Steven Dietz, whose Private Eyes, Lonely Planet and Ten November are known in regional theatres, is the latest commissioned playwright creating a new work for Purple Rose Theatre Company in Chelsea, MI, where two new plays by Lanford Wilson were launched. Dietz is penning a new comedy, The Ride Inside, which had an April 2002 developmental "greenhouse" reading by PRTC that included a public presentation and talkback. The full staging is planned for Purple Rose's 168-seat theatre in early 2004, the troupe's founder and executive director, Jeff Daniels, told Playbill On-Line.

Dietz will probably direct his own play in its premiere at the theatre located in the rural town 60 miles west of Detroit, near Ann Arbor. Lanford Wilson's Rain Dance and Book of Days were commissioned by the not-for-profit devoted to developing new American plays and resident actors and directors. Wilson's plays make their New York City premieres this season via Signature Theatre Company (Book of Days is currently playing).

— By Kenneth Jones