The second production of Berkshire Theatre Festival's 1999 season will be Moby Dick Rehearsed by film legend Orson Welles, July 13 - 31.

Set at the end of the 19th century, the play follows a group of traveling actors who are preparing for a production of King Lear. During the rehearsal, the company manager persuades his actors to rehearse a new manuscript -- "Moby Dick." The cast reluctantly rehearses the story of Ahab and his obsession with the white whale in a stark and visceral form.

Directing the project will be Berkshire favorite Eric Hill, whose BTF productions include: Beth Henley's The L Play, Wilder, Wilder, Wilder, Life's A Dream, and Secret Lives of Sexists.

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While Crucifer is taking up the mainstage, BTF will open Love's Fire at the Unicorn Theatre, June 17 - July 17. Eric Bogosian, Marsha Norman, John Guare and Tony Kushner are some of the playwrights represented with new work in Love's Fire: Fresh Numbers by Seven American Playwrights. Originally produced by The Acting Company in celebration of its 25th anniversary, the evening of short plays and music is inspired by Shakespeare's sonnets. Eva Le Gallienne founded the Berkshire Festival in 1928 with The Cradle Song. The playhouse itself was built by Stanford White, initially as a gentlemen's club. It wasn't until the 1960s that the venue was named the Berkshire Theatre Festival. Among the luminaries appearing there over the years have been Buster Keaton, Katharine Hepburn, Tallulah Bankhead, Thornton Wilder, Eli Wallach and Joanne Woodward.

For tickets or more information, call (413) 298-5576.

-- By Sean McGrath