Monster Mash: News and Headlines

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-- The arts community reacts to recently reported financial woes at MOCA. The Times’ Mike Boehm talked about the issue yesterday with Larry Mantle on KPPC-FM 89.3 (here’s the link to the audio). And a public discussion Sunday will tackle the topic.

-- Gustavo Dudamel, who takes over as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2009, surprised violinist Gil Shaham last night by showing up at Lincoln Center during a PBS broadcast performance of ‘Live From Lincoln Center’ to present Shaham with the 2008 Avery Fisher Prize.

-- Crime novelist Patricia Cornwell has donated $1 million to Harvard University to establish a conservation scientist position to further the examination of art materials.

-- Quebecois theater artist Robert LePage -- who is appearing with Ex Machina in ‘The Blue Dragon’ through Saturday at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse -- will team up with dancer Sylvia Guillem and choreographer Russell Maliphant to create a new show called ‘Eonnagata’ to be part of the 2009 season at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre.

-- The Cleveland Museum of Art will turn over ancient artifacts and an early Renaissance cross to Italy, Italian officials announced Wednesday.

-- Writer Irving Brecher, who penned jokes for Milton Berle and scripted Marx Brothers movies, has died in Los Angeles at age 94. Read our obituary.

-- Diane Haithman