ENTERTAINMENT NEWS : CSUN Back in Action : Students overcome the Jan. 17 quake and prepare to show off their films at a festival.

The theme of this year’s Northridge University Film Festival, “Out of the Rubble and Back in Ac tion,” reflects how the Cal State Northridge student film program, like the rest of the San Fernando Valley, was disrupted by the Jan. 17 earthquake.

The film students were especially hard hit because they were denied access to vital equipment because of damage to school buildings.

“It’s a miracle that the students are finishing their films,” said Michael Scott, president of the Action Film and Video Club, a CSUN student film organization that sponsored the festival along with the CSUN Radio Television and Film Department.

CSUN film professor Nate Thomas agreed.

“It’s been a tough semester because of the earthquake,” Thomas said. Cinematography and editing is “a hard class even without the earthquake.”

The festival, which features about 25 student films from CSUN’s beginning and intermediate filmmaking classes, was set for Thursday night at the General Cinema Center at Fallbrook Mall in West Hills.

The semester-ending screenings normally would have been on campus, but the earthquake forced the move to the mall. The screenings are part of the education process, because only a live audience can clearly demonstrate to the filmmakers what did and didn’t work in their films, Thomas said.

Two of those filmmakers are David Burns and Alex Mende. They produced a documentary, “Positively Living,” which focuses on the lives of two young adults who have tested positive for HIV: a 21-year-old mother, whose child has also tested HIV-positive, and a 24-year-old musician who plans on attending Juilliard.

The earthquake indirectly caused Burns and Mende to alter their script. Because of delays in getting access to the school’s film equipment, the original HIV-positive subjects they chose to be the focus of their film backed out. They were forced to quickly find new subjects.

Meeting their film subjects was a powerful experience for Burns. “Before making the film, I never had known anyone who had HIV. I was very impressed by their strength,” he said.

For more information about the CSUN film program, the Action Film and Video Club has a hot line number, (818) 773-3230.

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THE HILLS ARE ALIVE: The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum unveils its 1994 Summer Repertory Season of classics next week with a weekend of Shakespeare.

“A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream” will be presented at 3 p.m. June 11, followed by “Macbeth” at 3 p.m. June 12. Other plays featured in the Theatricum’s 12th summer season are Moliere’s “Educated Women” and Tennessee Williams’ modern classic “The Glass Menagerie.”

The venue was founded by the late actor Will Geer, probably best remembered as Grandpa on television’s “The Waltons.” Geer’s daughter, Ellen Geer, is the outdoor amphitheater’s artistic director.

“We try to make our productions accessible,” Geer said. “Classics are not for museums.”

She tries to pick pieces that have thematic relevance for today. For example, “Macbeth” fits well with today’s world because it “is a violent piece about people without conscience,” she said.

“A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream,” geared for families and young audiences, will have six Saturday afternoon performances.

“Educated Women,” featuring a new translation by Philip Littell, will open July 3, and “The Glass Menagerie” opens Aug. 13. For a complete performance schedule, call (310) 455-3723.

The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., is in the canyon about six miles south of Ventura Boulevard. Tickets are $12; $8.50 senior citizens, students and equity members; $4 children 6 to 12; free children 5 and under. No reservations are required. Audience members are advised to dress casually (and warmly for evening performances) and to bring pillows and blankets to sit on. Picnickers are welcome on the grounds before and after the shows.

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WELCOME HOME: Playhouse West, 4250 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, will present a benefit performance at 8 p.m. Saturday of “Welcome Home Soldier: A Tribute to Vietnam Veterans” to celebrate the production’s third anniversary. Proceeds will benefit Task Force Omega, a California organization of the families and friends of Vietnam POWs and MIAs.

The show has been playing to full houses since 1991. Playhouse spokeswoman Christine Cavanaugh said the play is popular with a disenfranchised audience.

“It’s an emotional play, and it’s done in a point of view that hasn’t gotten attention--the point of view of what happened to the soldier when he came home,” Cavanaugh said. “The play is in their own words; it’s their story.”

Theater Director Robert Carnegie said the style of the production is also a part of its appeal.

“The acting is extremely realistic,” he said. Vietnam veterans, who make up about one-third of the show’s audience, often don’t realize that the actors are not real vets, he said, adding that some veterans come back as many as 50 times to see the play.

“It becomes like a therapy session for them. It’s a strange and odd situation,” Carnegie said. “And we’re extremely pleased by it.”

“Welcome Home Soldier” plays in rotating repertory with several other productions at Playhouse West. Tickets are $7. For a complete schedule, call (310) 285-3311.