The stars are mated with the classics at Classic Stage Company where Kathleen Chalfant will star in Marguerite Dumas' Savannah Bay and David Strathairn and Tim Blake Nelson will team up for Shakespeare's comedy, The Winter's Tale.

Chalfant won nearly every award available for an Off-Broadway actress for 1998's Wit. In Savannah Bay, she will play an aging mother interrogated by her daughter, who seeks to truly know her parent. While exploring issues of identity and growing old, the language-intensive Dumas exposes the secrets of the older woman's life, all to the daughter's surprise and shock. Savannah Bay will finish the CSC season, playing May 29-June 29, 2003.

Strathairn most recently appeared on Broadway in The Dance of Death opposite Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen. Actor-writer-director Nelson is perhaps best known for his quirky film roles in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and "Minority Report." Strathairn will play The Winter's Tale's jealous King Leontes, while Nelson will be the trickster Autolycus. CSC's artistic director Barry Edelstein (The Underpants) will direct the dark comedy, playing Jan. 15-Feb. 23, 2003.

Opening the season will be the New York premiere of Lanford Wilson's translation of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts. Daniel Fish (True Love) directs the play, an examination of the way the sins of the father transfer from parents to children. Ghosts will preview — appropriately — on Oct. 31, open on Nov. 10 and play through Dec. 8, 2002.

Single tickets are $50 with a half price discount for CSC members. Membership costs $30. Classic Stage Company is located at 136 East 13th St. and on the web at http://www.classicstage.com. — By Christine Ehren