A casting notice indicates that the respected British playwright will stage his domestic-life play in an open-ended run produced by the Shubert Organization. Rehearsals begin in February 2006.

The June 9-July 3 New York premiere of the play marked the U.S. debut of Ayckbourn's Stephen Joseph Theatre troupe, of Scarborough, Yorkshire, for which Ayckbourn is artistic director.

The British cast was on a limited work visa and the production at 59E59 Theaters could not extend, despite the smashing reviews the production earned (including a solid notice from the New York Times).

Private Fears in Public Places is the 67th play by the prolific playwright Ayckbourn. In it, "Six people with six very separate lives are strangely linked by circumstance. As their stories unfold, so do the complications of contemporary relationships. This is a tale of the misheard, the unspoken and the sadly misunderstood — vintage Ayckbourn."

No theatre or dates have been made public for the future New York run of Private Fears. Bernard Telsey Casting is casting the project. *

As part of the Brits Off Broadway festival introducing Manhattan audiences to contemporary plays from the U.K., Private Fears in Public Places featured British actors who were here on limited work visas. Their visas expired July 3, when the festival ended.

Playbill.com speculated earlier this summer that among seat-holders for the remainder of the run were producers and artistic directors looking to see if they might want to stage Private Fears themselves.

Ayckbourn's plays include Relatively Speaking, Absurd Person Singular, The Norman Conquests, Just Between Ourselves, Bedroom Farce, A Chorus of Disapproval, Woman In Mind, Comic Potential, Things We Do For Love, House and Garden.

His trilogy, Damsels in Distress, with the original Scarborough cast, completed a West End run at the Duchess Theatre in 2003. The French production of Things We Do For Love received nine nominations and won Best Comedy in the 2004 Moliere Awards.

Ayckbourn's plays have been seen on Broadway and off. A revival of his Absurd Person Singular will be staged by Manhattan Theatre Club on Broadway starting in September. John Tillinger directs.

59E59 Theaters is run by Elysabeth Kleinhans, artistic director, and Peter Tear, executive producer.