The Maria Irene Fornes season at the Signature Theatre Company is going out with a bang. Letters from Cuba, the final Fornes production, has been extended a week until March 12.

The premiere began previews Feb. 8 for an opening Feb. 20. It was originally set to close on March 5.

Fornes herself directs the new work, which stars Chris De Oni, Tai Jiminez, Matthew Floyd Miller, Peter Starrett, Peter Van Wagner and Rick Wasserman.

Partly autobiographical, Cuba interweaves into the story of a group of people putting on a play, and actual letters written between the Cuban born Fornes and her brother in Havana. The missives, written over 30 years, begin in the 1960s. Aside from the brother-sister relationship, the play's many themes include the two worlds of New York and Cuba and the faith the siblings have "in the value of their artistic labors."

Tickets are $35. The Signature Theatre Company is located at 555 W. 42nd Street. For information, call (212) 244-7529, or consult the theatre's website at www.signaturetheatre.org. As for next season at Signature -- the company's 10th Anniversary -- choices are still being worked out as to which playwrights who've previously been honored with season-long retrospectives will contribute new works. Chronologically since 1991, the nine playwrights have been Romulus Linney, Lee Blessing, Edward Albee, Horton Foote, Adrienne Kennedy, Sam Shepard, Arthur Miller, John Guare and Fornes.

--By Robert Simonson