Tony Award-winning producer Stewart F. Lane is bringing one of his own plays to New York as early as February 15. As reported earlier, If It Was Easy is the third play by Lane and his second collaboration with former New York Post theatre critic Ward Morehouse III. The show is scheduled to begin New York rehearsals on Jan. 22. Previews could begin as early as Feb. 15 at Playhouse 91.

Lane’s office confirms these details as well as the fact that the co-producers for the project include James L. Nederlander and Stellar Productions International. The general manager for If It Was Easy will be Roger Gindi with casting by Stephanie Klapper.

The Lane-Morehouse play was recently produced in Atlanta at the Seven Stages Theatre and starred Kevin Dobson (“Knots Landing,” “Kojak”) and Bonnie Comley (“Nightlife TV”). The producers had recently reported that If It Was Easy... was “scheduled for a spring 2001 New York production,” although a theatre was not named.

Lane has told Playbill On-Line that If It Were Easy... features contemporary themes and was written in the collaborative style of the past when producers were often expected to be more closely associated with creative development than they are today. Despite nine revisions, Lane said, the play is still about a Sinatra musical which "becomes a runaway hit when the mob gets involved."

Lane helmed the Atlanta production. His recent directing credits include A.R. Gurney's The Golden Age at Nantucket's Actors Theatre and a University of Oklahoma production, Accentuate the Positive, written by Frederick Stroppel. Two staged readings of If It Were Easy were also directed by Lane. —By Murdoch McBride