INJUNCTION IS GRANTED IN TIFFANY WAIVER CASE

Chalk one up for Paula Holt.

Holt, owner of the Tiffany Theater on Sunset Boulevard, has been granted an injunction in her struggle to acquire Equity Waiver status for her twin 99-seat stages.

Actors’ Equity Assn. had refused to grant that status on the technicality that the Tiffany once housed a movie theater of more than 99 seats and therefore could not be divided to accommodate two Waiver theaters. Holt protested that a movie theater and a legitimate house are two different things. A Superior Court judge Monday agreed with her.

Edward Weston, Equity’s western regional director, refused to comment on the case until he has seen the ruling, adding, “It is very, very complicated.”

Weston also declined to comment on the union status of the actors in “Fatty,” first show to play the Tiffany (and to spark the controversy that led to the court action). They performed in defiance of Equity’s position and were originally said to have resigned. This, however, was not the case.

The actors relied on the rarely invoked concept of financial core membership, according to attorney Alan Brunswick who advised them.

(The concept is based on a 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case and subsequent decisions by the courts and the National Labor Relations Board, whereby union members continue to support their union--pay dues, that is--but give up the right to vote and can cross picket lines.)

Meanwhile, Equity attorney Richard Davis--who did not return calls from the Times--has asked for a five-day stay to review the injunction.

“My attorney feels it’s pretty much of a formality,” Holt said.

The next Waiver show to move into the Tiffany is a Bob Marcucci production of “Rain,” which opens on the North Stage on Oct. 17. “But we lost another (because of the uncertainty of the outcome of the court action),” Holt said. “The Artful Lodgers,” a comedy-mystery by Marshall Borden, that now will open at the Matrix on Oct. 31.

TO LIEN OR NOT TO LIEN: Speaking of Actors’ Equity, its new contract with the League of Resident Theaters is going some distance toward settling the festering discontent, chiefly on the part of playwrights, with its Subsidiary Rights Agreement.

The agreement stipulates that actors in a showcase or Waiver production of a new play have to be offered the same role or be paid off by a producer wanting to mount a commercial edition of that play. Playwrights see that as effectively putting a lien on their work.

“We’re going to create a fund to take care of these conversion payments for actors and stage managers,” said Alan Eisenberg, executive secretary of Equity. “It gets writers off the hook. Money that league theaters are supposed to pay into pension (8%) will be apportioned into this new fund.”

The new fund that Eisenberg hopes to maintain at about $200,000 represents a fraction of the $175-million pension fund. About $150,000 of it will come out of league contributions and an additional $50,000 from showcase and Waiver shows. Waiver theaters will chip in $150 per new play and institutional theaters $350. The fund will be replenished as needed.

LATC UPDATE: Now that the opening hoopla is over at the new Los Angeles Theater Center, it’s having to deal with reality. First: the sharp angle of the rake in the seating platforms and the fact that the seats are too high for people with short legs.

“We’re putting handrails in Theaters 2 and 3 and in the balcony of Theater 1,” said artistic/producing director Bill Bushnell. “As for the feet not touching, I’m calling in the seating company to get an explanation. We’re going to deal with it.

“The backs can be adjusted, also how far down seats come. It has to do with how much spring you put in them so they flip up.”

There also have been complaints about confusion in the computer logging of subscription sales.

“Yes,” Bushnell said. “We’re suffering from too much success too quick. We’ve had difficulty staffing up. The moving process caused problems and we went through a period when we didn’t have enough telephone lines. We’re working 24 hours a day, seven days a week to control this.”

What has most rankled Bushnell, however, is an almost one-third cut in requested funding from the California Arts Council--not that the $58,000 he received was so much less than the $143,000 he had requested, but that he thought it was not warranted by the 3+ rating (on a scale of 4) given his theater.

“It’s unfair and discriminatory,” he said. “I’m just beginning to make some calls. The Taper got 85.6% of its money. South Coast (Repertory) got about 49%, which is unfair for them. We have a 10-year track record. I’m not sure I like the rating system, but if we got a 3+ ranking it must mean something. “

FEAST OR FAMINE: Catalina Productions, which hasn’t been heard from in a while, has taken a long-term lease (with option to buy) on Steve Levitt’s Pan Andreas Theatre. It is renaming it the Coast Playhouse and will launch it with “Enter Laughing”--a good way to enter.

The Joseph Stein comedy based on Carl Reiner’s novel, will be directed by Sam Weisman and open Nov. 17. Another Catalina project, Mark St.Germain’s “Out of Gas on Lover’s Lane,” has been postponed until after the first of the year, with Warner Shook (currently doing “Mrs. California” at the Taper) directing.

Meanwhile, St.Germain is keeping busy adapting John Nichols’ “The Sterile Cuckoo,” as a book musical for Catalina. Score will be by Patrick Williams and lyrics by Pamela Phillips-Oland. That one’s aimed for late spring.