Playwright-director Emily Mann (Execution of Justice, Having Our Say) will premiere her new play, Meshugah, this fall at Princeton's McCarter Theatre, where she is artistic director. Mann adapted the drama from Yiddish novelist Isaac Bashevis Singer's story of the same name, in which Aaron Greidinger, a struggling writer, falls in love with the mistress of a friend. The play is scheduled to run Oct. 20- Nov. 8. No cast has been announced. Mann's last work, Having Our Say, transferred from the McCarter to a Broadway run.

The McCarter season opens with an equally momentous production. Director David Leveaux, taking his first American job since directing Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson in the Roundabout Theatre Company's landmark production of Anna Christie, will stage Sophocles' Electra (Sept. 15-Oct. 4). Renowned British actress Zoe Wanamaker will recreate her Olivier-winning performance in the title role. Frank McGuinness, who adapted the recent Janet McTeer revival of Ibsen's A Doll's House, penned the translation.

The third show of the season will be Two Sisters and a Piano (Feb. 16-Mar. 7, 1999), a world premiere by playwright Nilo Cruz (A Park in Our House). Set in Cuba in 1991, it tells of two women under house arrest whose fates are toyed with by a military official. No director has been selected.

Two classic comedies round out the mainstage season: Moliere's The School for Wives (Mar. 23-Apr. 11, 1999), in Richard Wilbur's translation; and Noel Coward's Design for Living (May 4-23, 1999), directed by Stephen Wadsworth.

McCarter's Second Stage, meanwhile, will see the world premiere of Yehuda Hyman's The Mad Dancers (Jan. 11-28, 1999). The work, subtitled "A Mystical Comedy with Ecstatic Dance," traces a man's journey from urban alienation to self-discovery. For information on the season, call (609) 683-8000. Single tickets go on sale Aug. 24.

-- By Robert Simonson