Previews will begin April 14, 2009, for a run through May 24.

No casting has been announced for the staging, which will be the fourth production of the Geffen's 2008-09 season.

The acclaimed, humor-soaked drama was nominated as Best Play in the 2008 Tony Awards. Jim Norton won the Tony as Best Featured Actor in a Play for his portrayal of a boozy, earthy, blind older brother who doesn't know his younger brother has made a deal with the devil.

Geffen Playhouse artistic director Randall Arney will direct; he's also directing a production at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre (set to start previews Dec. 4, 2008).

Arney, who also directed Conor McPherson's The Weir at the Geffen Playhouse in 2000, will be the first to direct a production other than playwright McPherson, who led the casts at the National Theatre in London (2006) and on Broadway (2007). The Geffen Playhouse and Steppenwolf are the only regional theatres in the country to secure the rights to the play since the show closed on Broadway in March of this year.

"A whiskey laden tale set over a poker game in the Dublin home of two brothers on Christmas Eve, The Seafarer is wrought with the playwright's signature anguish, otherworldliness and unapologetically raw characters," according to Geffen. "Yet, the play is also warmly hilarious, surprisingly inspiring, and (ironically) sobering. McPherson's tenth play is a fable about power, redemption and betting against the odds."

Visit www.geffenplayhouse.org for more information.