After winning strong praise for their previous productions of Ecstasy, Curtains and the recent This Is Our Youth, the New Group hope to continue their hot streak with The Flatted Fifth a drama by Seth Zvi Rosenfeld. Associate artistic director Jo Bonney directs the show, now in previews for a Feb. 10 opening.

In Fifth, a Jewish filmmaker from New York's inner city finds his relationship with his African-American girlfriend starting to unravel when he travels to Israel with his ex-best friend, a Hispanic poet. Issues of cultural identity, commitment and friendship surface.

Starring in Rosenfeld's play are Danny Hoch (Some People), Sarita Choudhury (star of film's Mississippi Masala), Nicole Parker, Benny Nieves, Rebecca Cohen Alpert and David Deblinger. Rosenfeld's other plays include Servy-N-Bernice 4Ever, A Brother's Kiss and A Passover Story. Director Bonney has staged five of her husband, Eric Bogosian's monologues, as well as the Washington DC mounting of his subUrbia.

With sets by Kevin Joseph Roach, lighting by Traci Klainer-McDonnell, costumes by Kaye Voyce and sound by Oliver James, The Flatted Fifth will open at Intar, 420 West 42nd St., Feb. 10. For tickets ($15) and information, call (212) 279-4200.

--By David Lefkowitz