L.A. TROUPE TO PERFORM AT CALARTS\Professional play first of new series.

Byline: Laurence Darmiento Daily News Staff Writer

When the audience nestles into its seats tonight at CalArts for the first local production of a new play called "Sigismund," it will be presented with more than the usual school fare.

While CalArts audiences are used to seeing top-notch student productions, the play will be the first offering of a new series aimed at bringing professional theater to the arts institute and its patrons.

"There is interesting, innovative work going on in other places that we want to expose our students and our audience to," said theater arts dean Susan Solt, creator of the new series, called "CalArts Theatre Presents."

"If I can harness marvelous work that is taking place somewhere else, why cannot I present it here?" Solt said.

Although the series does not require that the productions be connected with the school and its ever-growing alumni and working faculty, Solt said she prefers that they are. The first production is not an exception to that preference.

"Sigismund" was commissioned by the Quantum Theater in Pittsburgh and well received in a spring production there last year, but it is produced by the L.A.-based Ghost Road Co.

All three company founders are California Institute of the Arts alumni, including playwright and faculty member Ferdinand Lewis. Director Rodger Henderon also is a theater department faculty member.

The play is based on a classic 17th century dark comedy called "Life is a Dream" by Calderon de la Barca. Originally written in Castilian Spanish, its length has been cut in half and the language made clearer for modern audiences.

Performances are scheduled for 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Feb. 3. Tickets are $7 for general admission and $2 for students. Call [phone] or [phone] to make reservations.

Set in a mythological, medieval Poland, the title character Sigismund is a prince unaware of his identity, who is returned to court after years of banishment by the king.

Told his imprisonment is a dream by the king, the prince rebels against the greed and duplicity of the court. He is sent away again and told his time in the kingdom was a dream, but manages an escape.

Donald Gordon, a company director, said the play is very funny but raises important philosophical questions about identity and other issues.

"People will laugh. There is low comedy, but there also are very dark elements," said the 35-year-old Glendale resident. "This is a wonderful play, but it had to be reworked.

"It has been said it is a great story in a bad play. It may have worked in original 17th century Castilian but not in the translations that have come down to us."

Gordon said that while the new company has no particular credo, it does believe in adapting and re-invigorating classic plays whose message is still important but perhaps has been lost.

The next production in the series is a new production of William Butler Yeat's play "Dierdre." It will feature songs, but Solt said it will not be a musical or opera, calling it instead a "song play." It is tentatively set for May.

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO

Photo Cody Henderson, left, and Ronnie Clark confront each other in a scene from "Sigismund" at CalArts.