American Repertory Theatre artistic director Robert Brustein's Nobody Dies on Friday returns to ART for a two-week run Sept. 30-Oct. 10. The play, a scathing portrait of famed acting teacher Lee Strasberg, originally ran Apr. 16-May 2 at the Hasty Pudding Theatre on Holyoke St., also in MA.

David Wheeler directs the play, which revolves around Marilyn Monroe's visits to the house of her acting coach, Lee Strasberg, whenever she needed acting lessons or to seek asylum from Hollywood craziness. The play not only looks at her (the Monroe character does not appear on stage; we hear only her voice), but the tensions she brings out among the four on stage Strasbergs, who quarrel over art, theatre and the cult of celebrity.

Reprising their roles in Friday are Alvin Epstein (Lee Strasberg), Emma Roberts (Susan Strasberg), Robert Kropf (John Strasberg) and Annette Miller (Paula Strasberg). Karen MacDonald is the voice of Monroe. Designing the piece are Michael Griggs (set), John Ambrosone (lighting), Catherine Zuber (costumes) and Christopher Walker (sound).

As founding director of the Yale Repertory and Cambridge MA's American Rep, Brustein has supervised nearly 200 productions. He serves as director of the Loeb Drama Center, Professor of English at Harvard, and drama critic for The New Republic. These days, he's most celebrated for his public arguments with playwright August Wilson about multi-cultural casting.

For tickets and information on shows at the American Repertory Theatre call their Info-Line at (617) 547-8300 or check out their website at http://www.amrep.org. -- By David Lefkowitz and Robert Simonson