Spallen won the 2007 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for the play, which was a critical and audience success in Edinburgh and London.

MTC will open the play Dec. 4 at its Off-Broadway home at City Center Stage II (131 West 55th Street).

Carolyn Cantor (co-founder and artistic director of Edge Theater) directs a cast that features Hannah Cabell in the title role, Geraldine Hughes (Translations at MTC), and Paul Sparks (Broadway's Take Me Out).

According to MTC, "In this gripping play from one of Ireland's brightest new talents, playwright Abbie Spallen shapes a startling tale of three lives colliding in rural Ireland. The play unfolds with the story of a homely, tomboyish pump girl (Cabell) at a rundown gas station. When a local racetrack star (Sparks) becomes the focus of her obsession, the affair threatens more than the feelings of his disenchanted wife (Hughes). A blazing success last season in Edinburgh and at London's renowned Bush Theatre, the play is in the best tradition of richly detailed and unforgettable Irish storytelling."

The creative team for Pumpgirl includes David Korins (scenic design), Mimi O'Donnell (costume design), David Weiner (lighting design), Robert Kaplowitz (sound design), and Deborah Hecht (dialect coach). For tickets, call CityTix at (212) 581-1212. Tickets are $50. For information, visit www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.

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Currently playing across the MTC lobby at City Center (at Stage I) is Adam Bock's new dark workplace comedy, The Receptionist, featuring Jayne Houdyshell in the title role.