New York's Jean Cocteau Repertory continues its 1998-99 season with Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros, Sept. 25-Dec. 4. The production, along with Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialist masterpiece No Exit (through Oct. 23), is part of a mini-festival of modern French drama sponsored by the Florence Gould Foundation.

Rhinoceros, tells of Berenger (a role made famous by Zero Mostel), a fellow who notices that every person in the world is transforming into a rhinoceros. Berenger fights to remain a human being while everyone around him is turning green and leathery. The play, recently revived by Off-Broadway's Valiant Theatre Company, has been called a metaphor for man's struggle to remain an individual in the face of mass hysteria. Eve Adamson directs the piece.

Also scheduled for the Cocteau Rep season:
Loot, Joe Orton's dark farce, directed by Scott Shattuck, who also staged Orton's What The Butler Saw for Cocteau Rep two seasons back. The comedy tells of a son who needs to dump stolen money into his mother's casket.

Caesar and Cleopatra, by George Bernard Shaw, directed by Robert Hupp (Jan. 15-Mar. 26, 1999, opens Jan. 17, 1999). GBS' romantic drama tells of the conqueror falling for Egyptian woman-child, Cleopatra.

Winterset, Maxwell Anderson's 1935 verse drama, to be staged by Eve Adamson (Mar. 12-May 9, 1999, opens Mar. 14). Loosely based on the Sacco & Vanzetti case, the play tells of a son hoping to avenge the execution of his innocent dad. A sixth play to end the season will be announced in the winter.

For information on Jean Cocteau Repertory's porduction of Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros (Sept. 25 - Dec. 4), call (212) 677-0060.

-- By Sean McGrath, Robert Simonson
and David Lefkowitz