Baker, Gleason, James & More to Soap Up for Beane's The Cartells Off-B'way

Playwright Douglas Carter Beane, whose The Little Dog Laughed is heading to Broadway this fall, will also premiere a four-part live soap opera called The Cartells off-Broadway. Featuring stage stars Dylan Baker, Joanna Gleason and Brian d'Arcy James, the serial will start performances October 16 at Comix.

Presented by the Drama Dept. and Comix, the Cartells centers around "a wealthy oil family having too much fun in an Aaron Spelling kind of way," The Cartells will begin each of its four "episodes" with "Previously on The Cartells…" to catch up audience members who have missed a program. The schedule for the series is as follows: "The Eye of the Needle" will premiere on October 16, "Far Above Rubies" on October 23, "Perish the Sword" on October 30 and "Cast a Stone" on November 6.

Baker earned a Theatre World Award for his Broadway debut in Eastern Standard and a Tony nomination for his work in La Bete. His off-Broadway credits include Pride's Crossing, Dearly Departed, The Common Pursuit, To Whom It May Concern, Not About Heroes for which he earned an Obie Award, Much Ado About Nothing, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Championship Season, Tartuffe, What the Butler Saw, Homebody/Kabul and Sea of Tranquility.

Last seen on Broadway in her Tony-nominated performance in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Gleason won a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut in I Love My Wife. She also appeared on the Great White Way in The Real Thing, Joe Egg for which she garnered a Tony nomination for her featured work, Social Security, Into the Woods which earned her the 1988 Best Actress in a Musical Tony Award and Nick & Nora. Her off-Broadway credits include A Hell of a Town, It's Only a Play, Love Letters, Eleemosynary and The Normal Heart.

James earned a Tony nomination for his performance in Sweet Smell of Success. His other Broadway credits include Blood Brothers, Les Misérables, Carousel, Titanic, The Lieutenant of Inishmore and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. He received Drama Desk nominations for his off-Broadway work in The Good Thief for which he won a Obie Award and The Wild Party. His other off-Broadway credits include Ancestral Voices, Velvet Vise, Public Enemy and Floyd Collins.

Directed by Carl Andress, The Cartells also stars Vanessa Aspillaga Anna in the Tropics, Keith Davis Festen, David Rakoff and Joey Slotnick.