Robert Egan (Chinese Friends) directs the new work set to open Jan. 22 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre for a run through Feb. 13, 2005. Center Theatre Group’s P.L.A.Y. (Performing For Los Angeles Youth) program produces the family-oriented work it commissioned and developed. Flight follows the "story of a young boy whose mother has been sold by plantation owners and of the slave community that tries to comfort the child," according to show materials. The stagework was developed from African-American folktales and slave experiences, celebrating the oral tradition through the use of dance, drumming and storytelling.

Broadway veterans Meshach Taylor (Beauty and the Beast, "Designing Women") and Myra Lucretia Taylor (Nine, Electra) lead the cast of Flight that also features Chastity Dotson, Frank Faucette, Julanne Chidi Hill and Ameenah Kaplan.

The design team includes Myung Hee Cho (set and costume) and Geoff Korf (lighting). Michelle Blair serves as the production stage manager.

The inaugural season at the Kirk Douglas Theatre — currently housing the world premiere of Jon Robin Baitz's The Paris Letter (through Jan. 2, 2005) — continues with (the other P.L.A.Y. commission) Doug Cooney and David O's musical The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip (March 5-19, 2005), Nancy Keystone's Apollo - Part 1: Lebensraum (April 3-May 1, 2005) and Chay Yew's A Distant Shore (May 15-June 12, 2005).

The new 300-seat Kirk Douglas Theatre joins the Los Angeles-based Center Theatre Group's 745-seat Mark Taper Forum and the 1600- to 2000-seat Ahmanson Theatre at the Music Center.

Tickets for Flight at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, 9820 Washington Blvd. in downtown Culver City, CA, are available by calling (213) 628-2772. For more information, visit the website at http://www.KirkDouglasTheatre.org.