ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

THEATER

Geffen’s New Season: Donald Margulies’ Pulitzer Prize-winning “Dinner With Friends” will open the Geffen Playhouse 2000-01 season in September. Producing director Gilbert Cates is in discussions with Daniel Sullivan, the director who staged the play at South Coast Repertory and in New York, to do it again. Italian comedian Ennio Marchetto will bring his solo act to the Geffen in November. The company’s new artistic director, Randall Arney, will make his Geffen directing debut in January with Conor McPherson’s “The Weir,” and Jane Anderson’s “Looking for Normal” will premiere in April. A fifth play will be announced later.

PEOPLE

Wedding Postponed: The wedding of actor Pierce Brosnan and Keely Shaye Smith, which had been scheduled for this weekend in Ireland, has been postponed. Brosnan’s 16-year-old son, Sean, recently injured in an automobile accident in Malibu, has been readmitted to the hospital for complications, Brosnan’s public relations firm said Tuesday. The couple is delaying the wedding until Sean makes a full recovery. Meanwhile, $40,000 worth of flowers, which were being prepared for the wedding, will be donated to children’s hospitals, and 100 live rose bushes will be used to create a special garden for a charitable organization of the couple’s choice. “They were bought with joy and love and light,” Brosnan and Smith said, “and we would like to share that with people.”

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Jane and Ted’s College Reunion: Ted Turner and Jane Fonda were together at Emerson College’s graduation ceremony Monday. Both received honorary degrees, and Turner gave the commencement speech. The pair, who were married eight years ago and separated in January, sat about 10 chairs apart on stage. “Thank you so much for this great honor,” Turner said. “And it’s particularly meaningful to me because I was honored with my wife, Jane, today.” Fonda, a two-time Academy Award winner, said it was her first honorary degree. “I think most colleges and universities were afraid that their money would disappear if they ever gave me one,” she said in an apparent reference to her controversial political activism during the Vietnam War. “So it says to me a lot about Emerson College.”

POP MUSIC & JAZZ

Act of God or Nation?: The Los Angeles debut of Colombian salsa group Sonora Carruseles, scheduled for Friday at the Conga Room, has been canceled because members of the acclaimed band were denied U.S. visas. Jorge Fuentes, U.S. label manager for Discos Fuentes, Carruseles’ record company in Colombia, said Tuesday that the 15 musicians traveled from Medellin to Bogota to meet a representative of the U.S. embassy there. “Not only was their request denied, but some of the members’ existing visas were also canceled,” said Fuentes, who has hired an immigration attorney and expects the visas to be granted by next week. Conga Room owner Brad Gluckstein, citing a binding contract with the band, hopes to reschedule the show for May 26. Meanwhile, promoter Albert Torres--now trying to book Sonora for his West Coast Salsa Congress May 26-28 at the Hollywood Park Casino--said, “I call this [visa problem] an act of God. Carruseles is the salsa band of a new generation, and it would be a delight to have them at the Congress.”

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Jazz Museum Beginning: Construction on the National Big Band & Jazz Hall of Fame in Palm Springs will begin shortly with an expected opening date of Oct. 2, it was announced this week. The city approved the building plans for the museum with a unanimous 6-0 vote.

TELEVISION

HDTV to KCET: KCET tonight broadcasts its first high-definition television programming with “Rainier: The Mountain” at 10 p.m. It’s a look at the highest active volcano in the continental U.S. Next Wednesday, KCET follows up with another high-definition broadcast: “Sahara,” at 9 p.m. The station’s digital transmitter is now operational and viewers with digital sets can receive KCET on Channel 59. Next month, KCET plans to initiate continuous broadcast of three different digital channels: PBS Kids, PBS You and the regular analog KCET schedule converted to digital. “KCET’s vision to expand into the digital age is becoming a reality,” said Al Jerome, president and chief executive officer.

QUICK TAKES

Maria Pope and Barbara Gaines have been promoted to executive producers of CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman.” Rob Burnett, Letterman’s executive producer since 1996, retains that role but will be splitting his focus next year by overseeing “Ed,” a new NBC prime-time series from Letterman’s company, Worldwide Pants. . . . A 6-year-old boy named Felix David Manrique will star as Elian Gonzalez in a feature film produced by Sam Lupowitz, based on the story of the Cuban refugee. The child is a veteran of Spanish soap opera and will co-star with Andy Garcia in an upcoming HBO project. . . . In honor of Lesbian Film Month, Outfest at the Village presents a panel discussion with women film directors including Martha Coolidge, Jamie Babbit and Jane Anderson at 7 tonight at the Village, 1125 N. McCadden Place. For ticket information, call (323) 960-9200.