The Old Globe Theatre has announced the cast for Lynn Nottage's Crumbs From the Table of Joy, which opens the company's 2001 season on Feb. 10 and runs through March 18, with Seret Scott directing. The cast includes Melany Bell, Lisa Bruneau, Bryan Hicks, Audra Alise Polk and JoAnna Rhinehart.

Widower Godfrey Crump knows there's a better life out there for his family, so he brings his teenaged daughters, Ernestine and Ermina, north to Brooklyn from rural Florida to find it. Godfrey, a follower of Father Divine and the Peace Mission Movement, wants to instill in his girls his own moral standards. But other influences come into play, such as his sister-in-law Lily, who opposes nearly everything Godfrey believes in. When their conflicting views come to a head, Godfrey leaves and returns with a new wife, Gerte, a refugee of Nazi Germany, bringing a new dynamic to the family.

Scott's production team includes David Ledsinger (sets); Esther Marquis (costumes); Trevor Norton (lights); Paul Peterson (sound); and Raul Moncada (stage manager).

Crumbs takes place in 1950, at the start of a tumultuous decade rife with racism and anti-communism. Nottage has written several other plays, including Mud, River, Stone and Por'knockers. Scott directed The Trojan Women last summer at the Old Globe.

Old Globe Theatre is located at Balboa Park. For tickets and information call (619) 239-2255. — By Willard Manus
Southern California Correspondent