MARSHALL PLAN; IT'S ALL COMING TOGETHER FOR FALCON THEATRE, NOTED TV PRODUCER'S 99-SEAT LABOR OF LOVE.

Byline: Reed Johnson Daily News Staff Writer

Like a proud papa trotting out his offspring to recite Longfellow to the dinner guests, Garry Marshall is giving a tour of his new Falcon Theatre in Burbank.

First he points out the ``full Equity bathroom.'' Then the state-of-the-art, computerized lighting board and the comfy 99-seat auditorium with enough overhead room to fly in a large mammal.

And then there's that mysterious backstage door.

``This door has no use, except it's the fire door,'' says Marshall, the film director (``Pretty Woman'') and producer of the hit '70s sitcoms ``Happy Days'' and ``Laverne & Shirley.''

No use at all? Marshall reconsiders.

``For the Christmas pageant, a goat could come right in from the alley,'' he muses.

Funny guy, this Marshall. So is there anything his theater can't do?

``Make money, possibly. But that isn't why we put it up.''

So why, again, did they put it up? It's been three months since the two-story, 12,000-square-feet commercial playhouse opened on a wedge of Riverside Drive near the corner of Rose Street, about 10 blocks from Marshall's Toluca Lake home.

Starting slowly

Since then, Marshall and his staff have avoided getting too specific about their long-range plans. Instead, they're letting the Falcon define its mission slowly, one project at a time. Workshops, master acting classes, children's theater, and readings of film and television scripts all have been mentioned as potential uses for the gleaming new facility.

``Obviously it (the theater) was conceived and designed to be a very versatile space,'' says Marshall's daughter Kathleen, a Northwestern University drama graduate who supervised the theater's construction and now bears the title of artistic associate.

Garry Marshall says he's committed to doing new plays, as the Falcon indicated with last fall's inaugural offering, the Mark Taper Forum's New Work Festival of staged readings. The 10th annual event gave the Taper a first-time presence in the Valley and provided the Falcon with a high-profile renter to christen its venue.

Someday, Marshall promises, ``we'll do a festival of Plays You Don't Understand.''

(Like most successful writers, Marshall occasionally recycles his own best lines: He's used that particular one in print before.)

Now, the Falcon is bracing for its first full production, a double bill of short plays by George F. Walker, Canada's reigning master of pitch-black comedies about ex-cons, high-strung housewives and other colorful losers. The two 90-minute works, ``Featuring Loretta'' and ``Problem Child'' make up two-sixths of Walker's comedy suite, ``Suburban Motel,'' and will be performed in repertory Feb. 14-March 22.

Presenting the show is Buffalo Nights Theatre Company, a 6-year-old collective of former UCLA theater and film students. Known for its critically well-received productions of Arthur Miller's ``Incident at Vichy'' and Dennis McIntyre's ``Modigliani,'' the itinerant 18-member troupe has spent its brief life bouncing around various stages in Hollywood and Los Angeles.

Company president Brian Kite believes that the high-quality production values available at the Falcon will help lure Buffalo Nights' followers over the hill and into the Valley.

``There's a demand for 99-seat theaters with these kinds of (amenities),'' says Falcon general manager Frier McCollister.

Like the vast majority of Southland theaters, the Falcon currently is operating under the Actors Equity union's 99-seat plan for all its Equity shows. The so-called ``Equity waiver agreement'' allows theaters and producers to employ actors at lower wage scales on the theory that this helps L.A.'s large pool of acting talent by providing more jobs.

Marshall, for his part, forecasts that Buffalo Nights and other maturing troupes can help the Falcon attract young patrons.

``We were drawn to these plays because there are young people in the plays,'' says Marshall, 63. ``We also like groups that don't have too many cars. That was my nightmare ... that I would go out and with all the parking I wouldn't be able to move my car.''

Indeed, the Falcon's tight parking situation had aroused some neighbors' fears that their front curbs would become open-air lots. So far, the well-tended residential side streets seem to be co-existing peacefully with the theater, which was named in memory of the Bronx Falcons, a 1950s athletic club Marshall belonged to in his youth.

Broadway baby

Growing up in New York, Marshall used to see Broadway musicals with his mother, a dance instructor. But he has spent most of his adult working life in Hollywood.

He reconnected with the stage a few years ago when he and Lowell Ganz co-authored the comedy ``Wrong Turn at Lungfish,'' which was produced at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, off-Broadway's Promenade Theatre and the Coronet Theatre in Hollywood.

Marshall wouldn't mind modeling the Falcon after the Steppenwolf, whose members circulate freely among theater, film and TV projects, and who manage to forge a collective agenda from their varied individual tastes.

Now all that remains, Marshall says, is to hire ``an old man named `Pop' '' to sit by the stage door and keep autograph hounds at bay.

Does he have any job candidates?

``Possibly me.''

THE FACTS

What: Buffalo Nights Theatre Company presents ``Featuring Loretta'' and ``Problem Child'' from George F. Walker's ``Suburban Motel.''

Where: Falcon Theatre, 4252 Riverside Drive, Burbank.

When: In repertory, 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 7 and 9 p.m. Saturdays, 4 and 7 p.m. Sundays; Feb. 14-March 22.

Tickets: $20 to $22.50 each or $30 to $35 for both shows. Call [phone].

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) Diana Georger, left, Maggie Welsh and Kevin Weisman star in ``Problem Child,'' one of two new works from George F. Walker's ``Suburban Motel'' comedy suite, on stage at the new Falcon Theatre in Burbank.

(2) Buffalo Nights Theatre Company president Brian Kite, left, with theater owner and television producer Garry Marshall, is mounting the 99-seat space's first full production.