The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 devastated the communities of Galveston Bay, killing 6000 people. Playwright Thomas Meloncon focuses on the impact the deluge had on the island's Africa- American community in The Laws of Storms, premiering at Houston's Main Street Theatre Sept. 12-Oct. 13. Manning Mpinduzi-Mott [sic] directs.

Set two months after the hurricane, The Laws of Storms finds 28 year-old Rayford Lee back in Galveston, looting abandoned ruins in hopes of liberating his childhood love, Merline, from her 72 year-old husband, Maseo. The latter was formerly one of the richest men on the island until the hurricane washed all of his possessions away.

Meloncon's The Diary of Black Men has been his most successful work, playing Off-Broadway and London and even appearing on the Phil Donahue Show in 1989. His other works incldue Whatever Happened to Our Love, The Drums of Sweetwater, Ain't Nothing Wrong with a Gizzard Sandwich, The Colored Section and Let Yesterday Go.

Tim Dixon is Rayford with Melita Hawkins as Merline and Wayne DeHart as Maseo. Also in the cast are Cheray Martin as Merline's closest friend Lora, Kirk Dautrive as the hearing-impaired Cousin and James Faulkner as Leonard.

Tickets are $20-$30. The Main Street Theatre is located at 2540 Times Boulevard in the Rice Village. For reservations, call (713) 524-6706. The Main Street Theatre is on the web at http://www.mainstreettheater.com. — By Christine Ehren