The Dolphinback Theatre Company of Chicago will open its eighth season will nothing less than a world premiere by Lee Blessing. Rewrites will open March 19. The play is the culmination of Blessing' residency at the Dolphinback.

The new work by the author of Cobb and A Walk in the Woods takes a tip from the recent mania for reality-based television shows. A TV producer returns to his childhood home — which just happens to a Frank Lloyd Wright mansion — with the idea of using his family of artists (including novelist dad, Wright biographer mom, and artist brother) in a new broadcast event.

The cast includes Dolphinback company member Susie Dietz (Joy), General Manager Matt McGaughey (Lyle), Artistic Director Matt Wallace (Pryor), and guest artists Kevin Asselin (Merce), Michael Falls (Worth), and Lynne Hall (Dulcie). Ellen Bean Larabee, who piloted the Midwest premiere of Blessing's Chesapeake, directs.

Tickets are $15. The Dolphinback performs out of the Chopin Studio Theatre, 1543 W. Division St. For more information, call (312) 409-7980 or go to www.dolphinback.com.

Blessing has been a playwright-in-residence before. The second season of the Signature Theatre Company in New York City was dedicated to his plays. After several years in which the playwright's work was not represented on New York stages, the past couple years have seen major Off-Broadway productions of Chesapeake and Cobb. Furthermore, Blessing's Thief River will bow at the Signature later this year. —By Robert Simonson