"InTheater," the weekly theatre magazine, may be going the way of its predecessor, the defunct "Theater Week." The publication, founded a little over two years ago and struggling for some time now, failed to hit the stands on Dec. 10. Sources say it may not last out the year.

Signs of trouble have been surfacing for weeks. Editor Kathy Henderson recently made it known she would leave her post at the end of the month, and there have been reports that the staff has not been paid for weeks. No one was picking up the phone at the magazine's offices and a message to publisher Michael A. Parker was not returned by press time.

"InTheater" rose out of the ashes of "Theater Week," which expired in late 1996 after a ten-year run. The new magazine retained many of the former's staff members and stuck close to "Theatre Week" format of glossy features, reviews, gossip and general Broadway boosterism. Yet, like "Theater Week," "InTheater" failed to find a sizable audience.

Print publications devoted exclusively to theatre have grown fewer and fewer over the years. Yet remaining are "American Theatre," a monthly devoted to non-profit theatre, and "Back Stage," a trade weekly read mainly for it casting notices.

-- By Robert Simonson