NPC artistic director Wendy C. Golberg will direct the July 27-28 presentations of the play. It replaces a previously announced developmental presentation of Rebeck's Fool. Rebeck is also the creator of the NBC series "Smash," and author of many plays, including Seminar, Our House, Mauritius and The Scene. She co-authored the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Omnium Gatherum.

"Theresa arrived very passionate about this new piece," Goldberg said in a statement. "It became clear that The Way of Things is the play we should develop this summer and we intend to collaborate on Fool in the future. I am excited to have Theresa here with us as part of the National Playwrights Conference and to welcome her to The O'Neill family."

Nielsen and Dykstra are part of a cast that also includes Sam Guncler, Laura Heisler, David Andrew Macdonald, Kate Nowlin, Katie Paxton and Jeremy Webb.

Here's how the O'Neill bills the comedy: "It's another summer in the Hamptons — everyone is drinking, shopping, gossiping and bed-swapping. An heiress and her aunt unexpectedly find themselves at the heart of this summer's scandal when they both become entangled in the same smooth-talking bachelor's web."

The National Playwrights Conference launched July 4. Rebeck's The Way of Things is the final work to be staged. For more information, visit www.theoneill.org.

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center was founded in 1964 and is based in Waterford, CT. Programs at the Center include the Puppetry Conference, Playwrights Conference, Critics Institute, Music Theater Conference and the National Theater Institute. The Monte Cristo Cottage, O'Neill's childhood home, is also owned and operated by the group.