Mia Dillon, nominated for a Tony Award for Crimes of the Heart in 1982, performs in the cast of The Matilda Years, a new play set for a private Manhattan staged reading Aug. 21.

Mind the Gap Theatre is sponsoring the presentation of the work by Dan Michael McDermott, who sets his five-character comedy in North Dakota.

The play concerns Maggie's struggle with her father's 75-year-old new wife. Dillon, Tony nommed for Best Featured Actress in 1982, is Maggie. According to the playwright, The Matilda Years "reveals the two women's conflict by going backward in time scene-by-scene until it is 10 years earlier...and we finally discover the root of the problem."

McDermott previously penned Can't Go No Where With Ya, which was directed by Harold Scott, and produced by Eric Krebs at his John Houseman Studio Theatre.

Director Dan LaMorte oversees a cast that includes Aerin Asher (a Neighborhood Playhouse workshop vet) as the new wife, Matilda; Michael Arkin (The Uneasy Chair) as Maggie's father, Michael; and Mary Dierson (Amadeus, The Elephant Man) and Jeff Talbott (Jewish Rep's Home of the Brave) in assorted roles of cousins and others. Interested members of the industry may call (212) 741-1263 for reservations.

-- By Kenneth Jones