MCC Theatre will kick off their 15th Anniversary season with a bang, make that two bangs. Not only have they nabbed a New York premiere from the prolific (and recently popular to produce) playwright Rebecca Gilman, but they have also lined-up Philip Seymour Hoffman to direct the production.

Set to be staged in late October, The Glory of Living is a dark and violent story about abuse, sexual deviance and serial murder. In the work, a 15 year-old child bride is turned into a multiple murderer by her demented husband. The play is based in part on a real Alabama murder Gilman had heard about during her senior year of college. The play won Gilman the 1999 London Evening Standard Theatre Award suitably for Most Promising Playwright.

Gilman, who enjoyed two NY productions last season — Spinning Into Butter (Lincoln Center Theater) and Boy Gets Girl, (Manhattan Theatre Club) — is also having two other premieres put up this year. Her The American in Me will make its debut at San Francisco's Magic Theatre (June 8-July 8) and Blue Surge will don the stage at her hometown Chicago's Goodman Theatre (June 29 -Aug. 5).

Hoffman, who last staged the LAByrinth Theatre Company's Jesus Hopped the "A" Train Off-Broadway, has also helmed LAByrinth's production of In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings. Perhaps best known as an actor, last season Hoffman earned a Tony nomination for his portrayal in True West. He has numerous film credits including "Boogie Nights," "Magnolia," "Flawless," "State and Main" and "Almost Famous." He can also be seen onstage this summer in the New York Shakespeare Festival production The Seagull alongside John Goodman, Allison Janney, Kevin Kline, Natalie Portman, Meryl Streep and Christopher Walken.

For more information on the MCC Theatre, or for tickets/ subscriptions, call (212) 727 7765 or visit their website at www.mcctheater.com. — by Ernio Hernandez