ENTERTAINMENT NEWS : ‘Caesar’ in Plain English : TV’s Joseph Marcell directs a Shakespeare production featuring black, Latino actors--and minus the accents.

Joseph Marcell, who plays the butler Geoffrey in the NBC sitcom “Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” is directing a non-traditional production of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” at Valley College in Van Nuys.

Sponsored by the Screen Actors Guild/Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers Industry Advancement and Cooperative Fund, the production is offering performers of color an opportunity to showcase their Shakespearean talents.

The Caribbean-born Marcell, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company for more than 20 years, has a special reason for wanting to be a part of it.

“America has been very good to me,” Marcell said. “And I wanted to share something with my fellow actors of African and Hispanic descent. It’s something I want to do.”

Born in Santa Lucia, Marcell’s family migrated to London, where he first got the acting bug.

After attending the Central School for Speech and Drama, he auditioned for the Royal Shakespeare Company and appeared in a production of “Julius Caesar” in 1972. His colleagues in the company at the time included actors Patrick Stewart, Richard Johnson, David Warner and Ian Holm.

He later acted on Broadway and at the Kennedy Center in Washington. Marcell directed London productions of “Othello” and other plays. Just how non-traditional will this production at Valley College be?

“It’s non-traditional in every aspect of the production,” Marcell said. “The aim is about presenting the words of Shakespeare without British accents, without manufactured Shakespearean accents, just the words as people speak them.”

“Julius Caesar” opens Sept. 22 and will run 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 7 p.m. Sundays at the Little Theatre at Los Angeles Valley College, 5800 Fulton Ave., Van Nuys. Ends Oct. 9. Tickets are $10, $7 students and SAG members. Call (213) 658-9655.

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JOYFUL NOISE: Actress Annette Bening will perform Oct. 1 at a benefit for Glendale’s classical theater company, A Noise Within.

The fund-raiser, called “A Glorious Noise Within,” will feature Bening, plus pianist and composer Norman Henry Mamey and a program of scenes from the classical repertoire, performed by company members.

Bening’s film credits include “Valmont,” “Regarding Henry,” “The Grifters” and “Bugsy.” With her husband, Warren Beatty, she has recently completed two productions.

Their film “Love Affair,” a remake of 1957’s “An Affair to Remember,” starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, opens Oct. 14. Their son, whose name has not been announced, was born Aug. 23.

A Noise Within’s artistic director Art Manke said they are thrilled to have Bening.

“We wanted to find someone who has a common history,” Manke said. “Someone trained in classical theater.”

Bening was trained at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre, along with several other members of A Noise Within.

“She came by to see ‘The School for Wives’ last spring,” Manke said. “And we invited her to come and perform.”

Just exactly what she will perform has not been finalized, Manke said.

“A Glorious Noise Within” will begin at 7 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Chevy Chase Country Club. Tickets for the black-tie optional event are $75. Call (818) 546-1924.

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THE SHOW GOES ON: Cal State Northridge’s largest venue, the Campus Theater, is still closed, due to earthquake damage. Campus officials said they hope to have it open and operating by February, 1995. Other sections of the drama building have reopened but are still in need of repair. Regardless, Cal State Northridge’s fall 1994 theater season is going on.

“We’re back in business; that impresses me more than anything,” said Jeffrey Levy, CSUN’s theater manager.

CSUN’s theater arts department will open the season with “Cloud 9” on Oct. 14 in the Studio Theatre, in the school’s drama building. Levy describes Caryl Churchill’s “Cloud 9” as a modern play about sexual roles and sexual preferences. It will run through Oct. 17.

Mozart’s opera “Cosi Fan Tutte,” staged and conducted by music professor David W. Scott, will be presented in the Little Theatre on Oct. 21 through 30. A musical, “Once on This Island,” with book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty, will be presented as a dinner theater event Nov. 10 through 19 in the Satellite Student Union.

“Medea’s Children,” written by Per Lys Ander and Suzanne Osten, will be performed Nov. 18 through Dec. 4 in the Studio Theatre. The play deals with divorce from a child’s point of view.

This production also will have daytime matinees scheduled for school groups.

Additionally, two student-guided productions that are part of an experimental course also will be staged.

“Microwave Drama: Theater in 5 Minutes,” a series of short original plays, will be presented free in the University Student Union during school hours Oct. 12, 14 and 15.

“Passages,” a stage adaptation of interviews conducted by Katsuyo K. Howard, will be offered in the Little Theatre from Dec. 1 through Dec. 4.

Tickets to these productions are available at the Student Union Ticket Office, 18111 Nordhoff St., 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and at Ticketmaster outlets. Ticket s range from $5 to $11. Call (818) 885-2488.