In the latest move in an almost...

In the latest move in an almost nine-year-old Freedom of Information Act case, a U.S. district judge on Tuesday ordered the federal government to provide by Sept. 11 a description of top-secret files the FBI kept on the late John Lennon during the early ‘70s. Along with asking the government for an affidavit detailing what it has on the former Beatle, the judge asked for more reasons why the files should be withheld. Jon Wiener, an American history professor at UC Irvine, requested the files on Lennon in 1983, but since then, the case has gone up and down the federal judicial system. The government consistently has contended that to release such information would compromise national security. Wiener wants Lennon files the FBI collected in 1971-72, specifically those regarding Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign.

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Despite a gloomy economy, the Laguna Playhouse has signed up a record number of subscribers for the 1992-93 season, which begins Sept. 15 with William Inge’s “Bus Stop.” Playhouse executive director Richard Stein said the county’s oldest and second-largest theater company has 8,646 season-ticket holders for its 73rd season, up from last year’s record of 8,502.

The Playhouse also ended the 1991-92 fiscal year in the black by about $4,000 on a total budget of $1.1 million, he said, because of cost-cutting, higher single-ticket sales than projected and contributed income of $185,254 (some $25,000 more than anticipated).

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South Coast Repertory is looking to replace Allan Cubitt’s “The Pool of Bethesda,” previously announced for the second slot (Nov. 3 to Dec. 6) on the SCR Second Stage, with a smaller show that is less expensive to mount. “We thought we had the budgetary wherewithal to take on a large-cast, costume-heavy show,” producing artistic director David Emmes said Tuesday. But as the theater refined its projected 1992-93 operating budget of $5.9 million, “We found (‘Bethesda’) took too big a bite.”

Emmes said he hopes to save as much as $100,000 by substituting a play with four or fewer characters and no period costumes (instead of “Bethesda’s” nine characters). The replacement show will be announced next week. SCR has also reversed the order of two other plays on the Second Stage “to make more efficient use of company members,” Emmes said. Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” has been pushed back to the fourth slot (March 9 to April 11) and Frank Moher’s “Odd Jobs” has been moved up to the third slot (Jan. 26 to Feb. 28).

Meanwhile, SCR expects slightly fewer subscribers this season (its 29th) than last, continuing a downward trend of recent years. The county’s largest professional theater company had a total of 20,935 subscribers for the 1991-92 season--16,626 for the Mainstage and 4,309 for the Second Stage. So far, about 15,500 have signed up for the Mainstage and about 4,000 for the Second Stage, SCR general manager Paula Tomei said.