Based on Gloria Naylor's beloved award-winning novel, the musical by composer-lyricist-librettist Tim Acito (Zanna, Don't!) will be directed by Molly Smith and is a co-production with the Smith's Arena Stage in Washington, DC.

"The musical explores the comic, heartbreaking and ultimately inspiring lives of seven African-American women living in an urban housing project in the early 1970s," according to Alliance notes. It will play the main Alliance Stage September-October 2007.

Also on the Alliance Stage in 2007-08 will be Anthony Shaffer's Sleuth (October-November 2007), directed by associate artistic director Kent Gash.

A musical to be determined will play the Alliance Stage January-February 2008.

John Patrick Shanley's Pulitzer Prize winner and Tony Award winner Doubt, directed by Booth, will play the mainstage April-May 2008. The Hertz Stage will be transformed into a chic bohemian Paris nightclub for a fresh version of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, directed by Susan V. Booth, September-October 2007.

Also on the Hertz Stage, expect In the Red and Brown Water (February 2008), the fourth winner of the nationally recognized Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition. Written by emerging playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney, it's "a dizzyingly poetic tale of difficult choices, profound relationships and sweeping emotions. Using a rich palette of theatrical and historical conventions (including Lorca and Yoruban folk culture) to tell the story, it promises to be a memorable and original night in the theatre."

Also at the Hertz, Alliance Theatre will co-produce Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice with Georgia Shakespeare. "It will take the combined resources of both companies to do justice to this poignant and comic new take on the classic Greek myth about loving with an open heart," according to Alliance notes. Producing artistic director Richard Garner will direct March-April 2008.

In the Alliance Family Series, Alliance Children's Theatre will present Degas' Little Dancer (October-November 2007), directed by Rosemary Newcott, celebrating "the beauty of a young woman's commitment to her art as a dancer, which inspires an aging artist."

Seussical, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's Dr. Seuss-inspired musical will play (in a Theatre for Young Audiences production in a one-hour version) February-March 2008. Rosemary Newcott directs.

A Christmas Carol will also return for its 18th season.

Subscriptions to the Alliance Theatre 2007-08 season are on sale now. Visit www.alliancetheatre.org.