Arin Arbus directs the limited run of the William Shakespeare tragedy, which began previews Feb. 14 and is scheduled to play through March 7. Director Arbus previously stated, "Othello will open four weeks after Barack Obama's inauguration, making February 2009 an interesting time to explore Shakespeare's great tragedy about a black leader in a white society. The play depicts a culture, not unlike our own, that both promotes diversity and undermines it."

Thompson (Oroonoko, Cyrano de Bergerac) is joined onstage by Ned Eisenberg (Oliver Twist, Awake and Sing) as Iago, Juliet Rylance (Bash: Latterday Plays - London's West End) as Desdemona, Kate Forbes (The Merchant of Venice) as Emilia and Lucas Hall (All's Well That Ends Well) as Cassio.

The company also features Denis Butkus (The Coast of Utopia), Robert Langdon Lloyd (Amadeus), Elizabeth Meadows Rouse (Comedy of Errors), Christian Rummel (Antony & Cleopatra), Alexander Sovronsky (Cyrano) and Graham Winton (Don Juan).

The design team includes Peter Ksander (sets), Miranda Hoffman (costumes), Marcus Doshi (lights), Sarah Pickett (music) and Matt O'Hare (sound). Robert Neff Williams serves as voice and text consultant with B.H. Barry as the fight choreographer.

The company will next present Hamlet (March 15-April 19) also at The Duke on 42nd Street. David Esbjornson (The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?) stages the work starring Christian Camargo (Coriolanus).

For tickets to Othello, at The Duke, 229 West 42nd Street, call (646) 223-3010 or visit dukeon42.org. For more information on TFANA, visit tfana.org.