The wintry days are long and tranquil at the Minnesota nursing home where 100-year old resident Nels lives. That is, until he accuses one of the aides of murdering another resident in Steven Haworth's new dark comedy, Little Fishes, opening at Manhattan's Hudson Guild Theatre for a limited run Feb. 28-March 18.

While the cynical aide denies the accusation, another attendant, new to the staff, tries to ease tensions with ancient rituals and Peyote. The multi-generational trio make for comedy in Abingdon Theatre Company's latest production.

Associate artistic director Kim T. Sharp directs the play with a cast of Paul Barry, Frank J. O'Donnell, Nicholas Piper and John Tardibuono. The creative team features sets by Elizabeth Chaney, lights by David Castaneda, costumes by Melissa Richards and fight choreography by Rick Sordelet.

Little Fishes was a finalist for the 1994 Playwrights' Center of San Francisco DramaRama Competition. It received a reading by Abingdon in September of 1997 and a workshop production with the Sharp as director last year.

Tickets to Little Fishes, at Hudson Guild, 441 West 26th (between 9th and 10th Ave.) can be purchased through Smarrtix at (212) 206-1515, or on the web at www.smarttix.com. — by Ernio Hernandez