Watkins replaces the previously announced Scott Patterson, who has been cast in a television pilot. Opening will be May 6.

The cast of the new Ben Andron play also features the previously reported Tony Award winner Betty Buckley, who is set for the first eight weeks of the run, Peter Scolari, Christy Carlson Romano, Rena Strober and Jimmy Ray Bennett. Bob Cline directs.

"Some guys are scared stiff at the prospect of settling down, getting married, having kids and Joe White is no exception," according to White's Lies press notes. "He’s a divorce lawyer, representing one of his many ex-girlfriends and above all else, he’s a bachelor who wouldn’t have it any other way. So when his mother desperately wants him to start a family, he’ll do the next best thing: make one up! What could go wrong? Only love, in the outrageous new comedy White’s Lies."

Producers are Aaron Grant, Jana Robbins, Jeremy Handelman, Craig Haffner and Karl E. Held.

Watkins' screen credits also include “Beggars & Choosers,” “Six Feet Under,” “CSI,” “Cold Case,” “Sisters,” “NYPD Blue,” "Santa Barbara,” “General Hospital” and "The Mummy." Onstage he has been seen in productions of Fortune's Fools, Julius Caesar and Sexual Perversity in Chicago. He won a 1992 Drama-Logue Award for Boy’s Play. Watkins is one of the founders of The All-U-Can-Eat Players.

New World Stages is located in Manhattan at 340 West 50th Street. For tickets, priced $60 and $75, call (212) 239-6200 or visit www.whitesliesonstage.com.