Trinity Rep artistic director Curt Columbus stages the 75-minute work that will run Dec. 5, 2008-Jan. 11, 2009, in Trinity Rep's Dowling Theater. The Receptionist will officially open Dec. 10.

The four-person cast includes Trinity Rep resident actors Duclos in the title role with Crowe, Angela Brazil and guest artist Timothy John Smith.

"This hilarious new play," press notes state, "celebrates the familiar details of every cubicle-dweller's seemingly mundane daily existence - and then pulls the rug right out from underneath you. Product lines, client meetings, protocol: it's business-as-usual in the Northeast Office. To pass the time, there's pastry, personal calls, and romantic advice for the zany co-worker. When that cute guy from the Central Office drops by, he's happy to chat 'til the boss gets back. Then, in the blink of an eye, this familiar daydream becomes a nightmare you don't see coming."

About The Receptionist its playwright Adam Bock said, "I wanted to write a play about the many different kinds of language we use. It's amazing to watch receptionists: the way they talk to a stranger who walks in the door, and then talk to someone they know, and the way they talk to someone that they don't want there, and the way they talk to someone on the phone — all these different levels of intimacy, of acceptance or of rejection, of stopping or letting things go through. And so I thought, 'oh, to watch an actress do that onstage would be a bit of bravura.'"

The Trinity Rep production creative team comprises Tony Award-winning set designer Eugene Lee, costume designer William Lane, lighting designer Keith Parham and sound designer Peter Sasha Hurowitz. Bock's plays include The Drunken City, The Thugs, Swimming in the Shallows, Five Flights, The Typographer's Dream, The Shaker Chair and Three Guys and a Brenda.

Tickets to The Receptionist at Trinity Rep, 201 Washington Street in Providence, RI, are available by calling (401) 351-4242.

For more information visit www.trinityrep.com.