his play, will lead a distinguished combo that includes guitarist John Abercrombie, bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Billy Higgins on this two-night engagement.

* Charles Lloyd, the Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City. $25. Also Saturday. (310) 271-9039.

all day / Movies

An unsigned love letter makes the rounds in the sleepy New England town of Loblolly by the Sea, unsettling some of its residents and prompting others to seize the day. The film, which marks the U.S. debut of Chinese director Peter Chan, is called, appropriately enough, “The Love Letter.” The ensemble cast includes Kate Capshaw, Blythe Danner, Ellen DeGeneres, Tom Everett Scott and Gloria Stuart.

* “The Love Letter,” rated PG-13 for some sesuality, nudity and strong language, opens Friday in general release.

all day / Movies

“Besieged,” the latest from master filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci, is a nearly wordless drama set in an Italian villa, where a beautiful African expatriate (“Beloved’s” Thandie Newton), driven from her homeland by political upheaval, works as a housekeeper for a shy British pianist (David Thewlis).

* “Besieged,” rated R for brief sexuality, opens Friday in general release.

7:30pm / Books

Pulitzer-Prize winning author Annie Proulx whose most recent collection of short stories, “Close Range: Wyoming Stories,” captures desperate tales of hard times in the new west, joins KCRW’s Michael Silverblatt for a literary discussion at the Getty Center.

* Annie Proulx with Michael Silverblatt. Harold M. Williams Auditorium, the Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood. $15. Reservations required. (310) 335-0917.

Freebies

Wayne Reinecke conducts his Pasadena Community Orchestra in music by Suppe, David, Grieg and Mozart at First Church of the Nazarene, 3700 E. Sierra Madre Blvd., Pasadena, 8:15 p.m. (626) 445-6708.

*

Bassist Marcus Shelby is in from San Francisco to lead his trio at LACMA, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., 5:30 p.m. (323) 857-6000.