`Talking Heads' Monologues Showcase English Playwright

No, David Byrne and his group, Talking Heads, are not gettingback together again for a Chicago gig.

But "Talking Heads," a series of monologues by the marvelousEnglish playwright, Alan Bennett, will be playing at the SteppenwolfTheatre this summer. And John Mahoney, Steppenwolf veteran andubiquitous movie and television star (Martin Crane in the new hit NBCsitcom, "Frasier"), will be making his directing debut with thisAmerican premiere.

Bennett is the actor-writer who began his career as part of thesatirical revue, "Beyond the Fringe," along with Dudley Moore,Jonathan Miller and Peter Cook. In more recent years, his work hasbecome a staple at London's National Theatre (including acontroversial adaptation of "The Wind in the Willows"), as well as inthe West End ("Single Spies").

Many of his works have lacked U.S. productions, in part becausethey are so quintessentially English. PBS watchers may have caught"An American Abroad," the first half of the double bill of "SingleSpies" that starred Alan Bates as the communist spy Guy Burgess. Andthey also may have seen "Love Among the Lentils," one of six episodesin "Talking Heads" - a work originally written for television butlater adapted for the stage.

Steppenwolf will stage three of the six "Talking Heads"monologues - tragicomic studies in loneliness and alienation thatalso reflect the changing nature of contemporary England. Castingwill be announced soon.

The show will open July 17. Tickets: (312) 335-1650. MEXICAN DARING: "Community-based arts" and "multiculturism" werethe most frequently heard buzzwords during the three-day conferenceof the National Endowment for the Arts held in Chicago last week.

But while the conference participants were theorizing, theMexican Fine Arts Center Museum was acting, moving into the secondweek of its two-month performing arts festival, "Del Corazon" ("Fromthe Heart").

In conjunction with the Latino Chicago Theatre Company, themuseum presented the U.S. premiere of Malu Huacuja's "Cielo de Abajo"("Sky Below"), a mesmerizing performance piece showcasing the work oftwo of Mexico City's most daring actresses, Jesusa Rodriguez (whoalso directed) and her Argentinian-born companion, Liliana Felipe.

Rodriguez is renowned for creating an avant-garde theater andcabaret out of a chapel and garage in the Coyoacan neighborhood ofMexico City (the place where painter Frida Kahlo lived). And thispiece, with its decidedly feminist spin on a macho culture, shows whyshe has attracted so much attention.

Taking the form of an all-female version of Orpheus andEurydice, "Cielo de Abajo" depicts a young woman's search for herdead lover in the various layers of the underworld that are part ofMexican mythology. Populated with skeletons and ritual, andexploding with fireworks, the piece is awash in startling images andthick incense, as the two actresses variously transform themselvesinto pre-Columbian clay pots, Aztec human sacrifices and one of thoseclassic, unshakeably earthbound sculptures of an ancient Indian godthat is hilariously demystified when it turns into a talkingsoft-sculpture.

The production audaciously explores the way indigenous Indianand Spanish Catholic concepts of death have become intertwined. Andthough it was performed in Spanish, the show's mix of ancient,contemporary and surreal images made language almost unnecessary.The elaborate braiding of hair, the whimsical musings of a humancactus plant, the reedy sound of a clay pipe, all helped to bring thecomplex culture and psyche of Mexico to life.

CONFERENCE FOOTNOTES: Last week's National Endowment for the Artsconference, which attracted more than 1,000 people from all areas ofarts administration and education, was, above all, a spirit-raisingevent - a celebration of the rebirth of the federal agency after morethan a decade of official disdain.

Will the conference result in the creation of any great works ofart? Definitely not. Will it create a groundswell in Congress forincreased arts funding? Not a prayer.

What it might do, however, is lead to new thinking about howbudgets for the arts can be built into other parts of government.

One subtle but unmistakable message of the conference wasthat the NEA is not so much interested in the individual achievementsof artists as it is in the general integration of the arts into dailylife. Jane Alexander, the NEA's much-admired chairman, is clearlyrefocusing her agency, making it a force for social good rather thana funding source for social rebellion.

Following President Clinton's lead, she is building consensusrather than subsidizing ruckus-makers. In short, she's playing safewith art.