Though these days it seems any star who's faded from public glory just has to wait a couple of years to make an automatic comeback, sometimes that route isn't so simple. Gen LeRoy's new play, Missing Footage, tells of an Italian ballerina, absent from the stage for a decade, who might not make the expected return to the public arena.

Missing Footage has its world premiere April 1-25 (opening April 17; skipping performances the 5th-9th) at Nyack, NY's Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center, which recently produced the premiere of Blake Edwards' comedy with music, Big Rosemary. Renowned designer Tony Walton won't be doing the set for Footage; instead he's directing, continuing in a recent career shift for the man who designed recent revivals of 1776, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To The Forum and the current Annie Get Your Gun. Among Walton's recent directing credits are Major Barbara and The Importance of Being Earnest at NYC's Irish Rep.

Klara Zieglerova has designed the set for Missing Footage; she served as associate designer to Walton on 1776. Tony winner Willa Kim (Sophisticated Ladies, The Will Rogers Follies) designed the costumes, while Tony nominee Brian Nason (Metamorphosis) is in charge of lighting.

Starring in Footage are Tanya Gingerich, who originated the title character in Sam Shepard's recent Eyes For Consuela. Other cast members include Anne Rogers, who starred in the London premiere of The Boy Friend, Jack Ryland, Rob Sedgwick and Tracy Shayne (a Broadway Phantom Christine).

Missing Footage is author LeRoy's second play. Her first, ...Not Waving, won a Carbonell Award for its production at Florida Stages and later played at NY's Primary Stages. For tickets and information on Missing Footage call (914) 358 6333.

Upcoming shows at the Helen Hayes Center include Moliere's The School For Wives (May 6-23), directed by Tony Stimac; and the Stephen Sondheim-George Furth musical Company (June 17-July 4), staged by Rod Kaats and directed by Danny Herman.

-- By David Lefkowitz