OPERA THEATRE IN TALKS FOR A SEASON AT WILTERN

Negotiations are under way to enable the Los Angeles Opera Theatre to present its 1985-86 season in the Wiltern Theatre, representatives of both Bill Graham Presents and L.A. Opera Theatre said Thursday.

Stan Feig, New York spokesman for the San Francisco-based Graham organization, the official booking agency for the Art-Deco theater at Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue, said negotiations have been proceeding for three months and should be concluded “in the next few weeks.”

He said plans for the reopening of the lime-green landmark theater in May would be announced at the same time; reports have circulated that the Alvin Ailey dance company would be the opening attraction at the 54-year-old former movie palace.

Johanna Dordick, artistic director of the 5-year-old Los Angeles Opera Theater (LAOT), acknowledged that negotiations between her company and the Graham organization are nearing completion.

Dordick said she was interested in the 2,400-seat Wiltern Theatre because it is much larger than the Wilshire Ebell Theatre, where LAOT has produced operas since the spring of 1980.

“With only 1,200 seats, we are bursting the walls at the Ebell,” Dordick said. “One of the advantages of the Wiltern--a beautiful, beautiful theater--is that it has double the number of seats. That could mean that we can make more money from giving two performances there than from three at the Wilshire Ebell.”

Both Dordick and Feig acknowledged that a key negotiating point is the small orchestra pit at the Wiltern, a pit that would have to be enlarged before it can be used for opera.

On another matter, Dordick declined to discuss reports that the coming LAOT season would include productions of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and Berg’s “Lulu.”

Dordick, who was in New York City to hold her annual auditions for new singers, said that she was “planning three productions for next season, and will announce them as soon as these negotiations are concluded. At this point, I have no dates to announce. I have firmed up some of the directors and singers, based on the completion of the negotiations with the theater.”