1962 For two weeks only Ahab will chase Moby Dick. Orson Welles' adaptation of the Melville novel, featuring Rod Steiger, will last just this long at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

1968 Morning, Noon, and Night, three avant-garde plays by Israel Horvitz, Terrence McNally, and Leonard Melfi respectively, opens at the Henry Miller Theatre. Theodore Mann directs what will be 52 performances. The cast includes Robert Klein and Sorrell Booke.

1972 Via Galactica opens at the new Uris Theatre with a $900,000 price tag. Peter Hall directs, Galt McDermot provides the score for what will be a run of seven performances.

1978 What are Porno Stars at Home like? Leonard Melfi's play highlights a birthday party with imaginary guests from that industry. It will run two months at the Courtyard Playhouse.

2000 In a collaboration, Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project travel to Wyoming and interview folks about the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard. The show created, The Laramie Project, will be presented in Laramie, opening tonight. Gay university student Shepard was beaten to death on the outskirts of town. The crime sparked outrage, debate and mourning around the world. Although some of those interviewed in the western plains region did see the show in its premiere at the Denver Center Theatre Company in February 2000 and in Manhattan at the Union Square Theatre May-September 2000, this is the first time the documentary-like staging has played Laramie. Many residents are represented in the show and are expected to show up to see how Kaufman, his co-writers and actors present them. -- by Anne Bradley and Steve Luber