New York will have a brush with Brasch this week -- noted German playwright Thomas Brasch, who's getting his North American debut at NYC's Theatre For The New City, Dec. 4-21. The Other Theatre, a company formed by Joseph Chaikin in 1975, is producing, rasch's satirical work, Women. War. Comedy. Translated by Norbert Reubsaat, the piece shows two women remembering "and reinventing" their own lives against the background of 20th century war. Parts one and three feature the two women (played by Rosemary Quinn and Wendy vanden Heuvel) while the middle section has "an unexpected intermezzo with seven men" (played by Steven Michael Harper, Reuben Jackson, Mark Anthony Henry, Jesse Means, Patrick Morris, Carvell Wallace and Mabou Mines' co-artistic director, Frederick Neumann.

Designing the show are Dave Moodey (lighting) and Christine Jones (set).

Born in the UK (1945), Brasch lives in Berlin as a poet, dramatist and director. His honors include a Kleist Prize for drama. According to spokesperson Ron Lasko (of the Zeisler Group) "Frauen. Krieg. Lustspiel" (1988) has been performed across Europe "in France in French, and in Spain in Spanish, as well as throughout Germany."

For tickets ($15) and information on The Other Theatre's Women. War. Comedy at Theatre For The New City, 155 1st Ave., call (212) 332-0636.

-- By David Lefkowitz