Steam is arising from the stage of Off-Broadway's Blue Heron Arts Center, where an evening of two one-act plays presented under that blanket title opens Oct. 24. Previews began Oct. 21 for the open-ended run.

The first of the two play, Some Bodies by Gail Noppe-Brandon, is about two childhood friends, one thin and one fat, who meet after many years of separation. The second, The Door by Susan Kim, concerns two women who, in an absurdist vein, have forgotten how they got where they are, how they will get out or if they want to leave. Both plays, for the record, take place in a steam room.

Noppe-Brandon will direct both works. Kim's adaptation of "The Joy Luck Club" has been staged at Long Wharf Theatre and Pan Asian Repertory Theatre. Caroline O'Farrill and Kelly Ebsary star in Bodies, while Susan Gordon Clark and Eunice Wong are featured in Door.

For information, call (212) 841-0370.

--By Robert Simonson