As first reported by Playbill On-Line (Feb. 26), Peter Ackerman's new comedy, Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight, will follow James Naughton: Street of Dreams into Off-Broadway's Promenade Theatre on the Upper West Side. Things will begins previews April 22 for an opening May 13, according to a casting notice in Back Stage. John Rando will direct. Jeffrey Richards, Ted Snowden, Jean Doumanian, Soloway/Levy and Good Friends/Michael Rothfeld are the producers.

Described as a "comedy in three beds," the play involves three romantic couples: waspy Nancy and Jewish Ben; Italian hit-man Gene and thrill seeking Grace; and gay therapist Mark (Grace is a patient, Gene is his brother) and Mr. Abramson, a Jewish man in his 60s.

Rando is known for his work on David Ives' plays such as Mere Mortals and Lives of the Saints. He is also set to mount Do Re Mi at City Center for the Encores! series, said producer Richards.

Things, which will receive its premiere in New York, is Ackerman's first play. The author, 28, previous worked in another branch of the theatre -- as an understudy in the Off-Broadway play Visiting Mr. Green.

James Naughton's solo cabaret show, James Naughton: Street of Dreams , which opened at the Promenade on Feb. 4 to good reviews recently extended its run until Apr. 11. Originally the show was to shutter March 14. The Yasmina Reza play The Unexpected Man, starring Eileen Atkins, is scheduled to begin performances at the Promenade come September 1999.

-- By Robert Simonson