The show opened on Feb. 6 to some of the sunniest reviews offbeat Wellman has ever gotten from the mainstream press. As a result, the piece has extended a week to March 8. Wellman directs.

Mellor plays Ambrose Bierce, the American author, humorist and moralist best known for his biting short stories and his satirical "Devil's Dictionary." Bierce, born in 1842, began his career as a crusading, anti-establishment journalist in New York, London and San Francisco, before turning to fiction. Always a principled contrarian, he attacked his native country and the world at large for what he saw as its innate corruptibility and hypocrisy. His legend was cemented when he left for Mexico in 1914 to join Pancho Villa's revolution and subsequently disappeared.

Many have called Mellor the premiere interpreter of Wellman's weird, wordy world. His other major credits include the premiere of Nixon's Nixon.

Wellman is currently enjoying one of the most fertile periods of his career, with a new production cropping up Off-Broadway nearly every month. November saw Anything's Dream, in which Wellmen drew on Shakespeare's comedy and the paintings of Victorian artists Richard Dadd, Francis Danby and Richard Doyle, play at the Flea Theater. Around the same time, Antigone played at the Kitchen. Other recent plays include Cat's Paw and Jennie Richie. He is now working on a new project for Brooklyn's GAle GAles et al.

Tickets are $15. Call (212) 477-5288.