The new work is Dorothy And Alan, a two-person piece about Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell, Parker's second - and third - husband.

     Actually, this wasn't quite the premiere. A program note explained that it has received a staged reading two years ago at Gorham Bluffs Meeting House in Pisgah, Ala. I swear I don't make this stuff up.

     I imagine Parker would have been filled with great glee to know she was impersonated in Pisgah. Think what verse she could have written to commemorate the event. The rhyme possibilities provided by "Pisgah" alone set my mind reeling.

     Nevertheless, we're happy to report that the work survived Alabama and has happily come Susannah-like to Louisiana, but clearly not needing a banjo on anyone's knee. And Le Chat Noir is the perfect venue for this sophisticated work.

     Michael Cahill wrote Dorothy And Alan. It stars Janet Shea and Michael Cahill. Janet Shea and Michael Cahill directed it. The program credits set, costume, and lighting design are by Janet Shea and Michael Cahill. The producer is Michael Cahill

     Perhaps that's all you need to know. Local audiences are well aware that Shea and Cahill are eminent theatrical talents. And their skills are apparent in all of the above tasks. Cahill wisely decided to eschew a one-woman show format.

     By adding Campbell (they married, divorced, re-married), he provides the opportunity to see the private side of Parker's life, as well as employs a theatrical device that holds attention.

     Audiences who expect to hear Parker's famous wit will not be disappointed. Cahill's script showcases many of her pungent comments, including snippets from her theater reviews: "Katharine Hepburn ran the gamut of emotions from 'a' to 'b'."

     Other appropriately caustic lines are also on display. "I hate wives; so many people have them," "Nothing succeeds like the suppressed," and "She looks like a two dollar whore who once commanded five."

     Cahill's script shows Parker in full dimension apart from just her famous one-liners. We get to hear Parker agonize over her writing - a recurring theme - and learn of her courageous early outcry against fascism, exposing both Franco in Spain and Hitler in Germany. For her outspokenness, she was hauled before McCarthy's red-baiting congressional inquisition and was blacklisted from work in the film industry.

     Janet Shea's Dorothy Parker runs the gamut of emotions from "a" to "z." Cahill's script keeps her always as the focus of the story, making his Campbell, as written and as performed, a secondary, supporting figure.

     Shea and Cahill would do well at this point to trust an outside director to finish shaping the work. It's already enjoyable entertainment, and is ready to become an outstanding one.