Taper Turns to Old Pros: Aeschylus, Chekhov, Valdez

The next Mark Taper Forum season is beginning to take shape, with subscribers expected to receive renewal brochures any day now. Taper officials won’t disclose--let alone discuss--their programming prior to their official announcements. But look for the following productions to be ballyhooed in the brochure:

* “The Persians,” by Aeschylus, directed by Los Angeles Festival director Peter Sellars. Timed to coincide with the fall festival, which will focus on Middle Eastern and African themes, “The Persians” dates from 472 B.C.

* A play from the Taper’s New Work Festival, still to be selected.

* “The Wood Demon,” an early (1889) version of Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya.” This production was developed by the Antaeus Company, a group of classical actors loosely affiliated with the Taper, and probably will be directed by Taper literary manager Frank Dwyer, who co-adapted the script with Nicholas Saunders.

* Luis Valdez’s “Bandido! The American Melodrama of Tiburcio Vasquez, Notorious California Bandit,” described by Valdez as “a dramatization of the events and motives leading up to the last legal public hanging in California in 1875.” Valdez’s El Teatro Campesino planned to premiere “Bandido” last year in San Francisco, but it was postponed in fallout from the controversy that erupted over the casting of Valdez’s movie about Frida Kahlo. The AT&T; Foundation, which gave a $75,000 grant to El Teatro to do the play in San Francisco, was still awaiting the required paperwork at midweek and hadn’t approved the switch to L.A. But no obstacles were anticipated. In the meantime, the play received a workshop production at the Taper’s New Work Festival on March 13 and 14.

* “The Heavenly Theatre,” by “Angels in America” playwright Tony Kushner and composer Mel Marvin (whose “Babbitt: a marriage” played the Taper in 1987). The Taper received a $125,000 grant to produce “Heavenly Theatre” in 1991 from the W. Alton Jones Foundation. At the time, Kushner said it was “unbelievably brief, only 86 pages” (as compared with the two-part “Angels” epic) and was set in 1580 during a peasant revolt in France. It’s his first play, dating back to 1984.

Subscribers will receive the latter four plays as part of their package, perhaps done in the order listed above, though in previous seasons the sequence--and the selections themselves--have been known to change. “The Persians” is planned as a bonus option, as “Angels in America” was in 1992-93.

“TAMARA” FLAP: The producer of the long-running “Tamara” and the show’s landlord, the American Legion Hollywood Post 43, are tussling in papers filed in Superior Court. But the parties will meet Monday out of court and both expect an amicable settlement.

The roots of the fuss go back to last summer, when producer Barrie Wexler altered the show’s schedule after business waned following the L.A. riots. Instead of eight performances on six days every week, he reduced the schedule to as few as six performances, four days a week. Wexler said he also negotiated cost-cutting agreements with the Legion, Actors’ Equity and the show’s creators.

According to Wexler, the basic rent of $3,300 a week was to drop by $550 for each scrapped performance. Wexler contends that agreement was reached last fall but should be retroactive to July 1; he’s claiming a rental credit of $17,500 for those initial months. But the Legion’s Jim Welch contends that a formal agreement still hasn’t been reached and that Wexler owes more than $26,000 for the period since last fall. Also at issue is the formula by which the two parties divvy up utilities costs.

shakespearesomething: “Tamara” will soon be joined by another play in which the audience walks from set to set. But these sets won’t be in an American Legion hall. They’ll be on a CBS backlot in Studio City, and they’ll include structures used in exterior shots on such TV series as “The Mary Tyler Moore show,” “thirtysomething” and “Falcon Crest.”

The play? “Romeo and Juliet,” of course--the fifth “R & J” to be scheduled in the area this year. It’ll be set in contemporary Beverly Hills and feature a Jewish Montague family and some anti-Semitic Capulets; Tybalt will deface a synagogue in the first scene. The audience will move indoors to the “Seinfeld” soundstage (minus any sign of Jerry and the gang) for arena-style seating in the second half. Michael Arabian will play Romeo and direct. A letter of agreement has been signed with Actors’ Equity, moving the production up the scale from the 99-seat level, though the exact capacity isn’t yet known. Previews start May 9; the opening is May 23.

PLAYWRIGHTS’ GRANTS: Among 13 National Endowment for the Arts playwrights’ grants announced last week were $22,000 for L.A.’s Han Ong and $17,000 for Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner.