The New York Times reports that the three plays that comprise Utopia ? Voyage, Shipwreck and Salvage ? will be mounted at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre. The American premiere of the nine-hour epic will feature direction by Jack O'Brien and design by Bob Crowley. Both O'Brien and Crowley were involved with Stoppard's award-winning Invention of Love.

Utopia made its debut in June 2002 at London's National Theatre featuring direction by Trevor Nunn. The three sequential plays tell an epic story of romantics and revolutionaries caught up in the struggle for political freedom in Tsarist Russia, beginning in the reign of Nicholas I, a ruler noted for his repressive attitude to politics and intellectual freedom. The plays involve more than 50 characters, and the action takes place in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Paris, Nice and London.

The New York production will require 30 adult actors as well as a small group of children. The Times reported that Stoppard will be rewriting some of the work before it crosses the pond.