Last Chance to catch Kristine Thatcher's partly autobiographical drama, Emma's Child, which explores the idea of commitment in a marriage and parenthood. The show follows a childless couple who must decide whether to continue the adoption process after the baby is born severely disabled.

Emma's Child, which opened Apr. 23 finishes its scheduled run at NJ's Twelve Miles West Theatre Company, May 16.

Commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Emma's Child is the second play in what was originally to be a trilogy about a couple's on going attempts to have a child. The first play, Under Glass, chronicled the obsessive and heartbreaking efforts of Jean and Henry Farrell to conceive through modern fertility methods. Emma's Child continues their story. The play won the 1995 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

Shasin Desai, director of a recent production at CA's International City Theatre, said of Emma's Child, "It's Thatcher's personal story, but it goes beyond the personal to deal with larger issues of relationships in a new and fresh way."

In NJ, Jacqueline Knox, producing artistic director of 12 Miles West, directs. Starring in Emma's Child are Bernadette Cerami, Debra Cerruti, Sharon Cullen, Hank Fandel, Lois Goorwitz, Carol Hache, Carol Kehoe, Frank Osmers, Maria Ryan, Jeff Schecter and Rhonda Watson. For tickets ($12-$15) and information on Emma's Child, opening Apr. 25 at 12 Miles West Theatre Company, 488 Bloomfield Ave. in Montclair, call (973) 746-7181.

-- By David Lefkowitz
and Willard Manus