Durang to Open LATC Season

The Los Angeles premieres of plays by Christopher Durang and Marlane Meyer and a production of “Death of a Salesman” starring Philip Baker Hall are the highlights of the fall-winter season at Los Angeles Theatre Center, announced Friday.

The season opens with Durang’s “The Marriage of Bette and Boo,” Aug. 12-Sept. 17. Dennis Erdman, who recently staged “Loot” and “How the Other Half Loves” at the Tiffany and “Making Noise Quietly” at the Taper Too, will direct.

Mayer’s “The Geography of Luck” is slated for Aug. 26-Oct. 15, after the production of this Las Vegas tale at South Coast Repertory (May 16-June 4). Mayer’s “Etta Jenks” and “Kingfish” were seen at the center last year. Davis Schweizer, who staged “Kingfish,” directs.

Steven Kent, founder of the defunct but once-renowned Company Theatre, will direct Jo Carson’s “Daytrips,” a play about a woman who cares for her grandmother and her afflicted mother. This West Coast premiere is scheduled for Sept. 23-Nov. 12.

Theater artistic director Bill Bushnell will stage “Death of a Salesman,” the Arthur Miller classic, Oct. 7-Nov. 26. Three of the actors who were in Bushnell’s staging of Miller’s “All My Sons” at the center in 1986 will re-unite for “Salesman”: Philip Baker Hall (“Secret Honor”), Bill Pullman and Gregory Wagrowski.

The fifth play of the season, Nov. 11-Jan. 7, is still to be announced. A center representative said Friday that the three offerings suggested as possibilities for this slot on a recent mailing to subscribers are no longer under consideration.

Mitchell Ryan and Marian Mercer will appear in Alan Mandell’s staging of Strindberg’s “Dance of Death,” Dec. 16-Feb. 11.

The center also announced an entry in its next spring-summer season. British director Simon Callow, acclaimed for his 1987 staging of “Jacques and His Master” at the center, will direct Eduardo Machado’s “Project X2” in February. Machado’s “A Burning Beach” was presented at the center this year.