The respected Equity troupe artistic-directed by Terrence Nolen kicks off its new season with Steve Martin's version of Carl Sternheim's comedy, The Underpants, which is fast becoming a major title in American regional theatre (as Martin's Picasso at the Lapin Agile was in the last decade). Aaron Posner directs the Arden run Sept. 9-Oct. 31 on the Arcadia Stage.

Mary Zimmerman's The Arabian Nights plays Oct. 7-Nov. 7 at the F. Otto Haas Stage. Producing artistic director Nolen stages the retelling of Middle Eastern tales in a piece created by the conceiver of the regional and Broadway sensation, Metamorphoses.

A Year With Frog and Toad, the musical by brothers Robert and Willie Reale, based on the kids' books of Arnold Lobel, is the Arden holiday show, Dec. 8-Jan. 23, 2005. Whit MacLaughlin directs on the Haas Stage.

Pamela's Gien's intimate portrait of a South African family, The Syringa Tree, plays the Arcadia Stage Jan. 20 March 13, 2005.

August Wilson's Fences, about a father's suffocating influence on his son, plays the Arcadia March 3-April 3, 2005, directed by Timothy Douglas in a co production with Actors Theatre of Louisville. A revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street will be staged by Nolen May 19-June 19, 2005 on the Haas Stage. Mary Martello will play the charming and corrupt Mrs. Lovett.

For information about the Arden season, call (215) 922 1122 or visit www.ardentheatre.org.