Flemish director Ivo van Hove will stage the downtown Manhattan company's season opener slated to play through Oct. 24.

Marvel (An American Daughter) — who has played in NYTW stagings of Alice in Bed, A Streetcar Named Desire and Lydie Breeze, Parts I & II will tackle the title role in the Henrik Ibsen classic.

The cast of Hedda Gabler Also features Elzbieta Czyzewska (Vienna: Lusthaus (revisited)) as Berte, Jason Butler Harner (Observe the Sons of Ulster...) as George Tesman, Mary Beth Peil (Frame 312,"Dawson's Creek") as Aunt Julia, Ana Reeder (Humble Boy, The Time of the Cuckcoo) as Mrs. Elvsted and John Douglas Thompson (Marlowe's Eyes) as Judge Brack.

van Hove serves as the artistic director of The Netherlands' repertory company, Toneelgroep Amsterdam. The director is known in Europe for his innovative theatrical stagings. New York audiences may remember his previous NYTW productions of More Stately Mansions, A Streetcar Named Desire and Alice in Bed.

The remainder of the NYTW season will see a return of playwright Caryl Churchill's work with James MacDonald's staging of A Number starring Sam Shepard (starting Nov. 16) and Mildred Ruiz and Steven Sapp's Eyewitness Blues directed by Talvin Wilks (from March 1, 2005). Other productions under consideration include Will Power's adaptation of Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes, called The Seven directed by Jo Bonney and a Martha Clarke adaptation of Pirandello. Subject to change. For more information on NYTW, 79 East Fourth Street, visit www.nytw.org.