Now in previews for a Dec. 7 opening at the Mitzi Newhouse Theatre, Tina Howe's latest play, Pride's Crossing, is the second show of the Lincoln Center Theater season (after Kevin Kline in Ivanov at the Broadway Vivian Beaumont space).

Joining Cherry Jones in the Howe drama are Angie Phillips, recently of All My Sons at the Roundabout, and Dylan Baker (La Bete, Eastern Standard).

As he did for San Diego's Old Globe Theatre, where he serves as artistic director, Jack O'Brien directs the Howe drama at the Off-Broadway, Mitzi Newhouse space. Pride's Crossing explores the fictional life of feisty, 91-year-old Mabel Tidings Bigelow, who relives her experiences swimming the English channel, and the aftermath, through flashbacks.

Said O'Brien when he directed the play Jan. 25-March 2 in San Diego, "This play is funny and wise, an allegory of American women during the early 20th century, women who were not given -- particularly by their families -- the awareness that they could be great."

Jones won a Tony Award for her work in The Heiress and also appeared in The Baltimore Waltz, Paula Vogel's Desdemona, Our Country's Good and Night Of The Iguana. Also starring in Crossing will be Julia McIlvaine, Casey Biggs, Kandis Chappel and David Lansbury (Hapgood). Designing the show are Ralph Funicello (sets), Robert Morgan (costumes), Jan Hartley (projections), Kenneth Posner (lighting) and Mark Bennett (sound/original music).

Howe's previous works include Painting Churches, One Shoe Off, and The Art Of Dining. Vector Theatre Company, a newly formed Bay Area nonprofit theatre, opened its inaugural season Oct. 18 with the San Francisco premiere of Howe's Museum, a comic parody of the post-modern art scene. For an interview with Howe, please see the feature story, "Tina Howe Taking Pride and Visiting Museum."

Though Sex And Longing, An American Daughter, God's Heart, Juan Darien and The Little Foxes at Lincoln Center last season weren't as commercially successful as might be hoped, executive producer Bernard Gersten told Playbill On-Line (Nov. 7), the point of non-profit theatre isn't financial success. "The commercial theatre hopes for artistic and commercial success," he said. "We hope for the idea of artistic success. Whereas the for-profit theatre believes it will succeed, the not-for-profit believes it will fail. We protect ourselves by raising money through contributions, and we persuade people telling them that we will not succeed and not return their contributions in our pursuits. The goals are diffferent."