By Adam Hetrick
24 Nov 2009

Playwright Young Jean Lee will look beyond Shakespeare's King in the world premiere of Lear, which is set to begin performances Off-Broadway Jan. 7, 2010.

Lee will direct her work commissioned by Soho Rep that will officially open Jan. 14, 2010 and will play a limited engagement through Jan. 31, 2010. Dean Moss will choreograph.

The cast will feature Paul Lazar, April Matthis, Okwui Okpokwasili, Pete Simpson and Amelia Workman. The production will have designs by David Evans Morris (scenic design), Roxana Ramseur (costume design), Raquel Davis (lighting design) and Matt Tierney (sound design).

Lear, according to press notes, "focuses not on the aging Lear and Gloucester, but rather on their adult children who turned their backs on their fathers' suffering. Though intensely personal, Young Jean Lee's Lear is a striking tragedy about despair, the end of life and familial piety."

Lee is currently under commission from Lincoln Center Theater, Playwrights Horizons, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She serves as artistic director of the Young Jean Lee Theatre Company, and has directed the plays The Shipment; Church; Pullman, WA; Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven; The Appeal; and Groundwork of Metaphysic Morals.

For more information visit SohoRep. Soho Rep is located at 46 Walker Street in Manhattan.