Easy, arty, homemade gifts for the holidays: L.A. arts and culture this week

It’s December and the holidays are in full swing — as is the relentless consumerism, which always fills me with unease. The way I’m expected to buy, buy, buy in order to make the people I love happy. Catalogs filled with expensive gifts that may or may not be used litter my coffee table, and my 8-year-old sleeps with a copy of the Amazon toy catalog, which she has spent hours poring over, lovingly circling the items that have been marketed with the heaviest of hands to kids like her — the things she now feels she needs in order to be fulfilled: The $115 Harry Potter Legos, the “Wicked” dolls, books and board games, the latest Little Live Pet.

In an attempt to break free of this ruthless cycle, my husband and I have made it a tradition to handcraft our own gifts for close family and friends each year. These items always involve a certain amount of artistry and we enjoy the time we spend together making them. We listen to music, sip wine or coffee and talk about all kinds of things while we work. The act of creating brings us closer together.

My husband’s last name is Biller and we try to name each item with a variation on the family moniker. Hand-carved cheese boards branded with a “B” (Biller Board); hand-sewn throw pillows with fabric covers picked to suit each giftee’s personality (Billa’ Pilla’); coffee we roasted ourselves in bags custom-printed with potato stamps (Biller Brew); silkscreened kitchen towels (Flour Power); plants in hand-painted pots and poured resin coasters with pressed flowers inside (both Biller Brand). The list goes on, and we gain new skills every year. The best part is seeing our handiwork in our family’s homes. These are gifts to treasure. Items that say “I love you” with time and craftsmanship instead of a credit card.

I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt inviting you to join me in mindful gift-giving. My colleague Ashley Lee and I are here with this week’s arts rundown.

Best bets: On our radar this week

Lily Tung Crystal, the incoming artistic director of East West Players, at the David Henry Hwang Theater.

(Emanuel Hahn / For The Times)

New Works Festival
IAMA Theatre Company’s seventh annual series, spanning two weekends of readings of new plays and musicals, includes pieces by Hannah Kenah, Keiko Green, Joshua Levine, Jonathan Caren, Daria Miyeko Marinelli and Matthew Scott Montgomery. Of note: the reading of Chloé Hung’s sci-fi work “Care Less” will mark the local directorial debut of East West Players’ incoming artistic director, Lily Tung Crystal, and the reading of KJ Cuitiño Bjorge‘s dark comedy “The Playground” will feature the theater company’s five founders. Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., Atwater Village. iamatheatre.com

Schoenberg at 150 Festival
The L.A. Phil is marking the 150th anniversary of composer Arnold Schoenberg’s birth with three concerts, the first of which intimately lauds the legacy of the modernist by focusing on his early-career chamber works, including his iconic sextet “Verklarte Nacht.” The lineup continues with Zubin Mehta conducting the epic piece “Gurrelieder” (Dec. 13 and 15) and pianist Seong-Jin Cho performing Ravel’s “Concerto in G” and conductor Paavo Järvi leading a Brahms quartet orchestrated by Schoenberg (Feb. 13-16). Tuesday, 8 p.m. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown. laphil.com

Angelina Jolie in the movie “Maria.”

(Pablo Larraín)

MoMA Contenders
The Museum of Modern Art’s series celebrating the year’s most notable films kicks off Tuesday with “The Brutalist,” followed by weekday evening screenings of “The Piano Lesson,” “Memoir of a Snail,” “Emilia Pérez,” “Blitz,” “Maria,” “Good One,” “Late Night With the Devil” and “The Substance.” The lineup concludes Dec. 19 with “Anora.” Hammer Museum members can take advantage of priority seating and discounted tickets to see the films, many of which are already collecting a ton of Oscar buzz. Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood. hammer.ucla.edu

— Ashley Lee

The week ahead: A curated calendar

Michael Mann’s 1995 film “Heat,” with Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer, screens Wednesday at the Egyptian Theatre with “The Insider.”

(Warner Bros.)

MONDAY
Dawn Richard + Spencer Zahn The latest collaboration between the modernist R&B singer and the adventurous pianist and composer, “Quiet in a World Full of Noise,” is a tender, vulnerable meditation on grief.
8 p.m. Zebulon. 2478 Fletcher Drive. dice.fm

The Spoilers This frequently remade 1930 pre-Code western starring Gary Cooper and directed by Edwin Carewe screens in a 35mm print from the Library of Congress in what Quentin Tarantino declares is “the film event of the last two years.”
7:30 and 10:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday. New Beverly Cinema, 7165 Beverly Blvd. thenewbev.com

TUESDAY
Sarah Gibson: Small Chamber Works A tribute to the pianist and composer, who died in July at 38.
8 p.m. Tuesdays @ Monk Space, 4414 W. 2nd St. brightworknewmusic.com

John Legend The singer, songwriter and pianist celebrates the holidays with his Legendary Christmas tour.
8 p.m. YouTube Theater, 1011 Stadium Drive, Inglewood. johnlegend.com

WEDNESDAY
Michael Mann The Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. kicks off a new series with a double bill of “The Insider” and “Heat,” and a Q&A with the filmmaker moderated by former Times critic Justin Chang.
6:30 p.m. Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. egyptiantheatre.com

TV on the Radio The adventurous New York art-rock crew reunites for its first gigs since 2019.
8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 9 p.m. Saturday. El Rey Theatre, 5515 Wilshire Blvd. theelrey.com

Wicked Now that the movie is a certified hit and possible Oscar contender, see the national tour of the stage musical that ignited it.
Through Feb. 2. Hollywood Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd. broadwayinhollywood.com

THURSDAY
A Christmas Carol With Charles Dickens David Melville stars as the author performing his holiday classic.
Through Dec. 23. Independent Shakespeare Co. Studio, 3191 Casitas Ave., Suite 13, Atwater Village. iscla.org

Million Dollar Quartet One night in December 1956, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley jam at Memphis’ Sun Records studio in the Ensemble Theatre Company production of the Tony-nominated musical.
Through Dec. 22. The New Vic, 33 W. Victoria St., Santa Barbara. etcsb.org

Culture news and the SoCal scene

“Stavelot Retablo,” circa 1160-70; gilded copper, champlevé enamel and mixed media.

(© RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY
)

Times’ art critic Christopher Knight is still making his way through the region’s more than 70 PST: Art shows. Last week he reviewed three with linked themes: “Lumen: The Art and Science of Light” at the Getty, and “Mapping the Infinite: Cosmologies Across Cultures” and “We Live in Painting: The Nature of Color in Mesoamerican Art,” both at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Each exhibit examined historic art and artifacts, but Knight found that only the Getty’s show did so successfully. The reason, Knight writes, has to do with the ways the exhibits approach art history. “The chilly shows are doing it backward, using art to explain cultural history, rather than the other way around,” he concludes.

Ashley Lee got the story from the team behind the creation of “Popular,” Ariana Grande’s biggest musical number in the blockbuster film “Wicked.” As Glinda the good witch, Grande slides across the floor, dances on a banister and swings from a chandelier — all while singing live in a seven-minute theatrical extravaganza. In a wide-ranging conversation, director Jon M. Chu, cinematographer Alice Brooks, choreographer Christopher Scott, costume designer Paul Tazewell and more break down what it took to make the screen magic happen.

You may have seen the desert monument known as Salvation Mountain when driving toward the Salton Sea. The painted monument is topped with a cross and declares “God Is Good” in giant red-and-pink letters. Created by Korean War veteran Leonard Knight, who died in 2014, Salvation Mountain has become a well-known piece of outsider art. It also has suffered damage due to the magnitude of recent rain storms. Times contributor Chris Iovenko spoke to supporters gathering to repair the landmark.

Frieze Los Angeles, 2023.

(WHY Architecture)

Details about Frieze Los Angeles 2025 were announced last week. The sixth edition of the popular art fair will take place Feb. 20-23 at Santa Monica Airport in a structure designed by Kulapat Yantrasast’s architectural studio WHY. The event is set to feature more than 100 galleries from 20 countries, as well as a program called Focus that spotlights emerging galleries. For the second time, Made in L.A. 2025 co-curator Essence Harden will serve as curator for Focus. Past Focus participants now featured in the main galleries include Matthew Brown, Sebastian Gladstone, Charlie James and Nazarian / Curcio. As usual, a variety of site-specific works will be on view throughout the airport campus, including in its community park. Access to these works will be free to the public.

The memorial tribute to Broadway star Gavin Creel, who died in September at age 38, takes place today, Dec. 2, at Broadway’s St. James Theater, where Creel starred in “Into the Woods.” The proceedings will be livestreamed via MCC Theater’s YouTube channel at 1 p.m. PST to audiences in the U.S. The Society of London Theatre will use its channel for British viewers. On Tuesday, Broadway’s marquees will be dimmed at 6:45 p.m. EST in Creel’s honor.

And last but not least

They’re old, but I just revisited them, and I can’t get enough of “SNL’s” Big Dumb Hat and Big Dumb Cup skits.