Zoe Caldwell's Return to the Stage Highlights CSC's 2006-2007 Season

Classic Stage Company has announced plans for its 2006-2007 season. The lineup will include Richard II starring Michael Cumpsty, the English language premiere of Yasmina Reza's A Spanish Play with four-time Tony winner Zoe Caldwell, Tony winner Denis O'Hare and Tony-nominated actress Linda Emond and Homer's The Iliad, Books I-III.

Cumpsty played the title role in Hamlet for CSC last season. This season he will reunite with CSC artistic director Brian Kulick on Richard II, running September 6 through October 15.

Next up is A Spanish Play, directed by noted actor John Turturro. Reza's play follows in the tradition of Corneille, Shakespeare and Pirandello, playing with the question of truth and illusion as an audience is asked to disentangle real life from the rehearsal of a play. The show will run January 20 through February 18. Other than a brief guest engagement in The Play What I Wrote, A Spanish Play will mark the first time Caldwell has appeared on the New York stage since her Tony-winning performance as Maria Callas in Master Class in the mid-1990s.

Classic Stage will collaborate with the Aquila Theatre Company on The Iliad, Books I-III, running March 14 through April 22. Peter Meineck directs.

In addition to the above, CSC will also present Sunday evening open rehearsals of Christopher Marlowe's Edward II September 24, October 1, October 8 and October 15 with the company of Richard II, the return of the staged reading series First Look Festival and a mounting of A Midsummer Nights Dream February 20 through March 4 done by The Young Company comprised of members of Columbia University's M.F.A. Acting Program.