When something is banned, or not allowed, doesn't it make you all the more curious to do or see it? That's what The Actors Company Theatre is banking on when it presents Alexander Ostrovsky's A Family Affair at the New-York Historical Society Theatre Feb. 16-19.

The play, written back in 1850, was banned by the Russian government because, as it states in a censor report, “All the characters are first-class villains. The dialogue is filthy. The entire play is an insult to the Russian merchant class." TACT will perform the adaptation of the play by Nick Dear.

Marsha Jean Kertz directs the company that includes Nora Chester, Cynthia Darlow, Delphi Harrington, Greg McFadden, Gregory Salata and Tom Brennan. This will be the third production in TACT's season, to be followed by The Apollo of Bellac & The Bald Soprano (March 23-26) and Separate Tables (May 4-7).

For more information on TACT, visit their website at www.tactnyc.org. For tickets to A Family Affair At the N-Y Historical Society Theatre, 2 West 77th (at Central Park West), call (212) 645-8228.

— by Ernio Hernandez