IRT artistic director Charlotte Moore stages the classic, opening Feb. 24. Endgame is said to be Nobel Prize-winning playwright Samuel Beckett's (1906-1989) favorite play. IRT bills its as "a tragicomedy of epic proportions."

*

"Written in a macabre intensity of mood, it represents the playwright's fierce declaration of oblivion in a world populated with its last survivors," according to the resident Equity company devoted to the Irish voice. "The play, about the end of everything, moves inexorably to its own conclusion with its own humor bursting out of the bounds of Beckett's dark account of the Earth's last whimper."

Beckett won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1969. Among his celebrated works for the theatre are Waiting for Godot, Krapp's Last Tape and Happy Days.

Sets are designed by Hugh Landwehr with costume design by Linda Fisher and lighting design by Clifton Taylor.

Roberts is a two-time Tony Award nominee known for How Now Dow Jones, Sugar, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife and Victor/Victoria on Broadway. Epstein was a notable Clov in the American premiere of Endgame. Heller starred in the 2004 run of Off-Broadway's The Immigrant. Grody received the Obie Award for her appearances in Top Girls and The Marriage of Bette and Boo.

Performances at The Irish Repertory Theatre, 132 W. 22nd St., are Tuesday-Saturday at 8 PM with matinees are Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 3 PM.

Tickets for Endgame are $50 and $45 and can be purchased from The Irish Repertory Theatre Box Office or by calling (212) 727-2737.