David Schwimmer, star of TV phenomenon "Friends," is returning to the stage to appear in d-girl, a one-act comedy by Roger Kumble, opening March 4 and running through April 20 at the Century City Playhouse in Los Angeles.

Schwimmer plays an ambitious screenwriter seeking an affair with an innocent young development girl. Jennifer Crystal portrays d-girl's heroine, a young woman struggling with the boundaries between her professional and personal life.

d-girl also stars Andrea Bendewald, Tom Hodges and Joe Dietl.

Kumble, a feature screenwriter and script doctor, co-produces with Theater-A-Go-Go! founder Jessica Hughes. Hughes, Kumble, Schwimmer, and several other cast members are alumni of Northwestern University.

Kumble's screenwriting credits include Unveiled, and National Lampoon's Senior Trip. His last show, Pay or Play, starred "The Single Guy" Jonathan Silverman, and received the 1993 LA Weekly Award for Best Comic Writing. Kumble confirmed the report and told Playbill On-Line, "Schwimmer plays the same character as Silverman--it's a Brighton Beach kinda thing." Kumble admits, " There are definite shades of me in the character. . .[except] this guys a drug addict..."

It was at a New Year's Eve party in Los Angeles, where Kumble reconnected with Schwimmer after two years, that the collaboration began. Schwimmer, who is also co-founder of Chicago's Lookinglass Theatre Company, expressed sincere interest in Kumble's new play, and persuaded him to send a copy. The day after Schwimmer received it, he called Kumble and said "I want to do this."

"I can't say enough good things about David and his passion for the work," Kumble says, "he sees something he likes and he responds to it, even if it's a little Equity-waiver play."

Kumble came to playwrighting out of the frustration of working in feature films, where he seldom recognizes his writing by the time it gets to the big screen. He says, "I love the control of putting up a play."

Kumble's 80-minute d-girl came out of his experiences working with many young women in the Hollywood development scene, and witnessing the challenges they face around combining their professional and personal lives.

Kumble considers d-girl to be a full-length play. "I don't believe in intermissions," he says, "especially in Hollywood." Tickets are $16. For tickets or more information, call (213) 660-TKTS, or refer to the Century City Playhouse regional listing on Playbill On-Line.

--By Blair Glaser