God's Man in Texas has gotten around — and to many more places than Texas. Feb. 5-March 17, the David Rambo drama arrives in Los Angeles at the Geffen Theatre. Ian Barford, George Coe and Francis Guinan star.

In God's Man in Texas, young preacher Jerry comes up against the veteran man of God, Dr. Gottschall, who is unwilling to give up the Rock Baptist Church of Houston and his coveted Sunday morning TV broadcast to the upstart. A reformed drug addict named Hugo mediates between the two preachers. Rambo has likened the three characters to the Christian concept of the Trinity.

The play was a standout in the 1999 Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, KY. It is inspired by the true story of Dr. Joel Gregory, a preacher who ascended to the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas and then quit 22 months later. His story is chronicled in the book "Too Great a Temptation."

Coe and Guinan star as the warring pastors, Gottschall and Mears with Barford as the former drug addict who mediates between them. A 22 year member of Chicago's Steppenwolf, Guinan has starred in their Mizlansky/Zilinsky, The Libertin, The Grapes of Wrath, A Lesson From Aloes and A Nightengale Sang. A longtime Broadway vet, Coe's credits include the original companies of What Makes Sammy Run?, Mame, Company and On the Twentieth Century. Barford appeared in Broadway's short-lived The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, which he also took to Steppenwolf.

Randall Arney directs. The former artistic director of Chicago's Steppenwolf, he helmed the world premiere of Picasso at the Lapin Agile as well as The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Death and the Maiden, Curse of the Starving Class, A Walk in the Woods and Curse of the Starving Class. Tickets are $30-$46. The Geffen Playhouse is at 10886 Le Conte Avenue in Westwood, CA. The Geffen Playhouse is on the web at http://www.geffenplayhouse.com.

— By Christine Ehren