STAGE NOTES : A New ‘Magic Flute’ to Play First Note of UCI Season

Neither Robert Cohen nor his wife, Lorna, speaks German. Yet they’ve come up with a new English translation of the Mozart opera “The Magic Flute” to launch the fall theater season at UC Irvine in November.

“We speak tourist German,” said Robert Cohen, who is the chairman of the UCI drama department. “But all the German there is is in the dictionary. The translation of meaning is not the difficulty; it’s setting the words to the music.”

Undaunted by the fact that he cannot read music either, Cohen said he learned the score “note by note” from listening repeatedly to the 18th-Century work on his compact disc player.

“The translation is true to the text, down to the rhymes and the syllables,” he contended. “And we are doing the whole opera--uncut as far as we know.”

Cohen will also direct the production, which he describes as “a very creative version.” It will begin conventionally, he said, but will “deconstruct in performance” and will have “both museum and contemporary elements.”

Meanwhile, his best-known book, “Acting Power,” has been translated into Estonian and will be published in the Soviet Union in the spring “if,” he said, “Estonia is still in the Soviet Union by then.”

Cohen also has written a new book, entitled “Acting Shakespeare,” that will be published by the California-based Mayfield Publishing Co. in June. A revised edition of another book, “Acting Professionally,” was brought out in July. It is, according to Stacy Keach, who is quoted on the dust jacket, “the bible for young people aspiring to become actors.”

WAIT! THERE’S MORE: With “The Magic Flute” (Nov. 9 through 18 at the Fine Arts Village Theatre) will be four other productions in the main UCI subscription series:

- Racine’s “Phaedra,” directed by Keith Fowler, Jan. 25 to Feb. 3 at the Fine Arts Concert Hall.

- Clifford Odets’ “Golden Boy,” directed by Eli Simon, March 8 through 17 at the Fine Arts Village Theatre.

- “Man of La Mancha,” directed by Earl Weaver and Dennis Castellano, March 8 through 17 at the Fine Arts Little Theatre.

- Odon von Horvath’s “Oktoberfest,” directed by Dudley Knight, April 26 through May 5 at the Fine Arts Village Theatre.

A new subscription series of Stage 2 productions directed by second- and third-year graduate students includes Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” Nov. 29 through Dec. 2 at the Little Theatre; an ancient Hindu play, “Shakuntala,” Feb. 22 through 24 at the Studio Theatre; and Alfred Jarry’s “Ubu Roi,” April 6 through 28 at the Studio Theatre.

And a UCI cabaret will be offered off campus Monday evenings at the Hotel Laguna in Laguna Beach, showcasing the musical talent of the drama department. The first show will be Oct. 9.

CHECKING THE TECHIES: In response to a national recruiting campaign, about 50 candidates have applied for the job of technical director at the Irvine Theatre. Whoever gets the job will run the day-to-day operations of the $17.6-million facility, according to general manager Douglas Rankin. The theater, being built on the UCI campus, is scheduled for completion in August, 1990.

Rankin, who will meet the small number of finalists next week, has impaneled a three-member committee to help interview them. The three are Cameron Harvey, an associate dean at UCI and a drama professor; Dan Trevino, artistic director of the Irvine-based South Coast Musical Theatre and chairman of the University High School performing arts department, and Ken Lazette, representing the city of Irvine.

“We’ve gotten applications from people at universities, from arts centers and a number from resident theaters,” Rankin said this week. “We will pay competitively because we want talent.”

Rankin said that he hopes to name a technical director within a month and that he expects to have “eight or nine full-time staffers” on board when the doors open.

In the meantime, a nine-member committee has been meeting to establish programming policy for the theater. Rankin said he expects to announce “in late October or early November” the names of the arts groups, winnowed from more than 100 applicants, that will be invited to perform at the theater during its first year of operation.