5 Things To Do in and around Modesto

'The Piano Lesson'

New Modesto black theater company Sankofa Theatre debuts with a production of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama "The Piano Lesson." Set in the 1930s, the play is about a family fight over what to do with an ornately carved piano gathering dust in Berniece Charles' Pittsburgh home. Ghosts play a part in the dispute. The show also has many comic moments.

WHEN: 8 p.m. today and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: Foster Theater, Gallo Center for the Arts, 1000 I St., Modesto

TICKETS: $12-$20

CALL: (209) 338-2100

ONLINE: www.galloarts.org

Jazz Festival

The 34th annual Columbia Big Band Jazz Festival features performances from trombonist Mic Gillette (Tower of Power), trumpeter Mike Rocha (L.A. recording artist, Glenn Miller Band, Disneyland's Five and Dime Band), big-band composer Bob Secor and sax and flute player Paul Contos (Monterey Jazz Festival education director). The big band will perform Henry Mancini's "This Had Better Be Tonight" and the Ray Charles hit "Hallelujah, I Love Her So," as well as swing hits, standards, Latin tunes and Dixieland favorites.

WHEN: 5:30 and 8 p.m. today and 6 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Dogwood Theater, Columbia College, 11600 Columbia College Drive

TICKETS: $20 reserved

CALL: (209) 588-5126

ONLINE: www.gocolumbia.edu

'La Traviata'

Townsend Opera presents Giuseppe Verdi's 19th-century opera "La Traviata" with a combination of professional singers and California State University, Stanislaus, vocal students. This version is set in San Francisco in the 1980s during the early days of the AIDS epidemic. The story is the same — about a tragic love affair between a courtesan and a playboy.

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. today and noon Sunday

WHERE: Rogers Theater, Gallo Center for the Arts, 1000 I St., Modesto

TICKETS: $10-$62

CALL: (209) 338-2100

ONLINE: www.galloarts.org

'The Velveteen Rabbit'

Designed for children ages 4-10, this show features an original score, life-size puppets, masks and magic. Based on Margery Williams' classic children's tale, this show centers on a plush rabbit, given as a gift to a young boy, who yearns for the day when the boy will choose him as a special playmate. He is told that when a child loves a toy for a long, long time, it becomes real.

WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday

WHERE: Rogers Theater, Gallo Center for the Arts, 1000 I St., Modesto

TICKETS: $8-$25

CALL: (209) 338-2100

ONLINE: www.galloarts.org

Off-Balance

Modesto Junior College's Off Balance Dance Troupe will perform a repertory concert. "The evening's choreography of images is framed by thought and perception, with works of art unfolding with each moment of movement and gesture."

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday; through Feb. 10

WHERE: Modesto Junior College main auditorium, 435 College Ave.

TICKETS: $10 general, $8 seniors 62 and up and students

CALL: (209) 575-6776

ONLINE: mjc.tix.com