Erica Schmidt has conceived and will direct the production. Schmidt piloted a very different work, the spoof Debbie Does Dallas, at the Jane Street Theater last fall. That show recently closed. Schmidt's other credits include Spanish Girl at Second Stage Uptown, Romeo and Juliet at the Outdoor Garage and The White Devil at The Directors Company.

This As You Like It began life at the 2000 New York International Fringe Festival. Angela Goethals starred as the classic Shakesperean heroine Rosalind, who dons a man's clothes to win the love of Orlando. The show won the FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award for Schmidt and transferred to a brief Oct. 10-29 run at 111 Times Square.

The Public Theater website describes As You Like It like this: "Using only their own indefatigable imaginations and the infinite imagery of Shakespeare's language, a young company of six actors takes on all 15 roles. First presented in a parking lot on the Lower East Side, this fast-paced physical tour-de-force captures the raw energy and beautiful simplicity of one of Shakespeare's most clever comedies."

Schmidt has a taste for avant garde approaches. With Debbie Does Dallas, she helped transform a famous X-rated movie into a tongue-in-cheek musical. And her Romeo and Juliet, which also starred Goethals, was staged in the outdoor garage space next to the Present Company Theatorium on the Lower East Side's Stanton Street. The stark, utilitarian facility is walled on four sides with a cement floor and no ceiling.

No cast has been announced. The show apparently replaces the previously-announced Two Noble Kinsman, which is no longer listed on the Public website as being part of the 2002-03 line-up. The show has been bumped back to 2003-04.