HOUSTON -- With the announcement of its fifth season, Theatre LaB Houston has gone Hollywood.

The theme for the six plays and musicals that make up the 1998 lineup is "Hollywood Theater."

So far, one show is up and running and two more are on the way.

Four Dog and a Bone is up first. In John Patrick Shanley's behind-the-scenes satire, four high-strung creative types -- an idealistic young writer, a manipulative middle-aged producer, a demanding diva and a beguiling ingenue -- try to outmaneuver each other on the set of a low-budget film. Four Dogs and a Bone, which opened Jan. 7, is scheduled to run through through Feb. 15.

Bang the Drum Slowly is next up, Feb. 25 - Mar. 29. Eric Simonson's adaptation for the stage of Mark Harris' 1950s novel and the subsequent 1973 film (which starred a young Robert DeNiro and Michael Moriarty) is about the unlikely friendship between two very baseball players. Theater LaB's third offering is a bit more tongue-in-cheek: Eating Raoul, the Musical, April 15 - May 24. Paul Bartel has refashioned his 1982 cult classic movie about the hedonistic lives of a 'swinging' couple in the '70s into a musical, with music by Jed Feuer.

Producing director Gerald LaBita will announce the second half of Theater LaB's "Hollywood Theater" season sometime in April.

For information, call (713) 868-7516 for information.

-- By Peter Szatmary
Texas Correspondent