LOS ANGELES -- The Pasadena Playhouse's new artistic director, Sheldon Epps, is inaugurating his first season with a production of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing.

Epps directed the play last spring at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego and has reassembled many of the same actors and technicians from that production for this one.

The Real Thing opens Jan. 19 and runs through Feb. 22.

Epps calls The Real Thing "a brilliant but enormously accessible play. It is about things we've all been through."

He first saw the play on Broadway in its original production in 1984 and it affected his life in many personal and theatrical ways. "It is full of passion, incredible language, fascinating ideas, Stoppard's dazzling humor and wit, and great love for that wonderful institution called the theatre," says Epps. The cast features Jeff Allin, who was last seen at the Pasadena Playhouse in Joined at the Head, and Christina Haag, who was in Old Globe production of The Real Thing.

The creative team includes set designer James Leonard Joy, lighting designer Michael Gilliam and costume designer Marianna Elliott.

Performances are Tues.-Fri. at 8 PM; Sat. at 5 PM and 9 PM; and Sun. at 2 PM & 7 PM . The Jan. 18 opening night performance begins at 5 PM.

The Pasadena Playhouse is located at 39 El Molino Ave., Pasadena. For tickets call 1-800-233-3123.

-- By Willard Manus
Southern California Correspondent