Gordon Davidson and Taper Celebrate 20 Years Together; East/West Workshop Opens; ‘Stepping Forward’ Closing

How do you celebrate 20 years of doing business at the same address? For the Mark Taper Forum and Gordon Davidson, its artistic director since it opened in 1967, you do more of the same, better. At least you try.

After a glance at the lineup for the 1986-87 season--three new plays and two West Coast premieres--no one could accuse Davidson of not trying. New are Maxine Hong Kingston’s “The Woman Warrior” (the Tom Cole/Joyce Chopra adaptation postponed from last year); Lanford Wilson’s “Burn This,” and Jean Claude Van Itallie’s “The Traveler,” inspired by actor/director Joseph Chaikin’s recovery from a stroke.

The West Coast premieres are Israeli playwright Joshua Sobol’s “Ghetto,” currently being performed at the Chicago International Theatre Festival by an Israeli company--and Mark Harelik’s “The Immigrant: a Hamilton County Album,” presented in association with the Denver Center Theatre Company and announced here last week as the season opener.

“The Immigrant” (Aug. 28-Oct.12) is the story of author Harelik’s grandfather, the first Jew to settle in the village of Hamilton, Tex., at the turn of the century. “Ghetto” (Oct. 30-Dec. 14) “has the potential of being even a controversial play,” Davidson said.

Based on the World War II diary of an inhabitant of the Vilnius ghetto in Lithuania, it is described as “a tribute to the relationship between persecutor and persecuted” and tells how Jacob Gens, ghetto leader, battled the Nazi extermination of the Jews by placing them in jobs necessary to the war effort--even starting a theater to help salvage their will to live.

More unusual is Sobol’s choice of theatrical conventions, which include cabaret, slapstick, vaudeville, even ventriloquism. The Taper production will be the first English-language version of the play, with Sobol present for some of the rehearsals. Davidson directs.

Wilson’s “Burn This” (Jan. 22-Feb. 15) is “a hard one to describe,” Davidson said. “It’s about finding love in a society that doesn’t place real value on that; about mending and healing, really.” John Lee Beatty (who did those gorgeous sets for the Ahmanson’s “Picnic”) will design it and John Malkovich may play one of four characters.

Above all, “Burn This” reunites Wilson and his longtime director, Marshall W. Mason (of New York’s Circle Rep) with the Taper (which staged Wilson’s “Talley’s Folly,” “Fifth of July” and “A Tale Told”).

“They approached me, “ Davidson said. “They wanted to do it here first. I like that because it’s in keeping with our desire, in this 20th season, to bring together people who’ve worked with us in the past.” “Burn This” travels to Circle Rep following its Taper run.

In Davidson’s view, the Chaikin-inspired “Traveler” (March 5-April 5) may be the season’s most special event. “I’m thrilled about this one,” he said with undisguised pleasure. “It’s so moving, so beautiful, so truthful in its investigation of this particular journey.”

It, too, revives former connections. Chaikin did “Tongues” and “Savage/Love” at Taper, Too and, Davidson pointed out, a Van Itallie one-act was part of an early New Theatre for Now that included Sam Shepard’s “Cowboy I” and “Cowboy II” and a Wilson one-act.

Will Chaikin direct and/or perform in “The Traveler”?

“I asked him if he wanted to. He said no.” No one else has been set.

As for “The Woman Warrior” (April 30-June 14) which Davidson will direct, “It’s come a long way,” he said. “We’re asking for additional funds on this one. It’s a biggie.”

The spring rep at the Doolittle is, at the moment, offered as two-out-of-three but Davidson says he hopes to do all three plays (“One of the growing steps for the rep has to be more plays”). The choices? Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale,” Calderon’s “The Mayor of Zalamea” (translated by Adrian Mitchell) and the Richard Wilbur translation of Racine’s “Phaedra.”

“We’re talking to Jane Alexander about ‘Phaedra,’ and ‘The Mayor of Zalamea’ is a real discovery in the sense that most people don’t know it. It’s a knockout--very contemporary in its treatment of honor and human social behavior.”

What of the much-delayed creation of a true repertory ensemble?

“That’s always been part of the plan. It’s just been hard to execute.”

Schedules for other Taper programs--the Taper Too, Sundays at the Ichey Foot and its youth theater, the Improvisational Theatre Project--are still being put together. There will be no New Theatre for Now this season (“We’re making it a biennial event; it takes that time to mine the field”), but a weeklong 20th anniversary celebration is planned for April with many Taper alumni expected to participate. How do 20 years feel?

“Like a millstone around my neck,” Davidson quipped. “No, I feel good. A lot of other places have celebrated 20 years, but surviving in a cultural complex as we have is, I think, unique. We quietly are doing our work in the world.”

And the cost of doing that work in the coming year?

“About $8 million.” A far cry from the first season’s budget of just under $1 million.

WORKSHOP: East West Players will offer its fifth annual intensive summer workshop July 21 to Aug. 25. Aside from master classes led by guest artists, curriculum includes classes in acting, voice, musical theater, dance/movement and other aspects of the creative process. The workshop, which is partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, will culminate in rehearsal and production of an original musical.

Candidates may enroll full or part-time and must be at least 16 years old. Deadline is June 22. Some scholarships are available. Write East West Workshop, 4424 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA. 90029, or call 213-660-0366.

WIN SOME, LOSE SOME: The Mayfair Theatre’s “Stepping Forward” will be closing Sunday--earlier than expected. Blame the reviews. The musical, based on Santa Barbara writer John Sanford’s “To Feed Their Hopes” (a look at women through the ages) has music by Dennis Poore, lyrics by Elaine Kendall, book by Kendall and Elaine Moe, who directed.

Ironically, Sanford, 81, received the PEN nonfiction award Friday for his autobiography, “The Color of the Air: Scenes From the Life of an American Jew”--his first award in 50 years of writing.