MULTIFACETED MATRIARCH PHYLICIA RASHAD IS POISED TO SHINE IN AUGUST WILSON'S 'GEM OF THE OCEAN'.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Writer

Aunt Ester Tyler: Age 285. Iconic matriarch of August Wilson's ``Gem of the Ocean'' and a prominent figure referenced throughout the playwright's 10-decade cycle chronicling the experiences of African-Americans.

Played by Phylicia Rashad: age 55. Emmy-nominated star of two TV sitcoms opposite Bill Cosby.

Have we a casting match made in live-stage heaven?

Sheldon Epps, artistic director of the Pasadena Playhouse, laughs at the question.

``I would never automatically say that she is divinely suited to play a 200-year-old woman,'' says Epps, who has directed Rashad in three productions of Charles Randolph-Wright's ``Blue.'' ``But I think one of the things I discovered in working with her is an extraordinary stage actress. She has the bravery and courage to take challenges like creating a character you would not think she was ideally suited for.''

``If you can sit there and go toe to toe with Bill Cosby, you're not doing so bad,'' adds director Marion McClinton, whose production of ``Gem of the Ocean'' opens Thursday at the Mark Taper Forum. ''I had followed her work for quite some time, and I always thought she had a fascinating presence.''

Granted, it's a little difficult to conjure up the memory of Clair Huxtable (the character Rashad played on ``The Cosby Show'' from 1984-92) or Ruth Lucas (``Cosby,'' 1996-2000) while looking at a be-wigged and heavily made-up Rashad during a rehearsal dinner break shortly before ``Gem'' goes into previews. The Houston-born actress digs a finger at the scalp line - ``Look at me scratching at this thing as though it were mine'' - and promises the costume completes the transformation.

``In her dress, she is wearing something from all the Aunt Esters who have come before her,'' she says. ``In fact, she isn't really 285 years old, but the power of remembrance gives her that credibility. She's a very interesting person.''

Most of the interesting people Rashad is discovering these days come via stage roles. Southland audiences saw her most recently in ``Blue'' last summer at the Pasadena Playhouse. She has also played Athena in a contemporary version of the Helen of Troy saga and Harlem Renaissance visionary Zora Neale Hurston.

She found a kind of acting philosophy in the words of Public Theatre artistic director George C. Wolfe, who directed her in ``Jelly's Last Jam.''

``He said to me, 'You have to play the rhythm. If you don't play the rhythm, the rhythm will play you,' '' says Rashad. ``It is like being a musician. You become one with your work. I always feel like my development as an actress is a work in progress. Everything is the greatest thing I've experienced to date.''

Especially her most current role. Any new play by Wilson is an event, and ``Gem'' is no exception. A co-production with Chicago's Goodman Theatre, ``Gem of the Ocean'' arrives after an April Chicago run that featured Greta Oglesby as Aunt Ester. The play has seen some revisions since the Goodman production, and several of the roles have been recast.

``The biggest difference between the two performances, I would say, is this incredible warmth that Phylicia brings that just so warmly and gently invites you into the play,'' says McClinton. ``She makes it so clear why people would come to this person when they were in trouble.''

Shortly before the Chicago run was to reach its conclusion, Rashad received a call from her manager that a meeting had been scheduled for her to meet ``Mr. Wilson.''

``We sat down and he was talking about how he writes, and Mr. McClinton said, 'Mr Wilson would like to hear you read,' And I said, 'Oh would he?' '' recalls Rashad, laughing. ``I read a portion of the play and then I thanked him for the privilege of meeting him and reading for him. Later my manager called to tell me I had been offered the role. It all happened in one day.''

The near-reverential tone isn't uncommon when performers talk about Wilson. Although she considers herself intimidated by neither the play nor its author, Rashad calls Wilson's plays ``remarkable work.''

``From a literary point of view - and this is a poor reference, but we make reference for the sake of comparison - it is on the scale of the Greeks and Shakespeare,'' says Rashad. ``These people are simple people in one way and most extraordinary in another. He's writing about people who are discerning truth in very real ways.''

We first meet the Aunt Ester character in ``Two Trains Running'' and learn in ``King Hedley II'' - set in the 1980s - that she has recently died. ``Gem of the Ocean,'' which takes place in 1904, is set in Aunt Ester's house. A young man named Citizen Barlow arrives to see Aunt Ester and receive a kind of absolution. She ends up taking him on a spiritual journey to the City of Bones, a sub-continent made up of the bones of Africans who didn't survive the passage from Africa to Great Britain.

``The City of Bones is a spiritual experience,'' says Rashad. ``It's a difficult journey, and it is fraught with peril, but she is an expert guide. She knows the way.''

``August has always caught flack for his women characters,'' says McClinton, the playwright's frequent collaborator. ``The complaint came that he didn't feature a woman as the lead character. In this one, the dominant character is Aunt Ester. She's a fascinating character, and I think Phylicia is doing amazing work with her.''

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

GEM OF THE OCEAN

Where: Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday; through Sept. 7.

Tickets: $31 to $45. Call [phone].

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) no caption (Phylicia Rashad as Aunt Ester Tyler)

(2) Phylicia Rashad played Bill Cosby's long-suffering TV wife, Clair Huxtable, from 1984-92.