Mark Taper’s Dramaturge Resigns for Creative Director Post in New York

Four years ago when Jack Viertel was theater critic for the Herald Examiner, he said he hoped to be in New York by 1986.

Two years ago, when Viertel became dramaturge at the Mark Taper Forum, he said he would not have left Los Angeles for a similar job anywhere.

But as of Tuesday, Viertel has been packing his bags. He’s resigned his Taper post to become creative director for the Jujamcyn Theatre Organization in New York effective Sept. 1. How come?

“They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” Viertel explained, though he couldn’t exactly explain the creative director position created for him by his new boss, Rocco Landesman, incoming president of Jujamcyn. “The job is undefined. I’ll be doing a lot of what I’m doing at the Taper,” Viertel said. (As Herald critic, Viertel had roundly panned Landesman’s production of “Big River” at the La Jolla Playhouse, criticism that Landesman paid attention to when the show was reworked.) Landesman offered Viertel the creative director job when they met in San Diego last December at a performance of the James Lapine/Stephen Sondheim “Into the Woods.” Viertel turned him down.

“I was happy at the Taper,” he said. “I told him so. I think, wherever you are you try to make the best possible case for staying there.” But Landesman persisted and Viertel said yes. The first show he’ll work on in New York will be the fateful “Into the Woods,” which begins previews Sept. 22 at the Martin Beck (a Jujamcyn theater along with the St. James, Eugene O’Neill, Ritz and Virginia).

“I’ll be an irritating note-taker for a while. Eventually, I hope to commission plays, identify artists we want to work with. I’ll spend a lot of time visiting the resident theaters. There have been no really effective producers capable of moving (shows) from the nonprofit to the commercial theater, which is an entirely different thing. Something like (Mark Harelik’s) ‘The Immigrant,’ for instance.”

Would he like to take “The Immigrant” to Broadway?

“I would. I don’t know if Mark would. A lot of things the Taper’s done recently have that potential. I’ll have a sort of mixed function. It will begin to define itself. I know this is going to sound presumptuous but I want to try to give Broadway back to the Americans. It’s something I hope to explore.”

KEEPING THE FAITH: According to Marcia Lazer, marketing director for the financially troubled Center Theatre Group, things are looking bright for the Taper and hopeful for the Ahmanson.

At the Taper, 27,000 seats were subscribed for 1987-88 as of Tuesday--a touch ahead of last season (26,500). “We expect to go several more thousand by next February,” Lazer said. “The renewal rate for the Taper is excellent: 87%.”

Ahmanson renewals are having more of a struggle. They stand at 78%, while new subscriptions (3,000) “are up as well.” Over 40,500 seats are currently subscribed and the expectation, Lazer said, is “that we’ll reach 44,000 by the opening of the season and 46,000 by Dec. 1.” That would mean holding ground at 1986-87 levels.

“We just started our telemarketing campaign,” she noted. “The Ahmanson had done renewal telemarketing in the past, but only a limited campaign for new subscriptions.” Still, it’s a far cry from the 76,000 subscription peak of 1981-82 (when the season was “Morning’s at Seven,” “The Little Foxes,” “Another Part of the Forest” and “The Hasty Heart”), but they’re working at it.

CONFERENCE: First Stage, an organization dedicated to the development of new plays and film scripts has been invited to participate in the first Port Hueneme Theatre Conference, Aug. 17-23.

Sponsored by the Port Hueneme Cultural Center and Ventura and Oxnard Community colleges, the event will feature play readings, workshops of works-in-progress and a central one-week workshop of Marsha Meyers’ “Crazy Edna and Her Roomies” culminating in two performances: Aug. 22 at 8 p.m. and Aug. 23 at 3 p.m.

“Everyone benefits,” said First Stage managing director John York, “and the students benefit from working with professionals.”

The public is invited. There is no charge, York said, but donations will be graciously accepted.

Information: 213-850-6271.

SCRIPT CALLS: The Beverly Hills Theatre Guild is looking for unproduced manuscripts for its annual Julie Harris Playwright Competition. Prizes are $5,000, $1,000, $500. Deadline is Nov. 1. For rules and application forms, send SASE to 2815 N. Beachwood Drive, Los Angeles, 90068. Winners will be announced next June. (This year’s $5,000 winner was Susan Rivers for her play “Overnight Lows.”)

Actors Alley is also looking for scripts but needs them quicker and for less. Mail full-length unproduced plays, SASE and a synopsis to 4334 Van Nuys Blvd., Sherman Oaks, 91403. Deadline is Sept. 30. The winner, to be announced in the spring, gets $350 and a possible production.

NOW YOU SEE HIM: At the Old Globe these days you get one for the price of two. Mark Moses, who was playing Antifolo of San Diego (in a Cal-Mex version of Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors”) is also playing his twin, Antifolo of Monterey. Normally the roles are played by two actors, but when John Bolger had to leave the cast to begin taping CBS-TV’s “Everything’s Relative,” in which he co-stars, Moses asked to play both roles. It has required adjustments but everything’s relative.