The limited engagement began performances June 30 for a run through Sept. 12 at the venue within The Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. David Warren (Matt & Ben, Barbra's Wedding) directs.

Fiction originally commissioned by Seattle's ACT Theatre — where it will enjoy a run Oct. 22-Nov. 14 — centers on two happily married writers who enjoy their seemingly honest relationship until they decide to share each other's diaries. Secrets from each other's pasts come to light in the play.

"This play came out of old journals. Maybe 10 years ago I wrote the title The Waterman Diaries in a journal," Dietz told Playbill On-Line. "I remember writing a sentence years ago which said: 'What if instead of dying with your secrets you had to live with your secrets?' That was profound and stupidly general like many things in one's journal. That stuck with me." (To read the full interview, visit Playbill On-Line's Brief Encounter section.)

Irwin, a Steppenwolf Theatre Company veteran, has appeared on stage in The Grapes of Wrath, Balm in Gilead, My Thing of Love, Frank’s Wild Years and Space as well as Up for Grabs in London opposite Madonna. The actor, who played the father on the short-lived television show "My So-Called Life," has also appeared in "21 Grams," "Haunting of Hill House," "Dr. Dolittle" and "Midnight Run."

White recently played Off-Broadway in Bad Dates. The actress, who played the recurring vicious mortician exec Mitzi on HBO's "Six Feet Under," has also trod the boards in The Heidi Chronicles, Dinner With Friends, Barbra’s Wedding, Spike Heels and The Family of Mann. Bergl, known to film audiences as the lead in "The Rage: Carrie 2," recently appeared Off-Broadway in Where Do We Live. Other stage credits include The Lion In Winter, Old Money in New York and regionally in The Country, Our Town, Proof, The School for Wives, Romeo and Juliet, The Skin of Our Teeth, Under Cover of Darkness and Our Lady of 121st Street.

Warren directed the world premiere of Fiction at New Jersey's McCarter Theatre with stars Robert Cuccioli (Jekyll & Hyde) and Laila Robins (Frozen) in March of 2003.

Dietz's better-known titles are God's Country, Lonely Planet and Private Eyes. His work, a rarity in New York, has been more often produced at regional theatres, including Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Seattle Rep, San Diego's Old Globe, Arizona Theatre Company and Michigan's Purple Rose Theatre Company.

The design team for Fiction includes James Youmans (set), Jeff Crotier (lighting), David Woolard (costumes) and John Gromada (sound).

Lynn Nottage's acclaimed Intimate Apparel inaugurated the renovated Laura Pels Theatre, starting March 17. Fiction will mark the second Off-Broadway staging at Roundabout's new "home for new plays" to be followed this season by Larry Shue's The Foreigner and Stephen Belber's For Reele .

For tickets to Fiction at the Laura Pels Theatre, 111 West 46 St., call Roundabout Ticket Services at (212) 719-1300 or go online to www.roundabouttheatre.org.