Ascendancy, the latest offering from Off-Broadway's Rattlestick Productions, closes at Theatre Off Park June 14. Bryan Batt, Rob Bogue, and Tasha Lawrence head the cast of the Gary Bonasorte play. Batt is best known for his portrayal of Darius in Paul Rudnick's Jeffrey. Bogue appeared in the recent Off-Broadway revival of The Boys in the Band. Lawrence comes off a turn in the Drama Dept.'s acclaimed remounting of George S. Kaufman and Ring Lardner's June Moon. Ascendancy was first workshopped and then produced in January at Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston. The play takes a somewhat supernatural look at the staff and patients of an overburdened AIDS clinic at the moment, two years back, when a new class of HIV drugs was first showing promise. Rattlestick presented Bonasorte's Reinventing Daddy in 1995.

As in the cast are Dominic Cuskern, Kenneth Favre, Michael Malone, and Linda Powell. Rob Bundy is the director. For information, call (212) 627-2556.

-- By Robert Simonson