ENTERTAINMENT NEWS : Hollywood Homes In on Jazz : Festival starts Saturday at seven clubs, including two in the Valley, and ends Sunday with shows at the Palladium.

Hollywood is a lot of things to a lot of people. And although it’s home to many great jazz musicians, record companies and mu sic publishers, Hollywood has never had its own jazz festival. Until now.

The first Hollywood Jazz Festival will be held Saturday and Sunday at the Hollywood Palladium and several other Los Angeles nightspots, including two in the Valley.

Studio City nightclub owner Bob Marks, producer of the festival, says he has tried to fill a vacuum with the help of the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department.

Marks says that unlike the annual Playboy Festival, which books some pop and rock acts to broaden its appeal, his Hollywood Festival will be strictly jazz.

“The Playboy Jazz Festival is a wonderful event,” Marks says. “But, it’s not a pure jazz event.”

Although the new festival may be strictly jazz, it’s not strictly Hollywood. The festival will start Saturday at seven nightclubs: Marks’ club, Legends of Hollywood, and Pasion, both in Studio City; and the Cinegrill, Windows, Miceli’s, Moguls and the Hollywood Athletic Club, all over the hill.

Admission to the clubs is free and the festival will provide a club-to-club shuttle for a $10 fee. The festival will conclude Sunday with two big shows at 2 and 7 p.m. at the Hollywood Palladium.

Here in the Valley on Saturday, saxophonist James Moody is scheduled to perform at Legends, and Brazilian jazz artist Dori Caymmi at Pasion. The Festival All Stars, who play Sunday at the Palladium, include Buddy DeFranco, Bill Berry, Buddy Collette, George Gaffney, Bob Maize and Ralph Penland. Other acts appearing in the festival include Ernie Andrews, Frank Capp’s 17-piece Juggernaut Big Band, Carmen Lundy, Jimmy Cleveland’s Jazz Octet and Karen Hernandez.

The first Hollywood Jazz Festival will conclude with two shows at 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday at the Hollywood Palladium. Tickets are $15 (early show) and $17.50 (late show) or $25 for both. For a complete schedule, call (213) 856-4870.

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THEATER FOR THOUGHT: The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum has announced its 1995 Summer Repertory Season. Artistic Director Ellen Geer says this year’s season has an introspective quality that reflects the times our society finds itself in.

“We need to think about the choices we have rather than just be entertained,” Geer says. “The laughter . . . may not be uproarious, but [it comes] from a deep place of understanding.”

The Theatricum’s 13th annual repertory season will begin June 10 with a weekend of Shakespeare: the drama “Richard III” and the comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Henrik Ibsen’s “Little Eyolf,” described as a drama of conscience, loss and recognition, will join the repertoire July 1. The final production of the summer will be a play written by Geer herself.

” . . . and the Dark Clouds Came” is her personal story of the McCarthy blacklisting as seen through the eyes of a child. It’s based on her own experiences when her father, actor Will Geer, was blacklisted during that period.

“When a grown-up makes choices, what happens to the family?” Geer asks. “It’s not a political piece; I wrote it for my daughter.”

The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga, opens its 1995 summer season with “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at 3 p.m. June 10. Tickets are $12.50 general, $8.50 seniors, students and Equity members, $4 children 6 to 12, and kids 5 and younger are free. Call (310) 455-3723.

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GO ZORBA: You don’t have to be a church member or even Greek to enjoy the 22nd annual Greek Festival at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Northridge. You just have to eat the moussaka and baklava, and try to dance like Zorba.

Featured at this year’s event will be Greek food, music and dancing. Dance exhibitions and lessons, cooking demonstrations, games for children and a Greek gift bazaar will also be offered.

Peter Zaferis, leader of this year’s event, says about 550 church members will work at the three-day festival, which is expected to draw 50,000 people.

“The festival helps to join the church people together, working on one joint project,” Zaferis says. “And it helps to offset some of our expenses at the church.”

Those expenses include a $1.2-million earthquake repair bill, as well the operation of a preschool and senior retirement home.

The 22nd annual Valley Greek Festival will be held 1 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Monday at St. Nicholas Church, 9501 Balboa Blvd., Northridge. Admission and parking are free. Call the church at (818) 886-4040.

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KID STUFF: While many theater companies puzzle over how to attract younger crowds, Zia Productions, run by Michael Bauer and Theresa Sanchez, may have found one solution.

The pair has organized two programs to involve youth during the run of their production of “The Nerd” at the Gene Bua Acting For Life Theatre. The first involves, in Bauer’s words, “kids who don’t have many positive things in their lives.” Zia has teamed up with Tania’s Children, a support group for kids who have lost their parents to AIDS, and Free Arts for Abused Children, which makes the arts available to young abuse victims, to bring each group’s kids into the theater-making process.

“We’re giving them a chance for hands-on involvement,” says Sanchez, “from stage managing to working in the light booth. It’s been great for them, and a moral uplift for us.”

Bauer and Sanchez are also targeting high schools from Van Nuys to La Canada Flintridge with an invitation for school groups to see any Saturday or Sunday matinee performance of “The Nerd” at a discounted ticket price. After the curtain falls, a post-performance workshop begins, run by the show’s director, Katherine Huston. The session includes performing scenes from the play the students have just seen, discussion groups, and the awarding of a certificate for completing the workshop. The sessions are also intended to develop an apprenticeship program for future Zia shows.

“We’re trying to invite every high school in the area,” says Bauer, “and we’re also trying to instill the message that there’s no high like the theater experience.”

“The Nerd” high school workshops, Gene Bua Acting For Life Theatre, 3435 Magnolia Blvd., Burbank. Saturdays and Sundays, following 2 p.m. matinee performances, from Saturday to July 2. Information: (818) 564-8602.