April 4, 1982

What is believed to be the first row of townhouses built in Manhattan since the turn of the century is rapidly nearing completion on East 67th Street between Second and Third Avenues. There, 11 one-family houses that will sell for several million dollars each when they go on sale next summer are being built by Sheldon Solow.

The magicians, dancers, jugglers and acrobats of the Chinese Magic Circus of Taiwan will perform tomorrow at the State Theater in New Brunswick. The circus is on a 15-week tour of the United States, but tomorrow's performance, which begins at 7:30 P.M., will be the 18-member troupe's only appearance in New Jersey. ''This is an authentic Chinese troupe; only two or three speak English,'' said Eric Krebs, producing director of the George Street Playhouse, also in New Brunswick. The circus's roots are deep in Chinese culture, with most of the acts dating back 2,000 years. On a visit to the United States in 1978, the Chinese Magic Circus appeared at Madison Square Garden's Felt Forum.

At the Lamplighter School, a private elementary school in Dallas, a 5-year-old was recently overheard speaking disparagingly of a fellow student: ''Jonathan is already 4, and he can't do the computer.'' At Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, beginning five years from now, every student will be given a computer for personal and academic use. Computers are becoming a familiar part of classroom life for students of all ages, challenging educators to re-examine some cherished ideas about what to teach, and when, and how. Computers are making it possible for third graders and fourth graders to work with elementary concepts of geometry several years earlier than usual. Some colleges are beginning to add such requirements as ''computer literacy.'' The technology has also resulted in traditional concepts of authority being called into question because students often know more than their teachers about computer-related problems.

For 150 years, London was more amused than interested when Buenos Aires heatedly and repeatedly asserted sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, 5,000 square miles of rocky, wind-blown South Atlantic sheep pasture with possible oilfields off-shore. Last week, Argentina finally got Britain's attention. It sent 4,000 troops to seize the 200 islands (population 1,800 humans and 700,000 mostly absentee-owned sheep) which Britain had ruled since ousting an Argentine garrison in 1833. In brief fighting with 80 defending British marines, an Argentine officer was killed. Argentine newspapers reported continuing scattered resistance by the islanders.

What has happened to the independent producer? The League of New York Theaters and Producers has about twice as many members now as 10 years ago, but this may suggest only that the passion to produce burns as brightly as ever, and not that producing is less hazardous or more fun. It costs far more to produce than it ever did, and because of the risks there is a new route that producers must take to bring a show to Broadway. It begins in the regional theaters or Off Broadway; it winds through agents' offices; it is trod by producers in droves. It has to do with money. ''I hate it when the press ridicules the number of producers who are involved in a single play,'' the independent producer Emanuel Azenberg says. ''There are more producers because it takes more to raise the money.'' ''I remember Lillian Hellman telling me that 'The Children's Hour' cost $10,000 to produce,'' Lester Osterman, another independent producer, says. ''Now it would cost $700,000. You just can't raise that money among a few friends.''