Ken Rus Schmoll, who staged What Once We Felt for LCT3, will helm the play about contemporary American life that will begin previews Oct. 6. Additional casting and creative duties for Middletown will be announced shortly.

Middletown is the first announced production of the Vineyard's 2010-2011 season. Vineyard has spawned such works as The Scottsboro Boys and Avenue Q.

The Vineyard describes Eno's work as "a deeply moving and funny new play exploring the universe of a small American town. As a friendship develops between longtime resident John Dodge (Roache) and new arrival Mary Swanson (Burns), the lives of the inhabitants of Middletown intersect in strange and poignant ways in a journey that takes them from the local library to outer space and points between."

Roache is known for his role as Executive A.D.A. Michael Cutter on "Law & Order." His screen credits also include "RFK," "The Namesake," "Batman Begins," "The Chronicles of Riddick" and "The Wings of the Dove." On stage he appeared in Coriolanus and Richard II with Ralph Fiennes at BAM in 2000.

Burns appeared Off-Broadway in Fran's Bed, Lobby Hero, Writer's Block and The Marriage of Bette and Boo. She performed in the West End production of This Is Our Youth and can be seen in the HBO series "Bored to Death." Other screen roles include "Miss Congeniality," "Choke" and "You've Got Mail."

Eno's play Thom Pain (based on nothing) was a 2004 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His other plays include The Flu Season, Tragedy: a tragedy and Oh, The Humanity and other exclamations.

Vineyard season memberships are currently on sale. For more information visit vineyardtheatre.org.