Regina Taylor, the actress and playwright currently appearing in Cheryl L. West's Jar the Floor at New York's Second Stage, will exercise both her talents at the Goodman Theatre's Studio space in Chicago this fall. Beginning Oct. 8, Taylor will star in Millennium Mambo, a one- woman piece conceived by Taylor and featuring one of her plays, along with the work of five other prominent, African-American women playwrights.

Taylor, an artistic associate at the Goodman, has previously been represented at that theatre by her plays, Escape from Paradise and Oo-Bla-Dee, performing in the first and co-directing the second. For Mambo, Taylor asked scribes Kia Corthron, Adrienne Kennedy, Suzan-Lori Parks, Ntozake Shange and Cheryl L. West to either write or select a 15-minute text which could be performed by one actress -- in this case, Taylor. Taylor -- who contributed a short play herself -- then penned some connective text, linking the half-dozen playlets.

Henry Godinez, another Goodman artistic associate, will direct.

The rest of the Goodman's 1999-2000 has yet to be announced. For information, call (312) 443-3800.

-- By Robert Simonson