Oh sure, pick an Off-Off-Broadway play and the author will likely have a long list of writing, acting and directing credits — and Paul Firestone is no exception. His play, Sublime Lives, was staged on New York's Theatre Row in 1991, and his latest, A Comedy of Eros, plays at the Hudson Guild Theatre Jan. 25-Feb. 17, officially opening there Jan. 27.

But this actor-director is no mere double-hyphenate. According to production spokesperson Jim Baldassare, Mr. Firestone is an actor-director-inventor, who recently secured a patent for "a traffic control signal with displayed time-elapse."

Controlling the two hours traffic on the Hudson Guild stage will be Harland Meltzer, founder of the Shakespeare-in-the-Park in Westerly, RI. He'll be guiding a modern day, satirical silly sex farce about a conventional widow, Lulubeth, upset that her daughter, Delia, wants to marry a woman. Since Delia's girlfriend works for the Attorney General, mom hopes to use his influence to subvert the marriage, at which point hijinks, mistaken identities and even a murder plot ensue.

Joan Copeland, who was supposed to be in the Neil Simon comedy 45 Seconds from Broadway but, along with Carol Woods, left the company, stars in Eros as Lulubeth. Copeland's credits include The American Clock and Two By Two. Also in the cast are Jordan Charney, Andrea Leigh, Paul Romero, Jennifer Dorr White and Travis Wood. Designing Eros are Matthew Myrhum (set) and Brian Aldous (lighting) and Mary Myers (costumes), the latter receiving a helping hand from veteran designer William Ivey Long, who'll do Copeland's frocks.

For tickets ($15) and information on A Comedy of Eros at the Hudson Guild Theatre, 441 West 26th St., call (212) 662-6728. — By David Lefkowitz