With several other adaptations to his credit, Jeffrey Hatcher (The Turn of the Screw, Miss Nelson Is Missing) is trying his pen with one of George Bernard Shaw's lesser-known works, The Unsocial Socialist. Entitled Smash, Hatcher's comedy plays San Diego's Old Globe Theatre May 26.

The title character is millionaire socialist Sidney Trefusis, who abandons his future bride Henrietta to become a groundskeeper at a women's college where he hopes to incite proletariat unrest. His jilted lover, however, disagrees with his plan to use women to revolutionize the country — shouldn't they be allowed to decide their own political fate without the urgings of a man? The novel An Unsocial Socialist was written by Shaw in 1883.

Charles Borland stars as Sidney with Jennifer Roszell ("Guiding Light," Cellini) as Henrietta. Paul Benedict ("The Jeffersons," The Music Man) is featured as Lumpkin. Also in the cast are Priscilla Allen (Miss Wilson), Eric Martin Brown (Sir Charles Brandon), Michael Kary (Chichester Erskine), Laurel Moglen (Agatha Wylie), Jack Ryland (Mr. Jansenius), Emelyn Thayer (Jane Carpenter) and Michelle Vazquez (Gertrude Lindsay).

Single tickets to Globe Theatres productions are $25-$45. The Globe Theatres are located in Balboa Park. For reservations, call (619) 239 2255. The Globe Theatres are on the web at http://www.theglobetheatres.org.

— By Christine Ehren