DAVIDSON AT CAREER CROSSROADS

Yet another report came out last week (this happens every few months) that Gordon Davidson, artistic director of the Center Theatre Group-Mark Taper Forum, was being considered (along with Mike Nichols, Gregory Mosher and others) to become the new “artistic manager” of Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre.

“There’s no story other than anything I’ve ever said before,” Davidson insisted Tuesday, reiterating that, yes, he’d had “a conversation” with John V. Lindsay, chairman of the Beaumont’s board, but there had been no offer.

“If they made a serious offer, I would have to take it seriously,” he elaborated. “I’m not looking for another job: I’m concerned about growth and challenges. And the Beaumont’s an important place.”

Over a checkered 20 years (most of them dark), it has also been a troubled and embattled place that many have unsuccessfully tried (among them Joe Papp and the late Jules Irving) to make into a working theater. Forget important.

“If I were to be approached, I would make a proposal back to them about an idea for a theater,” Davidson volunteered. “If it were to be realizable--is that a word?--it might become interesting. I have certain goals and passions I need to accomplish and, if I had my druthers, I’d rather do it here.

“I know that (Lindsay’s) doing a lot of careful investigating. He may overload himself with information, but he’s doing the right thing. Lincoln Center tried to get him to make a big statement about goals, but ultimately an artistic director will have to do that. (The Beaumont) has a history of failure for which there were lots of reasons--some conceptual, some due to lack of vision and some to lack of faith. It’s part of the New York scene and the role the theater plays in it and in the country as a whole.”

That role, Davidson feels, is that of stepchild to the performing arts, not given the same consideration as opera, music or dance--perhaps because there is a commercial aspect to theater that can and does make money.

On the personal level, he feels a bit taken for granted in Los Angeles and at a crossroads--anxious to move ahead with establishing a first-class repertory ensemble (his top priority), yet held back by costs and circumstances. He concedes that whoever hands him the key to licking this challenge has a good chance of getting him, while fundamentally he hopes it will be the Center Theatre Group:

“I have given 20 years of my life here to an institution in the form of theater--putting on plays, developing an audience, asking questions about who and what we are, creating a dialogue wrapped in an art form within a structure. I hope it’s a resource and an energy that creates something. It’s not about hits or success measured in those terms.

“I’m moving into another phase of the work. Deepening. That’s why I ran a workshop with Jose Quintero and ethnic actors, why I have JoAnne Akalaitis (of Mabou Mines) developing a project. I see these things as steppingstones.”

Since Davidson returned from his sabbatical last July, the Taper has been stoked with some of its former fire, offering such diversely provocative plays as “In the Belly of the Beast” (now in Australia) and the intriguing “Passion Play.”

Davidson also co-produced the theater portion of the exhilarating Olympic Arts Festival last summer and directed three plays in the Taper’s main season: Arthur Miller’s “The American Clock,” Mark Medoff’s “The Hands of Its Enemy” (extended at the Hartford through Sunday) and Marsha Norman’s “Traveler in the Dark,” now in previews and opening next Thursday. In February he travels to Norfolk, Va., to stage a new Thea Musgrave opera about Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad for the Virginia Opera Assn.

“It’s important to know that we’re not talking here about itchiness or restlessness,” he emphasized. “I know we haven’t developed an ensemble yet. I know that, whatever I have to do, I have to do it better. I’ll take the blame. But it’s all part of the vision.

“One thing feeds the other. We need to dig our teeth into the repertory to get to the new work.”

What remains then is the question: Here? New York? Or--where?

THE ENGINEER DID IT: We’ve had plays whose action and audiences move from room to room (“Tamara,” Maria Irene Fornes’ “Fefu and Her Friends”), and now it seems we have plays on moving trains. Think I’m kidding?

Richard Doherr, director of Laguna Beach’s Pickwick Productions (they mainly do Christmas parties that steep you in 19th-Century London), has devised a new wrinkle for his company: the California Mystery Train.

You guessed it: It’s a play on Amtrak--one of the regularly scheduled trains, to avoid collisions and other unpleasantness.

“We’ve been in business a year and a half and have traveled to Santa Barbara, San Juan Capistrano and San Francisco,” Doherr said. “Part of the mystery takes place on the train and sometimes it happens when you arrive. Sometimes, when you get there, you’re kidnaped.”

The main reason Doherr called Tuesday was to say that Jan. 26 he’s launching “our first day-tripper.”

“It starts in L.A. and is completed in San Diego,” he explained. “The scenario’s done in advance, but the show’s not scripted. Everyone’s assigned to a team.”

And to a character: You’ll be asked to arrive as a villain, or famous detective, or suspicious character, or someone from radio, TV, a novel or comic book. You’ll also be required to dress the part--supplying the wardrobe.

It’s all fun but the ticket price: $88 per person. This includes the round-trip fare from Union Station, champagne brunch and your place in the mystery. For really high rollers, Doherr has two-day trips ($425) and three-day trips ($525).

Call 714-494-6800. All aboard.