NewsWire Finding Common Ground

A.S.K. Theater Projects is launching its Common Ground Festival '98, June 23-28, for a fourth year of envelope-bursting new theatre on UCLA's North Campus. All events are free of charge, but reservations are required (and UCLA parking is $5).
This year's line-up features works-in-progress from irreverent solo performer Chris Wells; choreographer Naomi Goldberg and Other Voices; the Austin dance/theatre troupe Johnson/Long Dance Company; Nancy Keystone's Akhmatova Project; performance pioneers John Fleck and Rachel Rosenthal; Fingered, a new work from San Diego director Steve Cosson, plus A.S.K.'s workshop production of Mariachi Quixote, a new musical play from Josƒ Cruz Gonz‡lez.
The festival will also feature "Down the Rabbit Hole," a four-day writers lab, June 23-26, led by acclaimed playwright Marie Irene Fornes. The lab is free, but enrollment is limited.
Climaxing the festival on Sunday, June 28, in the courtyard near the Freud Playhouse will be a theatre fair from 3-7 p.m., with more than 50 theatre and production companies sharing information and answering questions (including, natch, Back Stage West/Drama-Logue).
For more information or to make reservations call (310) 478-9ASK.
Off the Wire
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA-- The Dell'Arte Players present the eighth annual Mad River Festival, featuring a myriad of circus acts, June 18-July 12 in Blue Lake. The festival kicks off with Make*A*Circus, a San Francisco-based touring circus troupe, which will host a full day of family entertainment. The fest continues with performances by the Dell'Arte Players, the Bloomsburge Theatre Ensemble, Touchstone Theatre, the Independent Eye, Teatre Carlson, Jeff Demark, the Karuk Storytellers. (707) 668-5666
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA-- Acme Talent & Literary, a SAG, AFTRA, and AEA franchised agency, is currently accepting submissions for its L.A. musical theatre department for a late July audition. Only performers with strong Broadway, stock, or regional credits will be considered. Send pix & resumƒs to Steven Simon, c/o Acme Talent & Literary, L.A. Musical Theatre Department, 6310 San Vicente Blvd., Suite 520, Los Angeles, CA 90048
Bilingual Foundation of the Arts Reader's Theatre continues its free play reading series with A Little Something to Ease the Pain by Renƒ R. Aloma, June 22; Borders by Jorge Luis Albertella, June 29; Guadalupe Reina by Fabiola Diaz de Le—n, July 6, and Brujas de Mi Madre by Daniel Valdez, July 13. (213) 225-4044
Terry Tamminen brings his one-man show Will Power to the Morgan-Wixson Theatre in Santa Monica, June 20. Tamminen portrays Shakespeare on the eve of his retirement and "reminisces" about the Bard's life, his contemporaries, and the circumstances under which is plays were written, as well as answering questions from the audience. The show is a benefit for the Santa Monica Baykeeper. (310) 828-7519
Shakespeare Festival/L.A. will present an all-star benefit reading of Twelfth Night, with Tom Hanks as Feste, Rudy Hornish as Antonio, Carol Kane as Maria, John Lithgow as Malvolio, Mike Myers as Orsino, Rob Reiner as Sir Toby Belch, Paul Reiser as Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Thomas Everett Scott as Sebastian, Rita Wilson as Olivia, and Renƒe Zellweger as Viola, directed by Shakespeare Festival/L.A. artistic director Ben Donenberg, on Monday, June 22 at 7:30 p.m. Proceeds will support the company's programs, including Will Power to Youth, which creates full-time educational arts employment opportunities for inner-city youth. Tickets range from $250 to $1,000, and location and other event information is available to ticket buyers only. (310) 559-9334
The Groundlings Sunday Company will present The Best of Sasquatch Sunday on Wednesday, June 24, at 8 p.m. as a benefit for member Christen Nelson, who suffered a severe knee injury during a rehearsal and will require surgery. Tickets are $15 (and extra donations are heartily welcomed). (323) 934-4747
Tenacious D will play a benefit concert for the Actors' Gang on June 20. Tickets are $15 at doors to the Gang, at 6209 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood, open at 9 p.m. (323) 465-0566
The career of Academy Award-winning actor Sidney Poitier will be the focus of two evenings, June 18-19, at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. On June 18, clips from his films and special guests--including Diahann Carroll, James Earl Jones, Richard Roundtree, Richard Benjamin, Norman Jewison, and Phil Alden Robinson--are on the menu. On June 19, a specially restored print of the 1968 Oscar-winning classic In the Heat of the Night will be screened, and a reunion of cast and crew will follow (including director Jewison and co-star Rod Steiger). Both events begin at 8 p.m. and are $5 to the public, $3 to Academy members. The Academy is located at 8949 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills. (310) 247-3600
The Orange County Playwrights Alliance is seeking one-act plays from California dramatists, no longer than 40 minutes, for its new Page to Stage Festival of short works. The submission deadline is July 1, with results announced in the late summer and an Oct. 24 performance at an Orange County theatre. There is no restriction on theme or subject. The first place playwright will receive $100, second place $75, and third $50. The entry fee is $5, with a limit of two submissions. Send scripts with SASE to OCPA: Page to Stage, P.O. Box 6927, Fullerton CA 92834. Www. ocpaplaywrights.org
On Monday, June 22, East West Players celebrates its 32nd anniversary with a gala benefit awards dinner at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, 404 S. Figueroa St. in downtown L.A. What the company is celebrating most, of course, is its historic move downtown, into its new 240-seat David Henry Hwang Theatre in Little Tokyo. Among honorees of EWP's "visionary" awards are Sumi Sevilla Haru, actor Pat Morita, and Cedar Grove Productions (Visas and Virtues), and a playwriting award will got Jon Shorita. A silent auction and reception begins at 6 p.m., and tickets range from $100 to $500. (213) 625-7000
Letters to the Editor, a documentary theatre piece developed and performed by the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble and described as "Anna Deavere Smith's Fires in the Mirror meets Our Town," will be performed outdoors at the Watercourt, 350 S. Grand Ave. in downtown L.A., June 24-28. Performances are free, and on June 26 an ASL interpreter and post-play discussion will be offered. (213) 687-2159
--Scott Proudfit, Jamie Painte