Blanka Zizka (Yellowman) will direct the play by the author of Death and the Maiden at City Center Stage I on 55th Street. The Other Side will open Off-Broadway Dec. 6. Previews begin Nov. 10.
"Dorfman's moving, unexpectedly comic work is set in a war torn country where a man and a woman wait," according to MTC. "They pass their days identifying the casualties. When peace and a border guard arrive, their bleakly predictable world unravels."
Rosemary Harris (who will play Levana Julak) most recently appeared on the New York stage in Edward Albee's All Over for the Roundabout Theatre Company in 2002. Her Broadway credits include A Delicate Balance, Waiting in the Wings, An Inspector Calls, Hay Fever, Pack of Lies, Heartbreak House, The Royal Family, A Streetcar Named Desire, Old Times, The Lion in the Winter (Tony Award).
A new generation knows her as Aunt May, the wise and vulnerable parent-figure to Peter Parker in Hollywood's "Spider-Man" and "Spider-Man 2."
She spent six years with APA, two years with APA-Phoenix at the Lyceum. For Royal National Theatre she appeared in Women of Troy, The Petition, Hamlet, Uncle Vanya. An Academy Award nominee for "Tom & Viv," Harris has guest directed at the North Carolina School of the Arts and is married to the novelist John Ehle. Their daughter is Jennifer Ehle.
Ariel Dorfman is a Chilean novelist, playwright, essayist, journalist and human rights activist. Dorfman's family moved to the United States shortly after his birth, settling in Chile in 1954. He attended and was a professor at the University of Chile. Forced into exile following the Chilean military coup of 1973, he has divided his time between Santiago and the United States since the restoration (1990) of democracy in his homeland; since 1985 he has taught at Duke University. His plays include Death and the Maiden (also made into a film, directed by Roman Polanski), Purgatorio (debuting at Seattle Rep in December), and Picasso's Closet, debuting at Theatre J in Washington, D.C., in spring 2006.
Blanka Zizka has been the co-artistic director of The Wilma Theater in Philadelphia since 1981.
For more information about MTC's Broadway and Off-Broadway season, visit www.manhattantheatreclub.com.