Bay Area author John Steinbeck will get a staging in his home country with TheatreWorks' staging of The Grapes of Wrath, running Oct. 11-Nov. 5 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. TheatreWorks artistic director Robert Kelley and Leslie Martinson co-direct.

Steinbeck crafted this tale of the Joad family, a group of "Okies" running from the Great Depression and the dustbowl to longed-for work in California. This adaptation from Frank Galati and Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre won the 1990 Tony Award for Best Play.

Linda Hoy stars as Ma Joad with Mark Phillips as her son. Hoy has played Ma Joad twice, one at San Jose University and once at the Sacramento Theatre Company. Phillips' credits include the Magic Theatre's productions of Kissing the Witch, True West and the U.S. premiere of Stones in His Pockets, now on its way to Broadway.

Also in the cast are Tim Hendrixson (Jim Casey), Ron Evans, Bill Badger, David Babich, Gregory Bratman, Gene Carvalho, Don Hiatt, Jacqueline Hillsman, Thomas Lynam, Daraj Maxfield, Mark Messersmith and Paul Santiago.

Tickets are $38-$20. The Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts is located on the corner of Castro and Mercy Streets in Mountain View. For tickets, call (650) 903-6000. TheatreWorks is on the web at http://www.theatreworks.org. -- By Christine Ehren