BENEFITS : Soberfest Takes All Kinds

To describe Soberfest as “diverse” is an understatement. The event, to be offered Saturday at the Irvine Bowl in Laguna Beach, will offer a performance by Dance Kaleidoscope of Orange County along with comedy, folk music, Latin jazz, a staged reading, gospel and country.

It’s a talent-show format whose eclectic array of performers was chosen from videotaped auditions. “It’s quite a wide variety of talent,” said Lynn Bosworth, chairwoman of the event’s audition committee. “It should be a really interesting show.”

Soberfest is a fund-raiser for the Laguna Beach Canyon Club, a nonprofit group that provides meeting space and activities for 12-step alcohol recovery programs.

The club has operated from its location on Laguna Canyon Road since 1961.

“It’s been a safe place for a lot of people,” Bosworth said. Now, however, the group is raising money to build a new facility on land bequeathed to the club in 1982. “We just need a bigger space, one that will allow us to have more activities,” Bosworth said.

Soberfest has been a year in the planning, and may become an annual event. Entertainers include comic Kat Simmons, who will serve as emcee, folk music duo Becky Black and Mimi G., comic-musical group the Zinkettes, and Shades of Jade, a Latin jazz and salsa band.

Other entertainers on the bill include comic John McDonnell, author Claudia Black and a variety of musical acts, including Carle Andersen and Tara Drennen, Deannie Wood, Lindsey Carter, Graffiti, Kim Long and John Michael Malley, Laurice Borgen, Benjamin, C.J. Littlepage, and Mike Broadway.

What: Soberfest, a benefit talent showcase.

When: Saturday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m.

Where: Irvine Bowl, Laguna Beach.

Whereabouts: From the San Diego (I-405) Freeway, take Laguna Canyon Road south. The Irvine Bowl, home of the Laguna Pageant of the Masters, will be on the right just before entering Laguna Beach proper.

Wherewithal: $10 (limited special seating will be sold for $25 to $100).

Where to Call: (714) 497-3566.