Michele Lowe, who penned The Smell of the Kill, will see her String of Pearls premiere there, and Adam Rapp's Gompers, a City Theatre commission, will also debut there.

Dates and additional productions will be announced in the coming months.

City Theatre artistic director Tracy Brigden directed the world premiere of Christopher Durang's Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge at City Theatre in fall 2002. The company remains committed to new voices and new works, Brigden told Playbill On-Line in 2002.

Brigden also announced that Tuesday shows next season will have a new curtain time: 7 PM, an idea that's catching on around the country as a way to interest theatregoers in a performance night that is traditionally under attended.

In Topdog/Underdog, "a life-changing game of three-card monte is featured in this darkly comic fable of two African American brothers, one named Lincoln; the other named Booth." Gompers shows a town in decline since the closing of its mill. "When the prospect of riverboat gambling is announced, however, and a golden greyhound is born under a tree, the citizens of Gompers learn how elusive a true miracle can be," according to the announcement. Rapp's Blackbird was produced at City Theatre in 2001-02. He also penned Nocturne.

In String of Pearls, "a pearl necklace is the focus of an emotional journey through the lives of the women who own it in this theatrical puzzle that is both funny and touching," according to production notes. Other plays by Lowe include Backsliding in the Promised Land, Map of Heaven and The Smell of the Kill.

For 2003-04 subscription information, call City Theatre at (412) 431-CITY or visit www.citytheatre.org.