THEATER NOTES : Right Time for ‘Victima’ and La Raza

The Latino Theatre Lab, for merly an affiliate of Los Angeles Theatre Center and then the Mark Taper Forum, moves into Plaza de la Raza in full force this week, opening a revival of the group’s 1987 LATC production of “La Victima” on Wednesday as a fund-raiser for the campaign against Proposition 187.

The production will kick off a year in which the Lab and the Plaza will explore ways to fund a permanent residency for the Lab at the Plaza.

“It gives them a home, and it gives us more of a profile,” said Lydia Lopez, interim managing director of Plaza de la Raza. The two organizations will share fund-raising efforts as well as facilities.

Lopez acknowledged that some of the current faculty at the Plaza “were nervous” about the arrival of the Lab. “They thought they would be displaced. Our major challenge is to make sure there is no conflict.” She thinks it can be done, and “lately I haven’t heard any rumblings.”

When the idea of the Lab’s move to the Plaza was first brought up, the idea was to do the first Lab production in the fall of 1995. But “La Victima,” which explores decades of Mexican/U.S. immigration and deportation issues, “was so timely,” Lopez said, considering the controversy around Proposition 187--which targets illegal immigrants--on the November ballot. Most of the LATC cast has been reassembled for the play, which was also seen at the Plaza in 1980 in a production by Teatro de la Esperanza, the then-Santa Barbara-based group that created it.

THE ADAS: The Ovation Awards aren’t the only new competitive theater awards in town. The Valley Theatre League will pass out the new ADAs on Wednesday in a program at TV Academy Plaza Theatre in North Hollywood. There are 195 nominations in 33 categories, covering two years, picked by a committee of artistic directors (hence the name--Ar tistic Director Awards) and producers of San Fernando Valley theaters.

One representative of each member of the League votes on the nominees (except for his or her own shows). But unlike the Ovations, which use a computerized system to help insure voters have seen the nominees, the ADAs rely on an honor system among the voters.

Ed Gaynes, producer of the ADAs show, said there was no attempt to steal any thunder from the Ovations, which will be awarded on Nov. 14: “The closeness of the dates is coincidental,” Gaynes said. In fact, Theatre LA, which sponsors the Ovations, will receive a special award at the ADA event.

However, no Ovations nominations went to Valley shows, and “we couldn’t help but note that,” Gaynes said. While that provides “all the more reason” for the ADAs, it was not part of the motivation for doing the awards; the ADAs were in the works long before the Ovations nominations.

Not every Valley theater is represented in the nominations. Touring productions at Universal Amphitheatre and the two shows staged by Michael Arabian at CBS Studio Center during the eligibility period--the only Valley shows on Actors’ Equity contracts above the 99-seat level--weren’t nominated. Arabian’s group doesn’t belong to the Valley Theatre League. And while Glendale is often considered part of the Valley, no Glendale theaters belong to the League.