Some encouraging reviews and eager audiences prompted the extension. Performances play PH's Mainstage Theater at 416 W. 42nd Street. This is the only extension possible due to the theatre company's ongoing season. Following The Pain and the Itch on the Mainstage will be the New York premiere of Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky, a new musical by David Cale and Jonathan Kreisberg.

Directed by Anna D. Shapiro (a frequent collaborator of Norris, and associate artist at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where she directed the 2005 world premiere of The Pain and the Itch), the play began previews Sept. 1 and opened Sept. 21.

According to PH, "With a young daughter in serious need of attention and a ravenous creature possibly prowling the upstairs bedrooms, what begins as an average Thanksgiving for one privileged family unravels into an exposé of disastrous choices and less-than-altruistic motives. The Pain and the Itch is a scathing satire of the politics of class and race, a controversial, painfully human examination of denial and its consequences.

The cast features Mia Barron, Aya Cash, Peter Jay Fernandez, 2006 Tony Award nominee Jayne Houdyshell (Well), Tony Award nominee Reg Rogers, and Obie Award winner Christopher Evan Welch. Child actors Ada-Marie L. Gutierrez and Vivien Kells rotate in the role of Kayla.

The original 2005 production of The Pain and the Itch won Jeff Awards for Best New Work and for Houdyshell's yeasty performance.

For subscription and ticket information, call (212) 279-4200, or visit www.playwrightshorizons.org.