For a theatre company with a stage the size of a broom closet, the Lower East Side's Expanded Arts certainly has a talent for sending its productions on to longer runs. Its most famous success story is, of course, R & J, the Romeo and Juliet adaptation which enjoyed a long run at the John Houseman Studio. Lyz! , a musical adaptation of Lysistrata which began as an Expanded Arts workshop, recently played at the Samuel Beckett Theatre.

The troupe's fall production of Richard II transferred uptown to the Fairbanks Studio Theatre on West 42nd Street. The drama finishes its scheduled run there Feb. 28, after starting previews Feb. 4 and opening Feb. 7.

As he did downtown, Bob D'Haene directs the stream-lined production of Shakespeare's classic drama of an ineffectual king and the disastrous coup that removes him. The cast features Rob Brown, David Caton, Heather Curran, Kurt Elftmann, Duncan Hazard, Kelly McAllister, Timothy McCracken, Melissa Murphy, Dan O'Neill,Wayne Salvatore, Tim True, Stephen Weitz and Jason Williams.

Call (212) 501-2066 for information on Richard II.

-- By Robert Simonson