Currently presenting Charles Busch’s acclaimed comedy Shanghai Moon through March 9, the New York theatre company will next offer Douglas Carter Beane’s Mondo Drama. This new comedy — written in the style of sixties shock-u-mentaries — will star talk-show host Caroline Rhea; Christopher Ashley will direct the May premiere. In September 2003, the Drama Dept. will present The New Musical Revue, featuring new songs and sketches from several Drama Dept. writers and composers. Tony Award nominee Kathleen Marshall will direct. The year will conclude with a new musical comedy, The Big Time, in December 2003. Featuring music and lyrics by Douglas J. Cohen and a book by Douglas Carter Beane, the musical concerns a cruise ship taken over by terrorists and the lounge singers who save the day. Mark Brokaw will helm the project.

Conceived in 1994 in a “cheap rental car,” the Drama Dept. has since presented such acclaimed productions as June Moon, As Bees in Honey Drown, As Thousands Cheer, The Book of Liz and Rude Entertainment. For more information about the company, visit www.dramadept.org.

Tickets to its current production, Shanghai Moon, are available by calling (212) 239-6200. The Drama Dept. is located in Manhattan at 27 Barrow Street.