The theater is filling up. The excitement is palpable. The audience is mostly grade schoolers or younger. Lots of the kids are dressed in their party going best. They can barely contain themselves waiting for the curtain to go up on “Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells.” “Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells” is the kickoff show for B Street Theatre’s Family Series seventh season. The play is based on Barbara Park’s very popular Junie B. Jones children’s book series. Veteran children's playwright Allison Gregory adapted the book for the stage. B Street Family Series also produced Gregory’s adaptation of “Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business” in 2007, as well as

 Dominic Cooke was a normal college student athlete until a car crash his senior year paralyzed him. It doesn’t stop him however, from hand cycling in a triathlon. Cooke, 30, was injured when he was 22 years old. His athletic ability and passion for helping other hurt athletes is what made him start “Team TFO” this year for the 37th annual Eppie’s Great Race. TFO — which stands for Try for Others — is a nonprofit organization Cooke created in 2005 to aid injured athletes. “I played rugby before here in Sacramento at Jesuit High School and then at UC Berkeley,” Cooke said. “I was getting a lot of phone calls from injured rugby players. We help them with their immediate medical needs.”

Downtown's Crest Theater will screen A Christmas Story, the retro comedy classic based on Jean Shepherd's novel, in the third annual Christmas Story at the Crest event Saturday, December 19.  Beginning at noon, guests will enjoy several tables of home-baked sweets and hot chocolate in the lobby of the gorgeous art deco theater, while awaiting their turn to meet a real-bearded Santa, available to take gift requests and photos with hopeful children and adults.  The film begins at 1 p.m.  Ten dollar tickets will benefit Jesuit High School. For the uniquely uninitiated, A Christmas Story is the campy cult classic about 1940's school kid, Ralphie Parker, who wants nothing more than for Santa t

Based on last night's rehearsal, tonight's Tribute to Freedom concert will transport listeners back to a time when Eastern Europe first tasted freedom from the oppression of the Berlin Wall. Tickets ranging from $15 and up are still available on ticketweb.com. Conductor Pete Nowlen and Choir Master Ryan Murray have been rehearsing for several weeks with the orchestra, chorus and solists of the Academy at All Hallows in combination with the Chamber Choir of Jesuit High School and the choruses of St. Francis, John Paul II and Adventist Academy. For more details, see the program posted on the Cathedral's website, www.cathedralsacramento.org. Photos feature members of the brass section of the