LOS ANGELES -- Here's a rare chance to see a noted Romanian actress performing the work of a neglected Russian writer.

The actress is Simona Giurgea, a former member of the Odeon Theatre of Bucharest and now a resident of Los Angeles. Working in English, she and her husband Adrian have adapted The Accompanist, a novella by Nina Berberova, whose work has been compared to that of Turgenev and Chekhov. The one-woman show opened recently at the Los Angeles Playhouse and will be performed at 8 PM every Sunday through May 24.

Berberova fled the Russian revolution and settled in Paris in 1925. A novelist specializing in the literature of exile, she wrote The Accompanist in 1934. It deals with a young piano player who accompanies and competes with a soprano. The French director Claude Miller turned it into a feature film this year.

Tickets are $10. The Los Angeles Playhouse is at 1625 N. La Brea Ave. (213) 882-6912.

-- By Willard Manus
Southern California Correspondent