LOS ANGELES -- For the first time, Edward ("Mary Tyler Moore Show") Asner will appear onstage with two of his children, actress Kate Asner and producer Matthew Asner.

The three Asners will appear in The West Coast Jewish Theatre's production of The Gathering, a comedy-drama by Arje Shaw. The Sunday, Jan. 31, 1999 staged reading will take place on the Audrey & Sydney Irmas Campus of the Wilshire Blvd. Temple. Curtain time is 2 PM.

Arje's play was inspired by President Reagan's visit to the Nazi S.S. cemetery at Bitburg. Reagan's decision to make a stop at Bitburg upset many Jews and non-Jews around the world. As Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel said at the time, "Reagan's compassion should have been for the victims of the S.S., not for the murderers."

Arje's characters include three generations of males in a Jewish American family -- a Holocaust survivor, his son who happens to be a Reagan speechwriter, and a grandson preparing for his Bar Mitzvah. Grandfather and grandson head to Germany to confront Reagan at Bitburg.

Directed by Alexandra More, the cast also includes Simon Chernin and Joshua Schulman. Kate Asner has appeared in three previous WCJT productions. She also recently co-starred in And To My Daughter at the Tiffany Theatre.

Playwright Shaw will be present for a discussion after the reading.

Call (310) 828- 1296.