Fringe Fest on Cruise control

Thesp the subject of Poe play

By GORDON COX

A normal guy strikes a deal with Tom Cruise to experience Tom's life at the center of the celebrity circus. It's a Faustian bargain -- with Cruise cast as the devil.

That's the storyline of "I Was Tom Cruise," a play bowing at the New York Intl. Fringe Festival this summer.

Writer and co-director Alexander Poe met Cruise on "War of the Worlds." So the show's bound to be filled with litigation-baiting dirt about the slander-sensitive star, right?

Alas, no. "It's not a campy show," Poe insists.

Instead, he says, it aims to be a gimlet-eyed look at the cult of celebrity, with thesp Jeff Berg (not the ICM agent) doing what Poe calls an "uncanny" impersonation of the star.

The Fringe Fest is no stranger to productions using a celeb's name to grab attention. Last year's lineup offered romantic comedy "Sex With Jake Gyllenhaal," and the year before saw a spoof of the Hilton sisters titled "Nicky Goes Goth." The fest's 2002 offering about Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, "Matt & Ben," spawned an Off Broadway run and several regional productions.

Hoping for its own encounter with the paparazzi, "I Was Tom Cruise" plays for 11 days beginning Aug. 11.