One of Lee Blessing's most popular plays, Eleemosynary, returns to Hartford, CT's TheaterWorks nine years after its first production there. The second, all-new staging runs March 26-May 2.

This comedy-drama tells the intimate story of three women living up to the expectations of others -- as well as each other. They are Dorothea, a free-spirited grandmother; Artie, her conservative daughter; and Artie's daughter Echo, who wins a high school spelling bee championship when she correctly spells the word "eleemosynary" (meaning charitable).

At Hartford, artistic director Steve Campo directs Martha Thimmesch (Artie), Caroline Burwell (Echo) and DeAnn Mears (Dorothea). Mears' appeared in the original Broadway staging of Edward Albee's Tiny Alice.

Other Blessing works include A Walk in the Woods, Two Rooms and Going To St. Ives, a Fox Theatricals project still eyed for Broadway in a season or two.

For tickets and information on Eleemosynary call (860) 527-7838. -- By David Lefkowitz & Willard Manus