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New Theater Group to Hit Town: Dan Lauria, who plays the grumpy Dad on “The Wonder Years,” will direct PKE Theatre, a new theater group that is being completely funded by Patchett-Kaufman Entertainment, the Culver City company that produced the TV movie “Howard Beach: Making the Case for Murder” and the upcoming TV series “Working Girl.” With a budget of $100,000 from partners Tom Patchett and Ken Kaufman, PKE will stage four plays during the next year, using rented theaters; the first will be “Old Friends,” opening March 1 at the Callboard Theatre in West Hollywood. Last year Lauria used his own “Wonder Years” money to co-produce two smaller-theater hits, “A Bronx Tale” and “What Everywoman Knows.”