The Century Center for the Performing Arts' Ibsen Series next production will be the seldom-mounted classic, Rosmersholm. The play is the second in the series' 2000-01 season, following last fall's The Lady From the Sea. Performances began Feb. 20 for a run through March 17 at the Century Center Ballroom Theatre in Manhattan, just upstairs from the hit production of Edward Albee's The Play About the Baby. Official opening is Feb. 24.

The virtuous John Rosmer discovers, in the play, that his soul mate, the ruthlessly ambitious Rebecca West, is responsible for his late wife's suicide. What follows is a tale of the "transformative and destructive powers of love." The character of Rebecca has sometimes been compared to that of the more famous Hedda Gabler, and, indeed, both plays were written within a few years of each other. Eleanor Duse famously played the part in a production designed by Gordon Craig.

J.C. Compton will direct a cast including William Broderick, Tamara Daniel, Bruce Edward Barton, Dean Harrison, David Jones and Kelly Overton.

The translation is by renowned Ibsen scholar Rolf Fjelde. To date, Century Center has performed Ibsen's Pillars of Society, A Doll House, Enemy of the People, Ghosts, The Lady from the Sea and The Wild Duck. The Ibsen Series plans to present all of the playwright's 12 major plays in the order in which they were written.

Tickets are $15. The Century Center is located at 111 E. 15th Street. For more information, call (212) 982-6782. —By Robert Simonson