Stoppard, Ruhl, Shakespeare will play at Park Square

Park Square Theatre has announced a 2009-10 season that should demand attention -- a stellar cast for "Othello" and area premieres of Tom Stoppard's "Rock 'n' Roll" and Sarah Ruhl's "Dead Man's Cell Phone." In addition, the St. Paul playhouse will return to the Sherlock Holmes gold mine next summer.

The season opens Sept. 11-Oct. 4 with "Becky's New Car," a play written by Steven Dietz and directed by Peter Moore. ACT in Seattle gave the play its premiere last October, and critic Misha Berson called it a "nimble romantic farce."

Artistic director Richard Cook will lead James A. Williams, Steve Hendrickson and Stacia Rice in "Othello," Oct. 16-Nov. 8. Williams was the Star Tribune's 2008 Artist of the Year for his searing portrayal of Troy Maxson in Penumbra Theatre's "Fences." Hendrickson and Rice are Ivey Award winners.

After Park Square reprises its holiday production of "Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol" with Jim Lichtscheidl, director Mary Finnerty will take on perhaps the biggest challenge of the season, with Stoppard's "Rock 'n' Roll," a sprawling meditation on revolution, communism and music, Jan. 15-Feb. 7. Casting has not been announced.

Playwright Tina Howe, who often writes on the New England elite, brings "Painting Churches" to Park Square, Feb. 26-March 21. Jon Cranney will direct a cast that includes Katherine Ferrand and Richard Ooms.

Ruhl, who has been represented in the Twin Cities by "Eurydice" (Ten Thousand Things) and "Clean House" (Mixed Blood), put "Dead Man's Cell Phone" into Playwright's Horizon with Mary Louise Parker and Kathleen Chalfant last year. The comedy will be directed by Matt Sciple and feature Carolyn Pool. It runs April 9-May 2.

Holmes and Watson made for a bestseller last summer. Cook knows a good thing and will produce "Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily," May 28-June 23. It's written by Katie Forgette ("The O'Conner Girls" at Park Square) and will be directed by Michael Bigelow Dixon.

Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299