Christopher Trumbo penned the epistolary piece, an homage to his screenwriter father, who wrote "Spartacus," "Roman Holiday" and "Exodus." Irwin, known for Broadway's Fool Moon and The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? will play George in the upcoming Broadway revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

Off-Broadway's Signature Theatre devoted its entire 2003 04 season to works by and starring writer-mime-actor Irwin.

Trumbo uses letters the writer sent to family and friends during his time in jail (for refusing to testify in communist witch hunts) as the basis for the play. The small-cast work is expected to appear in many regional theatres in the coming years, and has been announced at a handful of places in 2004-05.

PTC producing artistic director Sara Garonzik's 2004-05 season will also include Tracey Scott Wilson's racially charged newspaper drama, The Story, directed by Maria Mileaf (Jan. 28-Feb. 27, 2005); William Finn's musical, Elegies: A Song Cycle (March 18-April 17, 2005), directed by Joe Calarco; and the Philly premiere of Richard Greenberg's Tony Award-winning Take Me Out, about the incident-packed season of a major league ball team (May 13-June 12, 2005).

All productions in the coming season are Philadelphia premieres. For information, call (215) 985-1400 ext. 100 or visit www.phillytheatreco.com.

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Philadelphia Theatre Company, entering its 29th season, is Philadelphia's only non-profit professional theatre dedicated to producing regional and world premieres of works by contemporary American playwrights.