He's created an Actor's Nightmare, took a stab at Sex and Longing and proven to be Beyond Therapy. He's playwright Christopher Durang and the Playwrights' Center of Minneapolis will have him for a week, April 17-22.

First off, the darkly comic dramatist will offer a lecture on writing comedy for the stage and screen, April 18, 7 PM. This free event will be held at Rarig Center's Arena Stage at the University of Minnesota on South 4th Street.

Also on the agenda for Durang will be a playwrights' workshop for select writers of the Center. Durang will attend "Hothouse," PC's new play festival running April 14-20.

Other Durang works include The Marriage Of Bette And Boo and the Tony-nominated A History Of The American Film. His screenplays include The House Of Husbands written with longtime friend Wendy Wasserstein, and The Nun Who Shot Liberty Valance.

Winner of the 1995 Lila Wallace Readers Digest Writers Award, Durang also appeared in the Off-Broadway Sondheim revue, Putting It Together and a 1995 Encores! concert staging of Call Me Madam with Tyne Daly. --By David Lefkowitz