L.A.'s Interact Theatre Company will launch the West-Coast premiere of Richard Strand's comedy The Second-Story Man on Feb. 24, with Alan Brooks directing. The run is through March 25.

Strand's new work was developed at the Eugene O'Neill Center in Waterford, CT and in 1995 had its world premiere at the Cricket Theatre in Minneapolis.

The hero of the play is a break-in artist who rents a northside Chicago apartment with his girlfriend Kate for one reason only: to drill their way into the apartment upstairs and steal valuable secrets from his crime boss' computer. Complications arise when Ellen, the building manager bent on suicide, keeps knocking at the door. Also entering is Mary, a waitress from the bowling alley across the street, who insists on rescuing a baby bird trapped on the ledge outside their apartment window.

Among Strand's previous plays are Harry and Sylvia, The Bug, The Death of Zulasky and My Simple City.

Interact Theatre Company is located at 5215 Bakman Ave. in NoHo. For tickets and information call (818) 773-7862. — By Willard Manus
Southern California Correspondent