The Texas company nabbed the rights for the work, which will be produced for a Jan. 27-Feb. 26, 2006, run at their Neuhaus Stage .

Set in an unnamed totalitarian state, The Pillowman follows the story of a writer named Katurian Katurian who is brought in by the police for questioning when plotlines of his stories — which involve disturbingly gruesome tales — begin to resemble real-life murders.

The Pillowman made its world premiere at London's National Theatre in 2003 and then reached Broadway in 2004. The work won the Olivier Award and Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Play. The Alley has previously produced the London-born writer's The Beauty Queen of Leenane.

The new Alley Theatre season will kick off with Tom Stoppard's Hapgood (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) and continue with Dixie Carter and Hal Holbrook in the Ken Ludwig world premiere comedy Be My Baby (Sept. 30-Oct. 23) and A Christmas Carol – A Ghost Story of Christmas (Nov. 22-Dec. 28). The new year brings Culture Clash in AmeriCCa (Jan. 6-29, 2006), Garson Kanin's Born Yesterday (Feb. 24-March 19, 2006) starring Marisa Tomei, Austin Pendleton's Orson's Shadow (March 31-April 30, 2006), Theatre de la Jeune Lune's production of The Miser (April 7-30, 2006) and Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution (May 12 June 4, 2006).

Tickets and season subscriptions can be purchased at the Alley Theatre Box Office, 615 Texas Ave. in Houston, TX, by phone at (713) 228-8421 or on the web at www.alleytheatre.org .