Don't stay cooped up at home this wekend, just because of the early spring showers. Get out and enjoy any one of a number of interesting events going outside of Oberlin.

Catch Al Pacino's tribute to Shakespeare - Looking for Richard plays tonight at Lorain County Community College's Stocker Center. Rather than present a straight cinematic adaptation of Richard III, Pacino's film examines how contemporary audiences and actors deal with scripts that are centuries old. Showing at 8 p.m., $4.00 admission.

Tonight at Firelands High School (not quite out of town, but still), the Great Lakes Theater Festival presents Brother, Can You Spare a Dime: the Social Conscience of the American Musical at 7:30 p.m. The production is entirely free and open to the public, and is 65 minutes in length. For more information, call (216) 241-5490.

Tonight jazz great Ahmad Jamal will tickle the ivories in the Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The performance begins at 8:00 p.m.; admission ranges from $18.00-$26.00. For tickets or information call (440) 231-1111.

This weekend at the Cleveland Cinematheque, catch Jaques Tati's Mon Oncle tonight at 7:30 p.m., followed by the a new Australian film Rats in the Ranks, directed by Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson at 9:40 p.m. On Saturday, catch Abbas Kiarostami's acclaimed Where is the Friend's Home? at 7:30 p.m., followed by And Life Goes On... by the same director. On Sunday, Kiarostami himself will be on hand to speak about and introduce his new film, Taste of Cherry, which shared the Grand Prize at last year's Cannes Film Festival. The film shows at 7:00 p.m. Admission for all films is $6.00. Call (440) 421-7450 for more information.

You gotta love Gershwin. Gershwin the Greatest! It's an evening of all Gershwin tunes, taking place tomorrow at 8 p.m. at Canton's Palace Theater. Performed by the Canton Symphony Orchestra with soprano Denise Sheffey Powell and conducted by John V. Russo, the performance highlights the best of the American performer's timeless tunes. Tickets are $13, $17 and $21. For more information, call (330) 452-2094.

Get your hands on an original. Uncommon Objects, the gallery store for the Firelands Association for the Visual Arts and the Allen Memorial Museum, presents a trunk show of the work of Don Rabineau. The show opens Saturday, February 21 at the New Union Center for the Arts in downtown Oberlin.

Before it hits Broadway, the acclaimed musical Dreamgirls will run in Cleveland, at the Palace Theater. Performances are Tuesday through Sunday at 7:30 p.m., with 2:30 matinees on Saturday and Sunday. For information or reservations, call (440) 241-6000.

The Cleveland Chamber Symphony presents�String Quartet for Open Strings�by founding father Benjamin Franklin, performed by the Cleveland School of the Arts String Quartet. The event takes place Monday, Feb. 23 ad Tuesday Feb. 24 at 8 p.m. and 12:05 p.m. respectively. For more information, call (216) 687-5017.

The final installment in a series celebrating the work of Paul Robeson takes place on Wednesday, Feb. 25. The Wexner Center for the Arts presents Big Fella and Jericho. The films begin at 7:00 p.m., admission $4.00. Call (614) 292-3535 for more information.

Arts...Out of Town is compiled weekly by Rumaan Alam. If you know of any pressworthy events to add in next week's Out of Town, give a call at x8123. You'll get brownie points.