Downtown Manhattan's New York Theatre Workshop has announced its 2001-2002 season, which will include new plays by Charles L. Mee, Tony Kushner and Caryl Churchill. The Lower-East-Side venue will also presents a stage adaptation of Flannery O'Connor's novel, "Everything That Rises Must Converge" by Karin Coonrod.

As they kept it in the family with their current production of Nocturne by Adam Rapp (brother of Anthony from NYTW's Rent), they continue the tradition next season in one show. Season opener First Love, scheduled for an August-September run, will combine the talents of playwright-father Charles L. Mee and director- daughter Erin Mee.

Following the Mee and mini-Mee production, NYTW will present Karin Coonrod's Everything That Rises Must Converge adapted from the Flannery O'Connor book of the same name. The story follows protagonist Julian and his mother, who is oblivious to her own prejudices until after being struck by a black woman she has insulted. Coonrod will also direct the production, set for an October-November run.

Homebody/Kabul by Tony Kushner will run November-January 2002 at NYTW. The play, to be directed by Declan Donnellan, follows a woman fascinated by Afghanistan and her encounter with an Afghan man whose fingers were cruelly severed. The work-in-progress had a run in London in 1999 starring British actress Kika Markham, the actress Kushner had in mind when it was written.

Caryl Churchill's anti-utopian look at the future as shown through a girl's visit to her auntie's house can be seen in her play Far Away. The play will run February-March 2002 under the direction of Stephen Daldry. For more information or tickets to NYTW shows, 79 East Fourth Street (between Bowery and Second Ave.), call (212) 780-9037.

— by Ernio Hernandez