Mercedes Ruehl, recently seen tearing up the stage as Martha in the Guthrie Theatre's production of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, began work on a new play by Jenny Lyn Bader, Manhattan Casanova. The comedy began at East Hampton, Long Island's Guild Hall, Aug. 23 and will end its stay on Sept. 9.

A staged reading, Casanova is described as "a comedy about compulsive behavior, love in the time of cyberspace and meeting one's match." Ruehl won a Tony Award for Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers and an Oscar for "The Fisher King."

Patricia Hodges, Greg Henry, Heather Goldenhersh, Alysia Reiner and Amy Wilson co-star. Wilson Milam directs.

Bader is also the author of the short plays Past Lives and Miss America. She co-wrote the book "He Meant, She Meant: The Definitive Male/Female Dictionary" and regularly contributes to the New York Times Book Review and Suck.com.

In November 2000, Ruehl and The Green Bird's Derek Smith co starred in a staged reading of Casanova at OOB's Neighborhood Playhouse. For reservations, call (631) 324-4050. Guild Hall is located at 158 Main Street in East Hampton, NY. The Guild Hall is on the web at http://www.guildhall.org.

—By Robert Simonson
and David Lefkowitz