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Chelsea Theatreu / : - j . i m n u %u00bb v pSpring FestivalEl Teatro Campesino, the farmworkers%u2019 theater from San Juan Bautista, Calif., recipient of raves during its past New York performances, opens tonight with a new work, %u201cLa Carpa de Los Rasquachis%u201d (The Tent of the Underdog) at the Chelsea Theater in the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The third event of Chelsea%u2019s %u201cmini festival%u201d of four productions, El Teatro will run until April 22, break for a few days, and then resume from April 26 to 29.The festival's first presentation, the Gerald Hiken-Paul E. Richards %u201cNew Theater,%u201d began with a sequence that seemed to locate the two and only players in a postGodot world %u2014 without a frame %u2014 beyond the idea of expectation. The partners%u2019 second act play, a tale of Yiddish actors come to America, seemed to offer the background to renunciation. The Statue of Liberty didn%u2019t wave hello, to the newcomers, nor did they find diamonds in the streets. Hopes for starring roles faded to acceptance of walk-on parts. Hiken and Richards were able to combine the literal sense of that early Twentieth Century New York time, with an overall understanding of the death of hope, and wound up endearing themselves to the small Chelsea audiences.The Iowa Lab Theater, the second mini festival trip, never got off the ground. Coming on heavy with comparisons to Grotowski%u2019s polish %u201cPoor Peoples Theater,%u201d and holy with rulings %u2014 %u201cNo more than 30 in each audience %u2014 no one allowed in after curtain,%u201d the presentation called %u201c The Naming,%u201d turned out to be a ripoff, a sometime parody of Grotowski%u2019s concepts.Player and audience proximity did not bring on relatedness, nor even strong acknowledgment of separation. Rather, the audience became witness to the fine techniques of romp and rampage enacted by the near silent cast of four.And, after a long last watch over a player fixed in tortured shape and another posing dead, the unspoken audience communication became %u201cWho dares to stomp out first?%u201d At last a leader stood, walked across the stage and lifted the curtain. Before the next test however, the remaining viewers were told by a member of the production that it was indeed time to go.The Tube Watch:Hamill%u2019s MediaMixed With SlickBY JOHN BLACKMOREPete Hamill will soon be turning 40, but before the arteries harden, he%u2019s out launching a new career, as TV script w riter. The Post columnist and Park-Slope-boymade-good had his day in court Sunday night when %u201cNightside,%u201d a TV pilot created and written by him, previewed on ABC-TV. Will the fine anger and perceptive eye that graces his column from time to time find a national constituency? Not on this one, I judge.The %u201cNightside%u201d pilot was a kaleidoscopic treatm ent of M anhattan%u2019s macho crowd. It consisted of three subplots loosely congealed around the involvement of a Broadway hype-man played by John Cassavetes. Plot I: aging film star tries a comeback with a disastrous movie, but regains her niche in the public heart ; Plot II: Eastside bistro owner fights a construction magnate who wants her property; and Plot III: young building heir loses everything when his illicit activities are exposed, but discovers his heritage and regains his soul. These three B-movie plots are compacted into fifty minutes through pretentiously fancy camera work.But where was Hamill%u2019s own soul in all of this? Not a nugget of it was evident in %u201cNightside.%u201d Not that we didn%u2019t look for it, but the verbovisual barrage gobbed over any potential humanity the thickerthan-life slices might have had. At one instance we thought we heard Hamill%u2019s voice giving a rationaleS T9-9767joe's Place2 6 4 W o v e rly Ave.%u2022Good Food %u2022Q uaint Atmosphere %u2022 Near BAM and PRATTfor living among the Gawd-aweful. %u201cBecause this is the only place that lets me and my people live,%u201d drawl%u2019s Cassavetes. But instead of the truth of Gotham, We get a fairy tale of the poor little beautiful people.Perhaps the point to be gleaned from %u201cNightside%u201d is that when you write for the American TV public, sentimentality, slick action, and cleverness inevitably triumph over attem pts at art. After even HamiU%u2019s own paper panned the program, Hamill took his out: blaming the ABC editors for the %u201cdisaster.%u201d If he had known what they had done to his creation, he would have extricated his name from the credits. Maybe a parody of who slicks whom in the TV industry would make a better story.S* Eating Out *With the PHOENIXThe Coach InnPHOENIX, Page FiveThe perennial drinking spot of Park Slope is now a place to dine as well. The Coach Inn at 148 Seventh Avenue has recently opened the rear of the establishment as a restaurant, where \Fare%u201d is served nightly from 5 - 9 p.m. (save Sundays). While not a top on the gourmet circuit, a hearty meal can be had at the Coach without a hearty bite on the pocketbook.The Coach is a stolid newold taverne, tidily decorated in neo-Americana. The atmosphere is amiable and relaxed; the clientele mostly young people and neighborhood cronies. Passing beyond the bar, one meets a partition setting off a cozy dining nook with a halfdozen checkeredtableclothed tables. Chalked on a slate tablet is the evening's menu.On the night the PHOENIX came to call, there were five dinner entrees, ranging from a 60 cent beefburger platter to the sizzling sirloin steak for $2.95. In between, the menu varies from day to day with meat and potato offerings (such as chicken, chops, stews, etc.). All entrees are served with a choice of two vegetables, rolls and butter.We chose the baked Virginia ham dinner, served with a baked potato and green beans. The ham was ample and satisfying. Our dinner companion had the fried shrimp with french fries and vegetables. Hereported that the shrimp was crisp, breaded lightly,~ %u2014 ~J fn n r lA ,. A U ,; aU 4- L ^a n u i c i i u c i . n iu iig v v iu i u ictrimmings, both meals were hot, home-style and %u2014 well %u2014 hearty. The dessert offering included a selection of pies, pineapple and dutch apple were the evening's choices. We didn't partake, however, already satiated with the main courses.As to ambiance, it's all a matter of taste and habit. And if you who prefers dining informally in a friendly atmosphere, you will enjoy the Coach. Animated conversation abounds among the clientele, and hurry and bustle are pleasantly absent.All in all there was little to deter us from an enjoyable evening at the Coach Inn. The food was good, the servings large and the prices reasonable. And if you%u2019re not careful, you just might forget your next appointment or date and end up perched on a bar stool lifting beers with the local notables through the night.Jamaican Dancers Delight BAM Audienceby Judith SchmuklerThe Jamaica National Dance Theatre Company opened its premiere season in New York at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on April 10 to a very receptive, enthusiastic audience.The eleven-year-old company has retained its amateur standing inasmuch as none of the performers earns his livelihood as a member of the group. They range from civil servants to teachers to a lawyer. Rex Nettleford, the artistic director, principal choreographer and leading dancer was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and is now a professor of modern political thought at the West Indian University in Kingston.In exploring the folk idiom of Jamaica and the West Indies, Nettleford and his dancers have employed a combination of ethnic and modern dance techniques. Some works are directly based upon religious and social cults and utilize m aterials from thoseoriginal sources; others are dancedramas and while they are also based in local tradition, rely more heavily on modern dance techniques.The structure of these latter pieces was rather naive and obvious but the energy and vitality with which they were performedhelped to overcome this weakness. The dancers, particularly Thomas Pinnock and Rex Nettleford, performed with great style and exuberance.Bright festive costumes and settings, excellent singers and drummers added to the delight of this festive occasion.KLYN HEIGHTS Cinem a*(STARTING THURS.APR. 19| Smith Bottoms'One delightfuhilariousheart achr ^of aA>: 2:00-4:00-6:00-8:00-10:00pm70 HENRY ST oi ORANGE ST_ _ Tel S96 7070 _ W.;d. thru Tues. A p ril 18-24THE WITTIEST, WARMT H AND M (Jjf IN G R A TIA TIN G M O VIE TO APPEAR IN A LO N G TIME\-N . Y . Times All about love and marriage!W&Ker CarolMatthau Burnettliel0-4:00-5:50-7:40-9:30pmEat Drink & Be MerryAt the 1880's Tavern in Boerum HillKitchen OpenFridays A Saturdays 6-1Corner Hoyt & BergenJose & Angelo T.,: 858.3392jjM M M M M M flM M g Q llilQ O QOOOOOQQOQQOOOOOOOOOOOOOOgC c W L lld sM o n r t K j u eL u r%u00ab c K ^ P t r m eS a k + S u n C r u n c h i M f + l151 H o n b ^ u e S h -e e t Brooklyn HeightsOiDts'T &CT To THlSyeAR ?TT)%u20ach visit A\\li. 50UVLAKJIH 7 AAowT a ^ u l St:th %u00a3 & J L h %u00a34P.m. - closed12P.m.tues.tPSe Otun f i t l i n n 'yr- %u25a0vj rw-j %u25bc %u25bc%u25bc%u25bcBest Value in the SlopeHome Cooked Dinnersfe a tu rin gO ur la rg e S irloin Steak on S izzilin g Platterfor 2 . 9 j Inm -Onm Dailv %u2014 --- - l~ %u2022' 0Except Sun. 148- 7 Ave (NR. G a rfie ld PI.)