Jimmy Barden was living in Little Rock, Ark., during the integration crisis at Central High School in 1957, an example of the racial conflict in America that drew worldwide attention.

Barden, 68, said blacks and other minority groups have since enjoyed many successes, but contrary to what some would like to believe, he said there is still alarming racial and class inequality in this country.

He hopes his play "Offspring" will remind audiences of the issues and encourage them to act.

"A lot of people think that equality has been achieved, but I don't think it has," Barden said.

"Blacks who have education, who can achieve, do have this fantastic ability to do so now, but who are being left behind are poor blacks. We're not meeting those needs of the underprivileged."

Barden, a Pleasantville resident and editor at The New York Times, wrote "Offspring" with support from the Blueberry Pond Theatre Ensemble.

The writers-actors-directors ensemble will take the play to Fleetwood Stage in New Rochelle Sept. 16 for their inaugural production.

"Jean-Paul DeVellard thought it was an important play and wanted to do it as his first production," Blueberry Pond Artistic Adviser Cynthia Granville said.

DeVellard and his partner Stephan Summa founded the theater ensemble in 2001; it began as monthly gatherings of writers, directors and artists at their Blinn Road estate in Cortlandt.

"They wanted to nurture a group of artists in an ensemble setting," Granville said.

After a three-year theater search, the ensemble will move into its permanent space, the Blueberry Pond Arts Center at Shine House in Ossining's Cedar Lane Park, later this fall. While renovations continue at the 50-seat theater, the ensemble was invited to hold its first main-stage production at the New Rochelle theater.

Gayle Hudson, 44, of Waccabuc will star as Elizabeth Wheeling Grace, a wealthy white woman who decides she will have a child with a young black militant, played by Manhattan actor George Gaffney, and name the child heir to her family's Harlem philanthropic foundation. The results, Barden said, are tragic. Charles Turner of Manhattan will direct.

"The play is important for audiences to see because it probes so deeply not only into human nature, but into the relations between blacks and whites in our country," Hudson said.

"There are so many assumptions we make and beliefs we hold onto that are nearly unconscious. I think experiencing

"Offspring" will help lift up those covers and help audiences to acknowledge and examine some of their deepest feelings about race relations."

Granville said Blueberry Pond productions are unique because the ensemble is the only professional theater company in Westchester County whose season consists solely of members' original work.

"We are a writer-driven organization. We don't do anything that's been published. Just premieres," she said.

The ensemble's writers bring their original work, usually pieces at a time, to weekly workshops and hone the script with help from member writers, actors and directors, Granville said. There are about 50 active members, mostly from Westchester.

Each year, Blueberry Pond will pick its best work and stage up to four productions, she said.

"The audience is seeing something that they have never seen before. This is something that is being tested on its feet for the first time. Their reactions are the first reactions that these directors, actors and writers are experiencing."

Granville said Blueberry Pond picks works that address cutting-edge, fresh themes not being treated by other theaters.

DeVellard's "Eden's End," about a Southern woman who marries a rich man and accepts her role as trophy wife, will premiere next year, April 8 to May 29.

"Sub-Urban Legend," by Blueberry Pond's Jocelyn Beard will follow, June 24 to July 31. Granville said the play takes a very black look at Westchester County's upwardly mobile suburban life and the world behind McMansion doors.