Blocker, who also plays all the roles in the magnolia-scented tale, plays his first performance Jan. 7 and opens Jan. 21. The play, which only appears on Wednesdays, will now run to March 25, the producers announced Jan. 7. (The run was originally announced to play to Feb. 25.) Cheryl King directs the Equity production at the intimate Stage Left Studio Theatre at 438 West 37th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues.

According to production notes, Blocker "valiantly plays all of the eccentric citizenry caught up in the now infamous incident that tore through Aberdeen like a tornado on its way to Biloxi. The whole thing started when Viola Haygood, the Assistant Librarian of the Charles B. Evans Memorial Library, fell in love for the umpteenth time. This one was new in town. He was tall. He was dark. He was handsome. And he smelled really good."

Blocker's plays include Eula Mae's Beauty, Bait & Tackle (co-authored with Chuck Richards), seen Off-Broadway in 2001; Suite Atlanta, Patient Number The Wisconsinners, Air Marshals, Jesus Takes Manhattan, Clarabee in Wichita Falls and the book to the musical Alice with composer William Wade. He also co-authored Macbeth: The Murder Mystery with Lydia Bolen-Gordon and Chameleüns with Rochelle Burdine.

Southern Gothic Novel has been seen at New York International Fringe Festival, Left Out Festival, Midtown Theatre Festival and in Columbus, Baltimore and Atlanta.

Director King is the owner and artistic and managing director of Stage Left Studio, the only solo-show repertory theatre in New York City. She is the resident acting coach at "All My Children," the Emmy-winning daytime drama at ABC.

Tickets are $25. For more information visit www.SmartTix.com or call (212) 868-4444.