The ever-active Brian Murray, who was Tony-nominated this year for his role in Broadway's The Crucible, will star in the new Alfred Uhry play, Edgardo Mine, this fall at Hartford Stage.

Edgardo Mine, directed by Doug Hughes, will play an October-November run and, given the notoriety of its Pulitzer Prize-winning author, will most likely find its way to Manhattan after that.

Based on a true story, the play centers around a 1859 abduction in Italy that changed the course of a nation.

Uhry, who typically takes years to bring out a new play, is having an unusually busy year. In addition to Edgardo Mine, another new Uhry work, Without Walls, will premiere this summer at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. The play, about an African-American drama teacher and his new pupil, was inspired by Uhry's experiences as an English and drama teacher on the Upper West Side in the 1970s. Christopher Ashley directs.

Uhry's other titles include Driving Miss Daisy and The Last Night of Ballyhoo, as well as the book to the musical Parade. *

Hartford Stage's 2002-03 season firms up as their current season culminates in its final mainstage production of Edward Albee's Seascape, May 30-June 30.

The season is as follows: (subject to change)

• William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Mark Lamos, will play in September. The battle between bachelor Benedick and the sharp-tongued Beatrice will open the season at Hartford.
• Alfred Uhry's Edgardo Mine, directed by Doug Hughes, follows with an October-November run.
• Sophocles' Electra, directed by Jonathan Wilson, will start out the new year with a January-February 2003 run. The classic tragedy of murder, justice and revenge will come to life on stage.
• The team behind Horton Foote's The Carpetbagger's Children and The Death of Papa will reteam for the 50th anniversary production of the playwright's The Trip To Bountiful. Helmer Michael Wilson will direct stars Hallie Foote and Jean Stapleton in the play, February-March 2003, by the Pulitzer Prize winner for The Young Man from Atlanta.
• Edwin Sanchez's Diosa, directed by Melia Bensussen, will play April-May, 2003. The young author of Clean creates a new, dance infused play based on the rise of a 1930's Hollywood starlet.
• Tennessee Williams' The Night Of The Iguana, directed by Michael Wilson will star Annalee Jefferies. Set to run May-June, 2003, the tale of temptation and redemption will reunite of director Wilson with Jefferies, his star of A Streetcar Named Desire.

—By Robert Simonson
and Ernio Hernandez