Andrew Leynse kicks off his first season as Primary Stages new artistic director with Call the Children Home, a new musical by the late Thomas Babe (book) and Mildred Kayden (music and lyrics). Ken Gash directs. The show commenced Sept. 12 and will run through Oct. 13.

The world premiere musical is about two youngsters who go searching for their roots in the Storyville district of New Orleans.

Christiane Noll, Tamara Tunie and Sean McDermott star. Noll is the star of such shows as Jekyll & Hyde, Little by Little and Ain't Nothin' But the Blues.

Thomas Babe, a playwright whose work was a mainstay at the Public Theater in the late '70s and early '80s, died Dec. 6, 2000.

Playwright Gurney sees his The Fourth Wall take to the New York stage for the first time at Primary Stages Oct. 30-Dec. 1, 2002. David Saint directs the comedy in which the audience will play the title role while four suburbanites inhabit the other portion of the stage. Primary Stages was founded in 1985. Since its inception, the theatre company has given voice to many developing American playwrights and produced many new American plays. Among them have been a number of David Ives plays including All in the Timing, Don Juan in Chicago, Ancient History/English Made Simple and Mere Mortals and Others as well as Mac Wellman's The Hyacinth Macaw and Second-Hand Smoke, Melissa Manchester and Jeffrey Sweet's I Sent a Letter to My Love, Donald Margulies' The Model Apartment and Romulus Linney's 2.

Leynse assumes the artistic director position previously held by Casey Childs on Sept. 1. Longtime associate Childs will take on the position of executive producer.

For tickets to shows at Primary Stages, 354 West 45 Street (between Eighth and Ninth Ave.), call (212) 333-4052. For more information, visit them online at www.primarystages.com.

—By Robert Simonson