Long Wharf artistic director Gordon Edelstein will direct the play which is set to open Dec. 18.

A New War is set in the near future on the set of a cable news network as a new U.S. war is unfolding. The satire was penned in reaction to the Bush administration's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the media's coverage of those campaigns.

Cunningham appeared on Broadway in Amour, Titanic, Company and Six Degrees of Separation. Zarish's New York credits include The Countess, Other People's Money, An Enemy of the People and Miss Julie. Polk has been seen in The Odyssey and The Truth-Teller. Boyd appeared in the premieres of Christopher Durang's Sex and Longing and Betty's Summer Vacation as well as Stone Cold Dead Serious.

The show originated at the Cape Cod's Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, where Hoppe is founder and associate artistic director. Hoppe wrote the play quickly over a few weeks in 2002. Inspired by post-9/11 current events, he said he was "hypnotized by the manic manipulations of 24-hour news channels desperate to fill airtime. The play is a funny and timely voyage to the heart of darkest America. I also wrote the play as a quick and cheap way to keep WHAT open past the traditional tourist season."

A late fall 2002 success at WHAT, A New War played an equally successful six week run in March 2003 at Boston's Jimmy Tingle's Off Broadway. The production received a 2003 Elliot Norton Award. For tickets to A New War at The Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Drive in New Haven, CT, call (800) 782-8497. For more information, visit www.longwharf.org.