The upcoming season at Off-Broadway MCC Theater will feature new plays by Marsha Norman ('Night Mother) and Jose Rivera (Cloud Tectonics), as well as the previously announced Yard Gal by Rebecca Prichard.

Norman's Trudy Blue will open the season, previewing from Nov. 16, for a Dec. 2 opening. The play, about a modern Manhattan woman and the myriad voices in her head, will run through Dec. 18. Michael Sexton will direct.

Rivera's Sueno will arrive next, beginning previews on Feb. 22, 2000, opening March 1 and running until March 18. Lisa Peterson (The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek) will direct this tale of love and betrayal, loosely based on Calderon's classic Life Is a Dream.

MCC will then play host to a Yard Gal, the story of two teenage girls from London's slums. The original London cast will recreate their roles in the MCC production. Girl will preview from April 18, 2000, for an April 26 opening and a run through May 20. The play was originally scheduled to run this fall.

Prichard won the 1999 London Critic's Circle Award as most promising playwright for Yard Gal, which played the Royal Court last season. MCC scored the hit of last season when it staged Margaret Edson's first play, Wit. The drama extended several times before transferring to the Union Square theatre and winning a heap of awards for Edson and the play's star, Kathleen Chalfant.

Other recent MCC productions include The English Teachers and Angelique.

-- By Robert Simonson