BENEFIT: The Eighth Annual Cabaret to Fight AIDS features the Company members of the San Francisco production of Wicked, including Kendra Kassebaum, Natalie Daradich, and Angel Reda. The cast will perform favorites from Broadway and off-Broadway musicals, pop songs, standards, and country tunes. Sean Ray directs, and Donna Sachet will host.

8 p.m. // The Rrazz Room, Hotel Nikko (222 Mason St) // $50

SEMINAR: The Long Now Foundation presents tonight's seminar on long-term thinking by Paul Romer, who is best known as the lead developer of New Growth Theory and was named one of America’s 25 most influential people by Time magazine for his work on the economics of ideas. Romer will discuss his latest focus on mechanisms that can speed up the discovery and implementation of new rules -- ideas about how people interact.

7 p.m. // Cowell Theatre (Fort Mason Center) // $10

LIT: City Arts & Lectures presents political satirist, humor writer, and novelist Christopher Buckley in Conversation with Calvin Trillin, a keen observer of contemporary life, whose subjects include food, travel, politics, and family.

8 p.m. // Herbst Theatre (401 Van Ness Ave) // $20