Well, smiles usually come out following rain; it only makes sense the author of The Rainmaker would pen a play called Everybody, Smile!.

N. Richard Nash's new, six-character play was to have reached Off Broadway this spring, but casting wasn't readied in time. (Sources say Len Cariou had been approached for a role but that fell through.) Now, according to Theatrical Index, rehearsals are set to begin in August, with Maureen Anderman and Charles Keating still attached to the project.

Production spokesperson Shirley Herz confirmed that Matt Conley is direting the piece, which takes a fictitious look at characters based on Charlie Chaplin, Oona O'Neill and Eugene O'Neill. The piece takes place in New England, circa the 1940s.

Author Nash also wrote the book for the 1963 musical 110 in the Shade (based on The Rainmaker) and for the 1968 Kander & Ebb musical, The Happy Time. Keating appeared in the Roundabout Theatre's Light Up The Sky in 1990.

Daniel McGuire is producing. No theatre or time frame has been set for production. -- By David Lefkowitz