Writer-director Tina Landau's Space, the image-rich rumination on the beyond which opened Dec. 5 at The Public Theater's Martinson Hall in Manhattan, will close on Dec. 19.

The cast of Space, about a scientist grappling with the idea of worlds beyond our own (and patients with extra-terrestrial experiences), includes Teagle F. Bougere, Andersen Gabrych, Tom Irwin, Larry Keith, Theresa McCarthy, Amy Morton, Kristine Nielsen and Dan Smith. Irwin, Morton and Smith appeared in the original Steppenwolf Theatre Company staging.

Landau directed a separate fall staging of Space at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Previews of The Public staging began Nov. 16.

Landau's story involves a neuro-psychiatrist who has suddenly become a magnet for patients claiming to be alien abductees, drawing him into the strangely overlapping worlds of extraterrestrials and hard science.

Designers for the Public staging of Space are James Schuette (set), Melina Root (costume), Scott Zielinski (lighting), Rob Milburn & Michael Bodeen (sound design/original music) and Jan Hartley (projection design). Landau's writing-directing credits include Floyd Collins, Stonewall, States of Independence and 1969.

Tickets are $45. The Public Theater is at 425 Lafayette Street. Call (212) 260-2400.

-- By Kenneth Jones
and Robert Simonson