The coming season includes three new plays, including two West Coast premieres and a Los Angeles premiere: Photograph 51 by Anna Ziegler (March 21-May 3); Coming Home by Athol Fugard (summer 2009); and Shining City by Conor McPherson (fall 2009).

In addition, The Fountain's popular Forever Flamenco! dance series, which continues on the first, third and occasional fifth Sunday of every month at the Fountain venue, has been selected by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission to present an all-star Forever Flamenco! extravaganza at the Ford Amphitheatre on Aug. 1.

Additionally, The Fountain will re-mount last season's successful The Accomplices by Bernard Weinraub for an eight-week run at the Odyssey Theatre (April 25-June 14).

Here's the 2009 Fountain Theatre season at a glance:

March 14-May 3: Photograph 51 by Anna Ziegler. "Who really discovered the secret of life? Rosalind Franklin was a brilliant and passionate young scientist whose groundbreaking study led to the historic discovery of DNA. But did her male colleagues steal her data and claim credit for themselves? Simon Levy directs the West Coast premiere of Ziegler's moving and compelling drama about scientific intrigue and competition — and a woman's life in a man's world." Based on a true story, Photograph 51 was the winner of the 2008 STAGE International Script Competition. Summer 2009: Coming Home by Athol Fugard. "The Fountain Theatre continues its unique relationship with one of the world's greatest living playwrights. Athol Fugard returns to characters he created in Valley Song to take a contemporary look at his native South Africa. Stephen Sachs directs Ovation Award-winner Deidrie Henry (Yellowman) and LADCC Award nominee Adolphus Ward (Gem of the Ocean) in the West Coast premiere of Fugard's newest play, in which Veronika Jonkers returns to her beloved grandfather's farm with a young son and the powerful hope to change their lives."

Fall 2009: Shining City by Conor McPherson. "Morlan Higgins and William Dennis Hurley (Exits and Entrances) star in the Los Angeles premiere of a modern-day ghost story, a Tony Award nominee for Best Play by one of Ireland's hottest and most important young playwrights. Set in Dublin, a middle-aged businessman seeks help from a new therapist, claiming to have seen the ghost of his wife who was recently killed in a car crash. What begins as an unusual encounter between strangers becomes a struggle between the living and the dead that will redefine both men for the rest of their lives. Stephen Sachs directs."

April 24-June 14: The Accomplices by Bernard Weinraub. "The Fountain Theatre will remount last season's hit play, which The Fountain will produce at the Odyssey Theatre. What the U.S. government and American Jews did — and didn't — do to help Jews fleeing the Nazis is the subject of this blistering account, based on the true story of Jewish activist Hillel Kook (aka Peter Bergson), by former New York Times political reporter Bernard Weinraub. In 1940, Hillel Kook arrived in the U.S. fresh from the underground resistance in Palestine. Changing his name to Peter Bergson, he sought aid for the rescue of European Jews from the Nazis. Shocked to find himself blocked by both the Roosevelt administration and the Jewish establishment, Bergson spearheaded an extraordinary campaign of public rallies, hard-hitting newspaper advertisements and lobbying in Congress in his one-man fight to save millions and end the conspiracy of silence and inaction that continues to haunt us to this day."

Aug. 1: Special Event - Forever Flamenco! at the Ford Amphitheatre. "The Fountain is honored to be selected by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission to present a special evening representing Forever Flamenco! at the 1,245-seat John Anson Ford Amphitheatre as part of the County-sponsored Summer Partnership Program. Since 2003, Forever Flamenco! at The Fountain Theatre has been presenting a roster of world-class Flamenco dancers, singers and musicians drawn from the rich pool of Flamenco artists in Southern California, with additional guest artists brought from San Francisco, Albuquerque and Spain. Forever Flamenco! at the Ford will be an "all-star" performance with 11 great Flamenco artists representing both the new wave of young talent and seasoned, classic performers. The evening will be directed by guitarist Antonio Triana, Jr."

For more information about The Fountain Theatre's 2009 Season, call (323) 663-1525 or go to www.FountainTheatre.com.

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Fountain's critically acclaimed, twice-extended run of August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean, just nominated for eight Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards and continues through Feb. 22.