FIRST OFF . . .

The Mark Taper Forum has snagged two award-winning stage and film actresses, Jane Alexander and Anne Bancroft, to star in the American premiere of Manuel Puig’s “Mystery of the Rose Bouquet.” The casting marks the Taper debut for both actresses. “Mystery” will run Nov. 16-Dec. 17 as the second production of the Forum’s 23rd season at the Music Center. Robert Allan Ackerman is directing the play, which is described as a psychological mystery “about the lives, fears and hopes of two women who work through a tense, complex relationship as patient and nurse and gradually form a special kinship and affection.” Bancroft plays the patient, and Alexander is the nurse. Previews for “Mystery of the Rose” start Nov. 5. Bancroft has Tony Awards for “Two for a Seesaw” and “The Miracle Worker,” and Alexander has a Tony for “The Great White Hope.”