The Manhattan Class Company — better known by their abbreviated moniker MCC — brings the work to New York for its American premiere, Feb. 25, 2004, following its debut at London's Royal National Theater.

O'Byrne starred in the original productions of Martin McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Skull in Connemara and The Lonesome West, as well as the Broadway stagings of the first and latter, which earned him his Tony nods. Other stage credits include The Sisters Rosensweig, Hapgood, Seconds Out and Smelling a Rat.

Robins has been a regular at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey for each of the last seven seasons, in such works as Three Sisters, Arms and the Man and Twelfth Night. On Broadway, she was seen in The Herbal Bed and The Real Thing and Off-Broadway in Tiny Alice and Mrs. Klein.

Bryony Lavery's Frozen will be directed by Doug Hughes — who directed last season's MCC staging of Scattergood. The drama, set to open March 11, 2004 at the East 13th Street Theatre, connects the lives of three strangers involved in a child's disappearance.

MCC's new three-play season will begin with Eric Coble's Bright Ideas, Oct. 22 at East 13th Street Theatre. The dark comedy, set to open Nov. 5, centers on parents of a boy who is next on the waiting list for one of the best pre-schools, Bright Ideas Early Childhood Development Academy. John Rando (Polish Joke) will direct. The American premiere of Neil LaBute's The Distance From Here — which was postponed from last season to make room for the more timely LaBute work The Mercy Seat — will begin at The Duke on 42nd Street, April 14, 2004. The drama, which centers on a teen-aged slacker and his struggle with the discord in his family life, will open April 29, 2004.

For more information on MCC, visit www.mcctheater.com.