The play — set in a hot, dry landscape, where life is nothing but "diggin' and eatin' and prayin' and sleepin'" — is directed by New Georges' associate director Sarah Cameron Sunde, at the Ohio Theatre in Soho.

*

According to production notes, the play "finds Lad, who's astonished by the arrival of his manhood. The men of the town laugh at his questions, respond with useless remedies and outsize alarm, and his Pa's advice just won't do. He's forced to wonder whether the devil got into him or whether it's just the lure of what's 'over thar?' Against a backdrop of entrenched fear and immobility, Smith's stimulating and provocative new drama has found a way to talk about the danger of ignorance, the necessity of change, and how instruments of community propriety hold fear in place and keep societies, even the smallest ones, in check."

The acting company includes Paul Klementowicz (Burly Man), April Matthis (Ol'Heif), John McAdams (Pa), Barbara Pitts (Ma), Yves Rene (Old Man) and Christopher Ryan Richards (Lad).

The creative team includes set designer Lauren Helpern, costume designer Olivera Gajic, lighting designer Juliet Chia and sound designer Katie Down. The production stage manager is Pamela Salling. Writer Maggie Smith (not to be confused with the famed British actress) is perhaps best known to date for her play Henrietta Hermaline's Fall from Great Heights, a one-act that was first presented in New York City by Youngblood, Ensemble Studio Theatre's group for emerging playwrights, in their Thicker Than Water 2006 lineup. Prior to New York, Henrietta Hermaline was awarded the New Orleans Theatre Festival Grand Prize when it premiered at Le Chat Noir in New Orleans. Her work has also been presented at New Jersey Dramatists, New Dramatists, The Arc Theatre, DIG, and by The Purple Rose Theatre Company. She is the co-founder of the Umbrella Grottesco Theatre, a New Orleans-based commedia dell'arte street performance company, with whom she has written and performed.

Ohio Theatre is at 66 Wooster Street (between Spring and Broome Streets). Opening night is Oct. 8.

New Georges (Susan Bernfield, artistic director) is the Obie-winning downtown theatre company founded in 1992. Its previous productions were the critical and audience hits, God's Ear by Jenny Schwartz and Dead City by Sheila Callaghan.

Good Heif is produced for New Georges by Susan Bernfield and Catherine Ward.

The Good Heif performance schedule will be Wednesdays through Mondays at 8 PM (except opening night, Oct. 8 at 7 PM and Saturdays, Oct. 20 and 27 at 7 and 10 PM). There will be another additional performance on Saturday, Oct. 6 at 4 PM. Tickets will be $20 ($15 for students and seniors). Monday night performances are "pay-what-you-will" at the door only. TDF vouchers will be accepted.

For reservations, call (212) 868-4444 or www.smarttix.com. For more information and group rates call (646) 336-8077.

For more information visit www.newgeorges.org.