‘M. Butterfly’ Flits Into Town Next Summer

“M. Butterfly,” the Tony-winning play by the Los Angeles-raised David Henry Hwang, will finally play Los Angeles in the summer of 1991, at the tail end of a national tour.

The tentative dates for an engagement at the Wilshire Theatre in Beverly Hills are July 2-Aug. 4 of next year, said co-producer Stuart Ostrow, but those dates could be extended.

No casting has been set yet. Ostrow will direct, re-producing the original staging of the late John Dexter. A San Diego run “will probably be included in the equation,” said Ostrow, but no dates have been determined for San Diego.

The smaller Doolittle Theatre had been considered for the show, according to Ostrow. But “the Ahmanson people (who operate the Doolittle) couldn’t possibly match the guarantee the Nederlanders (who operate the Wilshire) offered.” He added that he plans to close off the top part of the balcony of the 1910-seat Wilshire “to make it more intimate.”

“M. Butterfly” is about a French diplomat’s affair with a Chinese opera performer. It opened on Broadway in March, 1988.

BEACH BLANKET MUMS: The Mums, the jugglers/mimes/comics whose popular show “The Nannies” was a hit at Stages in 1983, will entertain the beach crowd at the western end of the Santa Monica Pier on weekends in August. They won the city of Santa Monica’s second annual $15,000 grant for that purpose.

Nathan Stein, the Mum who’s creating their new show, used the working title “Nannies for the 90s” in his grant application, but said the title may change.

The Pacific Theatre Ensemble presented “The Merry Wives of Windsor” with last year’s grant. The ensemble’s company manager, Jim Schultz, expressed disappointment that the group didn’t win a return engagement.

But the ensemble can console itself with the prospect of a trip to Moscow next year. If another $10,000 can be raised, members of the group will fly there as part of an exchange with Moscow’s Theatre on Spartacus Square.

The first half of that exchange, the Soviet theater’s trip to Los Angeles, will occur this summer at the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills. The university and the city of Carson are co-sponsoring a visit by the Soviet troupe including six performances of Ludmila Rasumovskaya’s modern Soviet drama, “Dear Yelena Sergievna,” with an English translation available through headphones.

Meanwhile, the Pacific company is preparing a play about Russian immigrants to Los Angeles, “Aliens,” as the production the group hopes to take to Moscow next year. A workshop staging of Steven Morris’ play will be held at the group’s Venice studio May 10-20, followed by additional workshop performances in Dominguez Hills while the Soviet group is there. “Aliens” also was seen in the Mark Taper Forum’s 1988 New Works Festival.

PERIOD OF ADJUSTMENT: East West Players has replaced Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” with William Inge’s “Come Back, Little Sheba” as the final production of its season, June 6-July 15, after being denied the rights to do “Menagerie.”

East West isn’t alone. A recent request to do “Menagerie” in a student production at El Camino College also was denied. And George Cybulski, the designer of a March production of the play at East Los Angeles College, said “repeated requests” for the rights never drew a response, so the producers simply sent a check for the rights based on standard rates.

“The trustees (of the estate) are being very cautious, very conservative at this point,” said Howard Rosenstone, a New York attorney who represents the estate. He said he didn’t know why rights for small-theater or student productions in Los Angeles would be denied, but he speculated that the possibility of touring the Broadway production of Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” might be a reason.

A spokesman for that production said “there has been talk” about doing a tour in the fall, and “we’ll know in a month or so.” But he said he hadn’t heard of rights to “Menagerie” being denied as a result of such talk.

Rosenstone said such denials of rights “are not extraordinary.”

LATC SUMMER CAMP: Los Angeles Theatre Center is opening a professional training program for young people ages 12 to 18.

The Young Conservatory will begin its first five-week session June 25. A maximum of 60 students will train for five hours each day in a variety of performance styles.

Maureen O’Toole, director of theater at the Marlborough School in Los Angeles, will direct the program. Classes will be taught by actor/choreographer Victor Chew, actor/director Bill Duke, actresses Salome Jens and Gates McFadden, Kabuki expert Leonard Pronko, and others. Tuition is $500; a limited number of scholarships are available. Information: (213) 627-6500.

ESTHER TESTER: Stage Watch’s continuing search for a phrase that would replace the dated term “Equity Waiver” has yielded this suggestion from Joyce Crawford, publicist of the Odyssey Theatre:

ESTHER, which stands for Equity-Supported Theatre.

“ ‘We’re an ESTHER Theater’ is much easier to say than ‘We’re a 99-Seat-Theater-Plan theater,” wrote Crawford. (It also would be less misleading, as many of the theaters on the 99-Seat plan have fewer than 99 seats). She also proposed “special awards given to ESTHER theaters--the award being, of course, a specially designed statue called an ‘Esther.’ ”

PAY WHAT YOU CAN: You may choose your own ticket price for remaining seats at today’s matinee performance of “The Cocktail Hour” at the Doolittle Theatre. A limit of two tickets per customer is in effect, and only cash will be accepted.

EXPRESS LANE: First Stage presents its fourth Playwrights’ Express Saturday and Sunday, noon to 10 p.m. each day, at Hollywood United Methodist Church, 6817 Franklin Ave. It’s a series of readings of material with 15-minute time limits, performed by professional actors, open to the public. Information: (213) 850-6271.