Performances of the Clifford Odets play will begin Aug. 31 with an official opening Sept. 6. The limited engagement will run through Oct. 20. Additional casting will be announced shortly.

Awake and Sing!, according to press notes, "tells the story of the Bergers, a lower-middle-class, three-generation Jewish family living in a Bronx apartment during the 1930s. The family, ruled over by strong-willed matriarch Bessie, long for a better world for themselves. True to life in his depiction of the extreme economic hardships confronted by working-class immigrant families during the 1930s, Odets documents their travails and their hopes, capturing the frenetic, pressured existence in this crowded home."

Stockard Channing won a Tony Award for her performance in Joe Egg; her numerous Broadway credits include Two Gentlemen of Verona, No Hard Feelings, They're Playing Our Song, The Rink, The Golden Age, The House of Blue Leaves, Love Letters, Six Degrees of Separation, Four Baboons Adoring the Sun, The Little Foxes and The Lion in Winter. Also a star of film and television, the actress was awarded two Emmys at the 54th Annual Emmy Awards — a Supporting Actress (Drama Series) Emmy for her work as the country's First Lady on the NBC series "The West Wing," and a Supporting Actress, Miniseries or Movie trophy for her portrayal of Matthew Shepard's mother in the NBC movie "The Matthew Shepard Story."

The classic American play first staged in the Depression by The Group Theatre was most recently on Broadway in 2006 at the Belasco Theatre, where the drama originally opened in 1935. The revival celebrated the playwright's centenary and won the Tony for Best Revival of a Play.

Playwright Odets also penned Waiting for Lefty, Paradise Lost, Golden Boy, Rocket Man to the Moon, Clash by Night and The Big Knife as well as the screenplays for "The General Died at Dawn," "The Sweet Smell of Success" and "Story on Page One." The Almeida Theatre is located on Almeida Street in Islington, London. For more visit www.almeida.co.uk.