What do 'NYPD Blue,' 'Law and Order' and Your Theatre's latest production have in common?

NEW BEDFORD — Your Theatre, Inc.'s first major production of its 72nd season, Theresa Rebeck's suspenseful thriller "Mauritius," will have eight performances starting on Thursday, Sept. 6.

Directed by Your Theatre's Lawrence R. Houbre Jr. of New Bedford, the play runs Thursdays through Saturdays, September 6-8 and 13-15, with matinees on Sundays, Sept. 9 and 16. Curtain time is 7:30 p.m. for all performances except the 2:30 p.m. Sunday matinees.

So what “Mauritius?”

Stamp collecting may be a far more risky — and funny — business than you might expect, and the play explores both sides of the hobby. A woman inherits her mother's stamp collection. Or does it belong to her half-sister?

The stamp collection seems to contain some very valuable stamps. Or does it? Enter three seedy, high-stakes collectors willing to do anything to get hold of the possibly rare find.

Unsurprisingly for a writer with extensive experience in TV police procedurals like "NYPD Blue" and "Law and Order: Criminal Intent," one of Rebeck's strengths is her skill at stitching tension into every exchange, a press release from Your Theatre states.

The characters in Mauritius pair up and face off in shifting configurations, the emotionally fraught edges of their twisty encounters made all the more intriguing by the fact that items as apparently innocuous as postage stamps fuel the friction.

The cast includes Briana Berthiaume and James Sanguinette, from New Bedford, John Softcheck from Fairhaven, Bob Gillet from Fall River, and Susan Salvesen from Marion. Mellanie Crowther of Fairhaven is the stage manager.

Performances are held at the wheelchair accessible Your Theatre, Inc. Playhouse located at 136 Rivet St. (corner of County St.), New Bedford, at St. Martin's Episcopal Church complex.

Free off-street parking and entrance are on County Street.

Tickets are $18 general admission, $13 for season subscribers (three show minimum), and $15 for senior citizens, students and military personnel.

For further information call Your Theatre, Inc. at 508-993-0772, or send an email to info@yourtheatre.org. The theatre's web site is www.yourtheatre.org.