Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan has proclaimed Nov. 6-14, 1999, "Theatre Week" as part of the city's "Celebrate L.A. 2000" millennium plan. The two-year campaign is aimed at bringing together "the city's vibrant, multifaceted performing arts community with the enormous, diverse audience that exists in Los Angeles.""Theatre Week," which kicked off at the Geffen Playhouse with a press conference featuring Riordan, Gilbert Cates (Geffen Playhouse), Adolfo V. Nodal (Cultural Affairs Department), Lars Hanson (Theatre/LA) and actors Ted Lange and Bill Brochtrup, is aimed at reaching out to the non-theatregoing audience. Two-for-one tickets will be made available to the public by 20 participating theatre companies. Additionally, a series of public service announcements have been created with theatre, film and TV personalities (including Gary Marshall, Camryn Manheim and Mesach Taylor) stressing the importance of live theatre.

Highlights of "Theatre Week" include the Geffen's first preview of It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues; the Mark Taper's "New Works Festival '99, with 18 new plays; "The Edge of the World Theatre Festival" with more than 45 plays produced in 18 citywide venues by young, innovative theatre companies; and a Theatre Week Wrap Party at the LATC on Nov. 13.

-- By Willard Manus
Southern California Correspondent