The critically-acclaimed Off-Broadway company is "dedicated to presenting neglected or rarely produced plays of literary merit."

TACT co-artistic director Scott Alan Evans (The Cocktail Party, The Triangle Factory Fire Project) directs the New England-set play, which was first performed in London in 1974. The TACT staging plays Theatre Row's Beckett Theatre (410 W. 42nd Street) through Nov. 20. Opening night is Oct. 27.

Here's how TACT bills Children: "In the summer of 1970, a wealthy family celebrates the Fourth of July in their ancestral summer home on an island off the coast of New England. When an estranged son unexpectedly arrives, traditions are questioned, secrets revealed and the course of the future changes for them all. Loosely based on a short story by John Cheever, this early work crackles with witty repartee, repressed feelings and everything we've come to expect from this preeminent chronicler of the American WASP."

Children, TACT notes point out, "was also the first work of his to depict the well-healed Northeastern WASPs on which so many of his plays are centered." Children has had three different East Coast productions over the years, TACT's staging will be its first major revival since its New York City debut in 1974.

Lawrence plays the (widowed) matriarch, Nichols is daughter Barbara and Thieriot is son Randy. Wright plays Jane, wife of Randy.
  The creative team includes Brett J. Banakis (sets), Haley Lieberman (costumes), Bradley King (lights), Stephen Kunken (sound), and Lauren Madden (properties). Robert V. Thurber is production stage manager.

Tickets are available at TeleCharge.com and at (212) 239-6200. Tickets are also available at the Theatre Row box office (410 West 42nd Street between 9th & 10th Avenues.

To learn about the benefits of TACT membership, visit www.tactnyc.org or call (212) 645-8228.