DOROTHY LYMAN LEARNS A PRODUCER’S LESSON

Being a producer, Dorothy Lyman is finding out, isn’t exactly a glamour job.

“Most of the time,” she said cheerfully, “I’m on my knees scrubbing floors, sweeping. And now that we’re about to open, I’ve got all these other things to worry about: Are the walls the right color? Is the wrapping off the plumbing equipment in the basement?” The Emmy-winning actress laughed. “All this because I wanted to direct a play.”

It’s a bit more than that. On Thursday, she launches A Director’s Theatre at 6760 Lexington Ave. (“ADT at the LEX” for short) with Roma Greth’s “A Quality of Mercy.” “It’s about a family divided by politics,” noted Lyman, whose local directing credits include “Vicious” and “Livin’ on Salvation Street.” Set in the Midwest on Memorial Day, 1972, the story centers on a middle-class family faced with the arrival of their politically radical daughter.

“The playwright believes that the politics of the ‘60s were very pure--and that since then, America’s gone off in the wrong direction,” she continued. “Well, I’m a product of the ‘60s and I agree. You know, when I was growing up in Minneapolis, there was this girl who lived down the street who later became a member of the SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army). I was in majorettes with her--then I saw her grow notorious on the news. The girl in this play is also a part of a group that makes bombs.”

Lyman optioned the play a couple of years ago, worked with the playwright last year, then rehearsed it this past spring. (The theater was slated to open in March but was delayed by a snag with permits.) So, as she said, “it’s been looked at.” Which is a good thing: These days, the director-producer has to divide her interest and time between the show and her actressing duties on TV’s “Mama’s Family.” As she says undramatically, “It’s a little busy right now.”

Upcoming at the LEX: Claude Purdy (who recently staged August Wilson’s acclaimed “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” at the Los Angeles Theatre Center) will direct Raymond St. Jacques in Nancy Fales Garrett’s “Some Sweet Day,” Oct. 15-Nov. 21, followed by Bruce McIntosh’s “After the Merril Wake,” to be directed by Leah Love (one of the five young directors Lyman has taken under her wing), playing Nov. 27-Dec. 23.

Straight from the new and unusual department comes Derek McGrath and Wendy Jewell’s “Armageddon Outta Here,” just-opened at the Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks. “It’s about a dentist named Jimmy Dagwood who gets an invitation from Doug to meet him at ‘Du-pah’s,’ ” explained McGrath, a former Second City member and busy TV actor (a psychotic Othello on “Cheers,” the drooling Mr. Valentine on “Dallas”).

“Now Jim doesn’t know anybody named Doug, doesn’t want to know anyone named Doug; he doesn’t even like the name Doug. But anyway, he goes and meets Doug, who tells Jim he’s the Boss of the Universe. He says he’s been sending poets and philosophers down to Earth for thousands of years, and nothing’s working--so he might as well destroy the world. But he wants to be a fair guy about it, so he gives Jim (played by McGrath) until midnight to come up with three reasons why the world should continue.”

The play, which features eight actors, 80 characters, 26 scenes and seven original songs, “is not as flippant as Second City,” McGrath warned. “But there are some similarities: different ideas, characters, concepts--all laced together to make a play. And there is a story line: the rebirth of Jim, the rebirth of man. But yes, it’s a comedy. In one scene, the animals on the Ark mutiny and hold a trial for Captain Noahab. And later we do a takeoff on ‘Star Trek’ where we beam up Jesus.”

Whoa! Are we geting into sacrilegious territory here? “Oh, no,” McGrath said. “He’s still a heroic character. The tone is totally pro-metaphysical and pro-God.”

LATE CUE: The Powerhouse begins its Sunday Brunch Theatre season today with the premiere of Paula Atwell’s satirical comedy “Obsessions.” The show begins at noon, preceded by a courtyard brunch (catered by Pioneer Boulangerie). Tickets are $6 for the play alone, $10 for theater and eats. Information: (213) 392-6529.

CRITICAL CROSSFIRE: The biggest show in town is Peter Brook’s nine-hour staging of “The Mahabharata,” (playing, as part of the Los Angeles Festival, through Oct. 3 at the Raleigh Studios).

Said The Times’ Dan Sullivan: “There’s a lot to take in, but (director Peter) Brook and (writer Jean-Claude) Carriere have made every effort to make this easy for the viewer. The language of the piece couldn’t be more down to earth and Brook’s actors play it with a simplicity that escapes being austere. Still, it’s good to have the terms of the story in advance.”

From T. H. McCulloh in Drama-Logue: “The magical tale unfolds under (the players’) watchful eyes in tempos at times as measured as the flow of the Ganges itself, at times as intricate and full of energy and excitement as the friezes of Angkor Wat. Carriere and Brook have thankfully deleted the begats, prayers and homages from what is at base a philosophy text without carving away the guts, the flesh and the soul.”

In Daily Variety, Tim Gray found that “with its theme and running time, the play was clearly aimed at something beyond ‘merely’ a theatrical experience, intended as a gesture towards spiritual enlightenment. But the huge chasms have not completely been bridged between Lesson and Drama, poetic text and theater or between East and West. Production’s rhythms and theatricality are decidedly Eastern, which accounts for both its fascination and its problems.”

And from Louis Chunovic in the Hollywood Reporter: “ ‘The Mahabharata’s’ three parts--’The Game of Dice,’ ‘Exile in the Forest’ and ‘The War’--are replete with gods, demigods, demons, talking animals, magical powers, oaths and curses, ultimate weapons and great battles. And, of course, no great myth would be complete without both the Force and its Dark Side. All of this is staged with unparalleled elegance.”