Harewood, who played CIA chief David Estes in two seasons of the Showtime series "Homeland," will play the Fairy King in the Off-Broadway production at Theatre for a New Audience's new Brooklyn home. Performances begin Oct. 19, prior to an official opening Nov. 2.

Harewood announced this casting on his Twitter page, saying, "Actually I turned down a role in a movie so I could do the theatre gig. I thought I'd get more out of doing some Shakespeare."

Harewood's stage credits include playing Martin Luther King in the premiere of Katori Hall's The Mountaintop and Theseus in the premiere of Moira Buffini's play Welcome to Thebes at the National Theatre in London. Some of his film and TV credits include "Mrs. Mandela," "Robin Hood" and "Dr. Who."

Harewood expressed his excitement about the project, writing on Twitter, "Julie Taymor rang me the other day.....there may be some 'light flying' involved! I am so damn excited!"

Taymor, who has directed film, opera and theatre, made her Broadway debut with Juan Darién: A Carnival Mass, which earned five Tony nominations. Her theatre credits also include Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, The Green Bird, Titus Andronicus, The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew, The Transposed Heads and Liberty's Taken. In 1997 Taymor directed the stage adaptation of Disney's animated film "The Lion King" and won the Tony Award for Best Costumes and Best Direction of a Musical.

More information about Theatre for a New Audience can be found by visiting tfana.org.