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New Plays, New Money to Spark CTG/Ahmanson

Plays by Edward Albee, August Wilson, Alan Ayckbourn and Neil Simon will make up Center Theatre Group/ Ahmanson’s first full season in the organization’s temporary home at the Doolittle Theatre.

And CTG/Ahmanson has received an infusion of money from the Ahmanson Foundation--$1.5 million as a working capital reserve fund and $100,000 for a study of the potential physical reconfiguration of the Ahmanson Theatre.

For the record:

12:00 a.m. May 26, 1989 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Friday May 26, 1989 Home Edition Calendar Part 6 Page 23 Column 4 Entertainment Desk 1 inches; 21 words Type of Material: Correction
The name of Mary D’Arcy, who plays the role of Christine in “The Phantom of the Opera” at selected performances, was misspelled in Stage Watch Thursday.

The announcements of the 1989-90 season and the “unprecedented and unique grant” were made this week by the organization’s new producing director, Gordon Davidson.

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He also announced a “pre-season bonus option” for Ahmanson subscribers: Derek Jacobi as Lord Byron in the American premiere of Jane McCulloch’s two-actor show, “Byron--Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know.” Isla Blair will play all the women’s roles. Subscribers can buy discounted tickets to “Byron,” scheduled for Aug. 23-Sept. 17.

The season itself will open Oct. 5 with a revival of Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” directed by the playwright and starring Glenda Jackson and John Lithgow. It will play through Dec. 17.

“Our hope and expectation is that we will then do it in London,” said Davidson. “I want to create an exchange between here and there.” Next season Davidson’s other theater, the Mark Taper Forum, will present the American premieres of three plays previously staged in London.

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Next up at the Doolittle is Yale Repertory Theatre’s production of Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson,” Jan. 18-April 1. The play “will be re-rehearsed and re-worked” by Wilson and director Lloyd Richards, said Davidson. “They want to do it one more time before they take it to New York.” The current version of “The Piano Lesson” is at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, closing Sunday.

Davidson announced “The Piano Lesson” as part of the Mark Taper Forum season two years ago, but then pulled it from the schedule at the request of its producers. It had been conceived for a proscenium stage and “they didn’t want to re-stage it for (the Taper’s) thrust stage,” said Davidson. The Doolittle has a proscenium stage.

Davidson will direct the season’s third offering, Ayckbourn’s “Henceforward . . .,” scheduled for April 19-July 1. A comedy set in a high-tech future, “Henceforward . . . “ was initially staged at Houston’s Alley Theatre before becoming a hit in London. This will be the play’s return to the United States.

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The touring company of Simon’s latest Broadway hit, “Rumors,” will appear at the Doolittle July 12-Sept. 23, 1990, Gene Saks directing. The farce was first presented last fall at the Old Globe. Five earlier Simon plays had their premieres at the Ahmanson, and Davidson said he hopes Simon will resume that tradition at the Doolittle and/or the Ahmanson.

Simon will be the only local playwright represented in either the Ahmanson/Doolittle or the Taper mainstage seasons this year. Asked about this, Davidson replied, “Give me a break.” Then, assuming a more serious tone, he continued: “Now that I’ve got two seasons set, we can deal with (play) development. I’ll be on the lookout in the Taper Lab for new work that could be done at the Doolittle as well as at the Taper.”

As previously announced, “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway,” a dance musical opening in November at the Shubert Theatre, will also be offered as part of the Ahmanson season. Selected seats will be reserved for Ahmanson subscribers during eight of the first 12 weeks of the run--and for former Shubert subscribers during the other four weeks. A Shubert spokesman said the order of which weeks will be assigned to which subscription list has yet to be determined. But for Ahmanson subscribers, an attempt will be made to match the location of their seats at the Shubert with their seats at the Doolittle.

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Does the expansion of Davidson’s realm to the Shubert mean that his title is now: artistic director-producer of Center Theatre Group/ Mark Taper Forum and producing director of the Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre at the UCLA James A. Doolittle Theatre and the Shubert Theatre?

Just asking . . .

The Ahmanson Theatre itself hasn’t been forgotten. Davidson said he hopes the $100,000 from the Ahmanson Foundation for “exploratory work” on the potential Ahmanson remodeling will result in specific proposals within the next six to nine months--with the goal that “on the day ‘The Phantom (of the Opera)’ closes, we’ll be able to move in there (and begin reconfiguring).”

Asked whether the new season would have worked at the Ahmanson, Davidson replied that “the Ahmanson would probably be too large for all the shows in this season. Each is eminently suited for the (1,021-seat) Doolittle; they may or may not have worked at the (2,071-seat) Ahmanson.”

The $1.5-million reserve fund from the Ahmanson Foundation “lifts a tremendous weight off our shoulders,” said Davidson. “No more will we have the feeling of ‘one false move, and we’re dead.’ ”

Meanwhile, Ahmanson subscribers will actually be able to see something at the Ahmanson next season, too--”The Phantom of the Opera.” Next year’s subscribers will be offered a chance to buy four “prime location seats” to “The Phantom”--in addition to the “Phantom” tickets that were part of the Ahmanson package this season. Dates for the new set of tickets will be after Nov. 26--the last date for which tickets are currently being sold.

Speaking of “The Phantom,” alternate Marcy D’Arcy will play Christine at the next two Saturday matinees and then regularly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Dale Kristien plays the role at all other performances.

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AWARDS: Jerri White and Lester Barrie won first place in the Inner City Cultural Center’s annual Ira Aldridge Acting Competition.

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