After 24 previews and 174 regular performances, the raunchy off Broadway comedy, Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight, will close at the Promenade Theatre, Oct. 10.

Ackerman's sexually-tinged farce started previews April 23 and opened May 13. Recent attempts to perk up the box office have included adding of Larry Storch and Hazelle Goodman to the cast, and holding post-show panels with "sexperts."

The ribald comedy tells of a couple (Kate Gleason and Mark Kassen) who find their coitus interrupted by a 3 AM squabble over three little words -- and they're not "I love you." She runs to her best friend (Goodman), who in turn is having her own situation: a fling with a dangerous doofus (Peter Rini) who wants to be more than just her "boytoy."

Goodman's other credits include a featured role as "Cookie" in Woody Allen's "Deconstructing Harry" and a memorable stint as a crime lord on NBC TV's "Homicide." Supporting player Storch's legit credits include OB's Breaking Legs and a Broadway revival of Arsenic and Old Lace. Rini's Broadway credits include A View From The Bridge and Proposals.

Jeffrey Richards, Ted Snowden, Jean Doumanian, Soloway/Levy and Good Friends/Michael Rothfeld are the producers of Things, which is Ackerman's first play. The author, 28, previously worked in another branch of the theatre -- as an understudy in the Off-Broadway play Visiting Mr. Green. Production spokespersons at the Jeffrey Richards press office note that Midnight is already gearing up for stagings in South Africa and Israel in the year 2000.

If Memory Serves, the new comedy starring Elizabeth Ashley, may be the next tenant at the Promenade Theatre. Producer Charles Duggan told Playbill On-Line in June that the play was first in line to move into the house.

For tickets and information on Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight call (212) 580-1313. On Oct. 4, author ("Run Catch Kiss") and former New York Press columnist Amy Sohn, and Time Out New York sex columnist Jamie Bufalino will be post-show guest panelists, with author Ackerman and cast-members joining the forum.

-- By David Lefkowitz