The OBIE Award-winning, Off-Off-Broadway venue Dixon Place will inaugurate their new home this season with Sarah Schulman's The Child, directed by playwright Craig Lucas, Sept. 9 - 12.

Lucas (The Dying Gaul, Prelude to a Kiss) will helm the workshop production of the play, which tells about a man accused of pedophilia and his young boyfriend. The cast includes: Fiona Gallagher, Daniel Eric Gold, Angie Phillips, David Rakoff and Bobby Rivers.

In other Dixon Place doings, Kathleen Chalfant, the multi-accolade winning star of Wit, will perform at Dixon Place's Sept. 15 gala celebration. The event will commemorate the experimental theatre lair's move to its new digs at Vineyard 26, at 309 E. 26th St.

Earlier this year, Dixon Place founder, Ellie Covan, lost her lease on the second-floor, Bowery space that for 13 years was Dixon's home. While there, Covan played host to such artists as Blue Man Group, David Cale, Holly Hughes and Reno.

Also set to perform at the gala are Nancy Giles, Regie Cabico, Derek Hughes, Terri Hollis, the lesbian gospel quartet Pillars of Salt and the musical performance group White Knuckle Sandwich. Other shows slated for the fall at Dixon Place include:
€ Magician-performer Derek Hughes will present his latest piece, Sept. 30- Oct. 30. The piece will be presented as part of Dixon Place's on-going "Mondo Cane!" Series, which commissions new works by emerging artists.

€ Writer and comedian Nancy Giles will see her Notes from a Negro Neurotic staged, Nov. 7-29, directed by Dixon Place artistic director Ellie Covan.

For performance and ticket information, call (212) 532-1535.

-- By Sean McGrath