According to producers Nancy Richards and Carol Ostrow, the tour of Anne Meara's Off-Broadway hit, After-Play has been postponed from winter 1996 and will instead begin with a small, summer-circuit tour.

Richards told Playbill On-Line the reason for the decision was because the production "couldn't book enough cities in the time alloted."

The show will play such towns as Westport, Ogunquit and Cape Cod, this summer, with Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara appearing in the show, as they did Off Broadway.

The news came to Playbill On-Line's attention when the Stamford Center for the Arts replaced After-Play's scheduled engagement there, Feb. 11-Feb. 16, 1997, with the Off-Broadway bound musical, Tap Dogs. According to Richards, most other theatres affected by the change have replaced After-Play with the Faye Dunaway tour of Master Class.

Robert Vaughan, director of professional rights for Dramatists Play Service and controller of the play's production rights, told Playbill On-Line the show would have a life after its summer mini-tour. Though not yet cast, productions are being scheduled for Memphis' Playhouse On The Square (June 1997), the Pasadena Playhouse (Sept-Oct. 1997) and Atlanta (Autumn 1997). There has also been serious interest from theatres in Florida, Toronto, Chicago and Oklahoma, as well as requests from Australia and Hungary. "We're only looking at professional companies at this point in time," Vaughan said. --By David Lefkowitz