The play, to run April 1-20, 2008, won the resident Equity company's 2006 Clauder Competition for New England Playwrights.

In the world premiere production, "a young husband meets a woman from his past during a period of crisis in his marriage, bringing half-forgotten urges and uncertain intentions suddenly to the surface," according to PSC. "Told with warmth, humor, and startling honesty, Magnetic North is a charged tale of intimacy, temptation, and the shadowy border between flirtation and betrayal."

Donnelly has been playwright-in-residence at Industrial Theatre in Cambridge, MA, since 1997. The company has produced Remuda, Painted Alice, Motel Stories and Apocalypso! His works have appeared in the Boston Theater Marathon and Baker's Plays anthologies. Donnelly has also worked with area companies Mill 6, Rough & Tumble and the Hovey Players.

The Portland Stage Company season under artistic director executive and artistic director Anita Stewart and managing director Camilla Barrantes will also feature August Wilson's The Piano Lesson; Kenny Finkle's feline-themed comedy, Indoor/Outdoor; A Christmas Carol; the restaurant comedy Fully Committed by Becky Mode; Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing; and John Patrick Shanley's Doubt.

Portland Stage Company is located at 25A Forest Avenue in Portland, ME. For further information and to order tickets, contact the PSC box office at (207) 774-0465 or visit www.portlandstage.com.