Morris was one of the original seven "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" of the long-running, ground-breaking late night comedy show, "Saturday Night Live." Prior to that star-making gig, he was in such Broadway productions as Hallelujah, Baby!, I'm Solomon, Operation Sidewinder, Ain't Suppose to Die a Natural Death and What the Wine-Sellers Buy. More recently, he has been seen on sitcoms starring such comics as Martin Lawrence, Ellen Cleghorne and Jamie Foxx.

De Shields stopped the show each night in The Full Monty with his roof-raising song, "Big Black Man." He was nominated for a Tony Award for his work. His previous nomination was for 1997's Play On!. Other Broadway credits include The Wiz, Ain't Misbehavin' and 1984's Andre De Shields' Haarlem Nocturne, a revue which he conceived, wrote, directed, composed, choreographed and performed.

Walcott's play was given a 1971 production by the Negro Ensemble Company. The work won an Obie Award as Distinguished Foreign Play. The story, according to a press spokesman, concerns an old man who "experiences a messianic vision to save all the peoples stolen and then lost in the Americas. His quest for a new world leads him on a mystic journey back to Africa, where his assumes the mantle of a great warrior chief with the power to put the western world itself on trial."

The West Indian Walcott is the author several dozen plays, though in New York City he is perhaps best known for his ill-fated collaboration with Paul Simon, the musical The Capeman.

CTH's 2003-04 season began July 11 with a new staging of Shakespeare's Macbeth with Obie Award-winner Ty Jones. It runs through Aug. 3 at the CTH Courtyard Theater (645 St. Nicholas Avenue near 141st Street). The remainder of the season features Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children Feb. 6-29, and Euripides' Trojan Women, April 2-25.

For information, call (212) 868-4444.